We drove to Michigan for Christmas. With two kids. From Colorado. It could not have gone any better. Thankfully, we acquired a minivan last fall, which made for a much smoother cross-country voyage. Our first day in the car we drove for 11 hours with just one stop. It was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. Maren and Truett were traveling champs and kept each other occupied.
We were thrilled to spend almost two weeks with my family in Michigan. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and it was sweet to spend it at 'home' this year. The last time we spent Christmas in Michigan we were all struck with a terrible flu. I'm so thankful we all remained healthy this time around.
One of my brothers and his family now live in Grand Rapids, so we got to attend their church on Christmas Eve. It was such a special service, and we loved seeing where their family worships now. Here we are dressed in our Christmas best...
My mom and dad with the kids...even with miles and miles between us, my kids know and love their Grams and Grandpa!
After church on Christmas Eve we returned to Ben and Allison's house for a delicious dinner and some festivities. Ben dressed up as Santa, and the kids were so enthralled. {Clockwise from top left...me, Ben and Zach...Santa Ben and Allison...the older kids watching Santa leave...cousins Will, Paige, Annie, Maren and Truett}
Maren was so excited for Christmas this year, and I fully expected her to be up before 6:00 am. Surprisingly, Truett woke up first and so Brett, Truett, and I were sitting awake waiting for Maren. I think she slept until almost 7...must have been the excitement of Christmas Eve wore her out!
Christmas through the eyes of our kids...Maren got her chicken bag {sometime I'll share that story!} and Truett mostly just rolled around on the floor and sucked on anything he could get his hands on!
The rest of our vacation was filled with more time with family. Maren, Paige and Will played so well together. Shockingly, we only had a tiny bit of snow for one day. Maren did love tubing down the hill in my parents' backyard while the snow lasted. The weather was unseasonably warm, so my dad and Brett took the kids to the park one afternoon. We also spent a good deal of time lounging around. I love the picture of Zach {my other brother} and Brett both sitting with their phones. That picture aside, we managed to remain relatively 'unplugged' for the duration of our trip. It was such a nice break!
We made several attempts at capturing a decent picture of the five cousins together...this is my favorite. These five {4 years and under} kept us on our toes all week!
I'm already looking forward to our next trip to Michigan...it's hard to live so far from 'home', but I'm thankful for these memorable times we spend there. So, one last time...until December...Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment