We're Home!

Here's a really great shot of our whole family on Christmas Eve at Joel and Sarah's house. I saved it from her blog...hopefully the quality is OK for posting here! I'll have to get the full-sized picture later so we can have it for our scrapbook, but seeing as how I'm 2 years behind, there's no rush, LOL. So anyway, we made it home safely on Friday with no snow whatsoever and only one throwing-up incident (compared to 3 on our first journey), and thankfully Charis fully utilized the bag this time, so there were no major disruptions to the journey. This time we listened to The Great Brain (one of Ted's favorites from growing up) and The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein on CD. We arrived home around 7:30 p.m. Vegas time, I believe, so not too bad!

A quick summary of the rest of our time in Colorado...

Monday, December 29--
Ski Day! Ted, Joel, and the older 3 kids went to Loveland for a fun-filled day of skiing and snowboarding. The kids did great during their ski lessons, and Ted and Joel had a great time together. It was the warmest day of our time there, so it worked out well. Arden was especially thrilled to get to join his siblings this time, since last time he was only 2 years old and had to stay home with Mom. This time Kenna was the one at home with Mom and Grandma, and it was, well, kind of a long day. I DID enjoy some great one-on-one time with her that I usually don't have; we read lots of books together and played with various toys, and she did nap a little bit for me. However, she also got to watch 3 baby DVDs just so I could have a bit of peace for doing laundry and trying to read my own book. (Truth be told, Kenna watched WAY more TV in Colorado than she EVER does here at home!)

Side note: While watching Kenna have a meltdown on this day, I realized that her bottom canines had popped through! That explained SO much...her runny poops and runny nose, low-grade fever, lack of appetite, sleeping problems, and general irritability. Sure enough, Kenna began sleeping reasonably through the night the rest of our time in Colorado.

Tuesday, December 30--
Today was swimming day. The Apex has an indoor water recreation center that includes a great waterslide with inner tubes for riding, plus a shallow beach-like area with slides and fountains for the little ones. Kenna lasted about an hour and seemed to enjoy the water, but then I think she got cold. So she and I got dressed and bought hot dogs for everyone to have for a snack, and then I took her upstairs to the play area we had taken the kids to before while Ted and the other 3 kiddos enjoyed the water park for a couple more hours.

Wednesday, New Year's Eve--
Ted and his best friend from high school, Bill, got together for a day of skiing while Grandma kept the rest of us hopping! We went to the mall, rode the carousel, looked around at the Lego store, ate at the food court, went back to the Lego store, managed to leave without purchasing anything from the Lego store, and drove back to Rhonda's condo for Kenna's nap. I worked on my last load of Colorado laundry while waiting for Kenna to fall asleep, and Joel brought Haiku (their black lab) over so the big kids and Grandma could all go hiking for awhile. I think I got a 20-minute nap, but Kenna wasn't in a napping mood much of the time we were gone!

That evening our family went to Bill's family's apartment for a yummy spaghetti dinner and fellowship. Their three kids are the same ages as our older three, and they had a great time with their peers. We enjoyed catching up with the B family, too.

Thursday, New Year's Day--
This was our last day in Colorado, and we spent it being thoroughly lazy! Parades, football, good books and good food...and I seem to remember getting a great nap since there were more people to help with Kenna! We enjoyed spending time all together. I love this picture of Sarah, Anders, and Arden. Our kids REALLY loved spending time with their baby cousin. Kenna would squeal "BABY" whenever she saw Anders...or his picture! He's really a cutie, and we were so glad to get to see and hold him. He'll be so much bigger next time we get to see him.

Friday, January 2--
Road trip! With clear roads this time, our journey took "only" 13 hours. :-) We did stop to let the kids work out some wiggles at a couple of play areas, so all in all, the 750-mile trip went fairly well.

And that's that! My next post will hopefully be done without Kenna on my lap, and it will just be pictures. :-)