I am happy to report that the trip went really well. We did very little - Jeff and I laughed on the way home as we realized our outings (aside from restaurants, which are mandatory Cincinnati stops, and church on Christmas Eve) had been limited to trips to Target and Jungle Jim's, a gigantic specialty grocery store. Now don't get me wrong, the kids weren't great. "Really well" just implies we miraculously escaped with no serious injuries or ailments. Imagine all of the excitement of Christmas AND all of the excitement of vacation AND all of the excitement of grandparents all rolled into one week. Wheeee! Thank goodness there were lots of adults around to help.
I took surprisingly few pictures on the trip. I think I was mostly just enjoying myself and couldn't be bothered with a camera. I did manage to capture a few moments.
Cookie baking with everyone in their new Christmas jammies.
Decorating a miniature Christmas tree with Obaachan.
Ahhh. A quiet moment. Our three stooges are busy playing Legos, Ree was building with Grandpa Jim, and Jeff and his brother are busy watching ESPN. On a side note, I think I have decided that Legos are my favorite toy for kids ever. They are durable, you can use them creatively, and there is no setup assembly required. And for the actual playing assembly, there are wonderful pictorial directions.
Racing upstairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. I love that Mike (on the left) is holding Turtle and Leon is holding Percy, his penguin. Christmas presents must be shared with "friends." Natalia struggled with sleeping in a new place (not that she sleeps that well at home to begin with), and her siblings had to shake her awake at 7am. I was carrying her behind the rest of the group.
Staring in awe. Santa brought the Barbie Dream House, in all three stories of its glory. Which we had to transport back to North Carolina. This may or may not have been another one of my hair-brained ideas. Santa works in mysterious ways. Oh, and you know what I said about Legos? The Barbie Dream House is the EXACT OPPOSITE. Except for encouraging creative play. That part is good. I will forever be grateful that I was warned that it takes three nights to put together. I shudder to think what would've happen if Santa and the elves had waited until after the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve to start on that bad boy.
The Disney Princess Klip-Klop castle. Natalia was very specific with her request for Santa. Thankfully, he listened.
Gifts! The kids were awesome and waited until after everyone ate a real breakfast before tearing into their stash.
Video games! Super Mario Brothers (2?) lives on thanks to Uncle Alex.
Kramer, Alex and Reiko's dog, looking like he owns the place. And illegally sitting on the couch.
It would be a sad day if my brothers ever acted serious around each other.
We were out in the evening several times. And every time we got back to my parents' house, Natalia had to run over and say hi to the neighbors' Yoda and Darth Vader Christmas decorations. A true highlight of the trip.
Hope everyone else had a safe and enjoyable Christmas, too!
