Christmas Vacation Mini-Vacation

A couple of weeks ago (at Christmas #3, to be exact) I had the idea to take the kids up to Grandpa Jim and Sinda's one day during Christmas break. I know they work and are gone during the day, but I figured that we could spend the day visiting our cousins and then head up the hill to Grandpa Jim and Sinda's for dinner and to spend the night. It would give us something to do and give them a chance to see the kids (and of COURSE a chance to visit with the Elys!).

So.... That's what we did! Yesterday morning we packed our bags, packed up the car, and headed north. There was a CHANCE that it might snow (which is why we picked these days), so we left early to beat the snow and arrived at the Ely's, hot dogs in hand, a little after noon.

Beth and I fixed lunch (Well.... It was more like she fixed lunch and I played with Izeah, but who's keeping tabs?!) while the kids played and after lunch they played some more while we sat on the couch and visited. It was GREAT! It's ridiculous that we live so close and get together so infrequently (Hint, hint...)!

The kids played dress up, Legos, video games, watched movies, and just had fun being kids!

We left the Ely's about 3:30 and headed up the hill to Grandpa Jim's (Really, John... It had NOTHING to do with the fact that you came home from work... I swear!).

The kids were pretty wiped out from all of the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks and Big A was grumpy that there was no snow (although he won't admit that that was the problem). We visited, watched movies, ate raw cookie dough baked cookies, cuddled, went in the hot tub (It was less than 30 degrees outside... FREEZING!), played guitar, and just generally got spoiled rotten! After all, that's what Grandpa Jim and Sinda are for, right?!?!

This morning we woke up to ice EVERYWHERE! If only it had been rainy, Big A's snow dream would have come true... Sorry, Bud! Maybe next time!

The walkways and steps were icy, the little pond was iced over, the grounds was frozen, just everything! It was neat to see the way ice just forms in the dirt.

It's so beautiful up there and the kids were so excited at the prospect of snow, that we ALMOST spent a second night but when we found out that Grandpa and Sinda would be leaving early the next morning, we decided to just head home and have a play date at the park with out friends.

I was a little nervous about the drive home, but I waited until the sun was fully out and had melted all of the ice on the deck and decided that it was a good time to go. We packed the car, said a prayer, and headed home. The icy landscape was beautiful, and luckily we didn't hit any ice on the roads. We drove slow and made it home safe right into daddy's waiting arms!

We spent the rest of the day running errands, playing at the park and getting to bed early!

Thanks, Grandpa Jim and Sinda, for your wonderful hospitality!