Christmas 2006

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and had a wonderful time with their friends and family.

What a Christmas we had! Joshua was really into Santa and the holiday spirit this year. We flew down to Florida Friday after Kevin got off of work. And we were totally stressed out given all the crap we had to take with us and we had last year's memory of the flight on our minds. To our pleasant surprise, Joshua was an angel. I think being a year older and having him sit in his car seat made a HUGE difference. Even after sitting on the runway for a 45 minute delay, he was still well behaved - how could he not be when he was alseep before we even reached our flying altitude. He slept both ways, and we were thrilled.

While our trip was short, it was packed with events. We got in late on Friday night and after some pizza and visiting with Grandma "Sue-Anne", Grandpa Jim, Bear the Dope (that's the dog), and TT, we finally retired sometime after 11. On Saturday we went to this play store/center where Joshua got to play with all of these really cool toys and dance with all of the other kids and staff. It's kind of like a combination of a Chucky Cheese w/o the food and a Gymboree w/o the gymnastics but add toys. We headed over to Betty and Nat's for a delicious cook out. Their grandchildren are 2.5 and 4 so all of the kids had a lot of fun and all of the adults stuffed their faces w/ hotdogs, cheeseburgers, chips and dip and the best sausage ever.

Christmas Eve started off by going to the park where Joshua had it out w/ a few ants. He didn't realize he wasn't standing in your ordinary pile of dirt. After a few bites, we all quickly realized what happened and poor Joshua had about 5 or 6 ant bites on his feet and legs. He asked if Bear could kiss his "piggies" to make his feet feel better. We headed down to McDonalds for lunch and playtime at the park since we couldn't find a Chucky Cheese. What a weird exp we had at M-c-P (aka a McDonalds w/ a park - we have to have code words now so we don't disappoint Joshua). At the height of lunch rush hour, the manager locked the doors and would not serve customers in the rest. but would via drive-thru. Odd. His explanation was, "the line was getting too long so we had to close." Wow!

What an eventful day! After our adventure, we headed to our Christmas Eve dinner. We were a little nervous since it's a fancy rest and dinner takes approx 2 hours. Joshua was an angel. He sat in his chair for about 50 mins before he wanted to go for a walk w/ Kevin to look at the boats. When the boys returned, he sat still for another hour. We were impressed. Maybe all the M&Ms I bribed him with helped - ha ha! The company was fabulous and the food was delicious. I even liked the fish Kevin ordered.

Santa came that night and the next morning seeing Joshua's face when he saw all the presents under the tree was priceless. His Grandma and Grandpa spoiled him rotten and made sure that this Christmas was a Christmas he'll never forget. After we opened our gifts, we headed over to GG and Great Grandpa Jim's to open more presents and have Christmas breakfast. Shortly after that, we headed to the airport and came home.

Top 5 most memorable moments:
1. Joshua's face when he saw all of the presents under the tree.
2. Joshua learning to say "Bear you big dope" from Grandpa Jim
3. Joshua telling Kevin that he had to go back inside and that only his Grandma "Sue-Anne" could come outside and play with him.
4. TT and Joshua baking cookies w/ Grandpa Jim supervising
5. The most tasty dinner at Betty and Nat's house - best sausage ever!

Uncle Harris stayed with us Monday and Tuesday while he's in town visiting. We had a nice dinner last night w/ Grandma Stephanie, Uncle Harris, Ann (Harris' girlfriend) and us. We went to a hibachi grill place where again, Joshua was well behaved. Now if we could just get him to eat table food, life would be great!!

Below are a few photos from our Christmas.