Our journey: Christmas Part 2 (December 25- 28)

We arrived in Eagle River and checked into our hotel room. They actually had a little bit of snow which Kate was excited about until her boots got wet- then shd didn't like it anymore. Silly girl! We got settled into our room and then headed over to my mom and step-dad's house. Mom had decorated with all of our "old" decorations including bubble lights on the tree, old ornaments, the train that went under the tree, and other decorations we had growing up. It was fun looking around at everything! We opened more gifts and had so much fun talking and laughing together!

On Monday, Spryos (my brother-in-law) set up his camera and background so we could take family pictures. We spent two hours with him and got so many great pictures! It really was the most enjoyable photo session ever- and we got GREAT pictures from it! After the pictures, we all went to eat lunch at the Tipsy Turtle. It was really special having all eleven of us together! We put Kate down for a nap while Brennan and Norman went fishing. After dinner we all decided to go swimming at the hotel.

On Tuesday, we drove over to see my grandma Starks. Brennan and Dave hung at the hotel for a boys' lazy day. My grandma is 90 years old and amazing! She was on the floor with Kate playing, walking around the house showing us pictures, and telling us so many family stories. Kate loved my grandma's doll collection and grandma even gave Kate one of the dolls she had made. Later that afternoon several people met us at the hotel for an evening of pizza and swimming.

Wednesday came much too soon though... I packed the car (which was quite the job getting everything to fit) and we headed to the house for a little bit before heading out. We drove for about ten hours and got a hotel for the night. On Thursday we drove for about nine hours and the kids and dog never even got out of the car! They are amazing travelers! We arrived home late Thursday night and had quite a lazy Friday!

Opening more presets in Eagle River!

Learning how to play tic-tac-toe
with Uncle Norman.

So happy to be celebrating
Christmas with my brother,
Norman!

Mom and Norman with some
of his beautiful art work.

Snuggling with Grandpa

Eagle River didn't really have enough snow to play in, which was disappointing. The suitcase full of snow gear wasn't really needed this year. Hopefully Raleigh will get some snow this year!

I finally got around to doing some unpacking and laundry on Friday and Saturday and even started taking some of the Christmas decorations down. For New Year's we stayed home and just watched some movies. After all of our traveling, it was nice to spend some time at home.

Kate was happy to go back to school on Monday and Brennan was happy to have one more day off. I headed to school for a teacher workday and it was nice to get caught up a little and ready for the second graders again.

We had such an amazing Christmas! We feel so lucky that we were able to see so many friends and relatives! We also feel so blessed to share this Christmas with Kate!