We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!

We recently returned from our tour of the East Coast.  It actually all started as attending and celebrating Peter’s (Jess’ brother) doctoral graduation from NC State.  Congratulations Peter on that wonderful achievement and best of luck at the new job!

While we were in Raleigh with all of the family we celebrated Christmas.  The apparently popular present was Jack’s Play-Doh.  When you’re done reading all of my ramblings you’ll see in the gallery that everybody in attendance played with the play-doh that evening.  It was a fun night that resulted in Anna proclaiming several times that night and during the rest of our trip, “That was the funniest Christmas ever!”

I think now is the right time to mention that we weren’t sure who was going to make this trip because the days preceding our departure Anna had a low fever, no appetite, slight breathing problems, a nasty cough and didn’t go to preschool for two days.  Why mention that now?  Well Saturday after the graduation celebration Jack & I started to not feel good.  But what did we do?  We decided to extend our trip! 

 But before we rested up for our trip we played a game of Catch Phrase with my siblings and their significant others.  I have to say that is a fun but unfairish game.  I got my phrase of “vowels”, simply said “a,e,i,o,u” and Lori & Laura guessed correctly.  Hand the puck to Peter, he sighs a big sigh and says “the fifth word is a person of royalty.”  Seriously how is it that a game can go from something as simple as “vowels” to “God save the queen”?!?!  Now the only reason I think its fair is because the girls got a point from the guys not getting their phrase in time.  We also learned that when in doubt break the word up and hope for the best because everybody thinks barometer when the first clue is about having beer and nuts (think BAR).

 We left Raleigh Sunday morning and headed to Maryland!  We made plans with Charlie to see him and Jean but he didn’t tell her we were coming.  So we showed up as a surprise for her!  We didn’t stay for too long but it was long enough for Jack to get out almost every tractor like toy Jean had in her office, for Jess to watch a bit of football with Charlie, for Anna & Jean to make pretend cupcakes and brownies and for Damion to do some on-call work.

From there we swung by Jeff & Jamie’s house to look at the monstrosity of a vehicle Jeff recently bought.  Sorry that’s the best I can describe it.  I’ll have to refer you to the gallery so you can see it with your own eyes.

 After a quick visit with Jamie we went into DC so the kids could finally meet Jess.  While Damion was driving he was trying to remember how to get to Jeff’s work and he said, “Now I just need to turn right off of Independence Avenue into the Reflecting Pool.”  I laughed hysterically but Damion was right.  Since he had permission we went against all the Do Not Enter signs and ended up driving on the National Mall!  Lets just say that freaked me out a bit.

 Anyways, Jeff was excited to meet the kids and the kids were excited to meet Jeff.  Okay maybe they were more excited about the horses initially.  Jeff is a US Park Police officer and rides a horse around DC as a part of his job.  The horse’s name is Custer and all of us got a turn riding him.  Anna was excited and sat perfectly on Custer.  Jack who isn’t as tall had an extreme lean but enjoyed every second on Custer’s trot and when he stopped, Jack yelled, “Again!” to Jeff.  My turn wasn’t as….well lets just say graceful and let the pictures speak for themselves.  And Damion’s?  As excepted it was perfect.  After Custer was put away for the night we went to the Lincoln Memorial for a quick photo op.  We wanted to stay longer and Jeff wanted us to stay longer but we had to get to our dinner date with Paul, Margarita & Leo.

 Off we went to the Baltimore area.  After Anna & Jack woke up they played nicely with Leo and Leo was a sweet little boy and shared his toys with them.  This provided for the ability to have nice conversations with Paul & Margarita.  We decided to spend the night there and not drive home through the night.  The next morning I woke up to a loudly talking child that wasn’t mine so I stayed in bed J  We had a nice relaxing morning of more conversation and getting ready for the drive home.

We left Baltimore around noon EST and pulled into our driveway around 2 am CST.  Yup, fourteen hours to do a normally twelve hour trip but considering we actually stopped for a sit down dinner in Ohio and had to deal with a snow storm through all of Indiana (Word to the wise, if you are ever in a car with Damion while driving through a snow storm, either drive as you want to drive but hold back every desire to hit or yell at him as he provides suggestions or as I decided to do an hour outside of Indianapolis, let him drive.)  And the push through made it possible to achieve my goal of getting Anna to her preschool Christmas party Tuesday.

 And that party got Anna into the Christmas spirit and she tried her hardest to infect all of us with it.  So despite being gone almost every weekend over the last two months, instead of disappointing Anna, we found a cute little Christmas tree three days before Christmas.  After almost sliding into a ditch on the way to the Christmas Eve service, we enjoyed the service and got firewood.  The fresh cut tree, fire in the fireplace and new toys to be played with made for relaxing holiday at home.

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