Christmas Recap #3

On Saturday, December 27th we packed our bags and headed north to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Pennsylvania. I'm thankful that we are at a stage that the kids are great travelers. Darin likes to get in his driving zone, the kids are quiet in the back seats of the van, and I usually read. I vaguely remember there was some traffic. I was in a zone too.

Grandma and Grandpa worked hard to prepare for all their family to arrive. I'm sure when they had two kids, they never expected to have 8 grandkids! It was a full house. After visiting and enjoying delicious soup and salad together, we got settled in our hotel. Despite the later bedtimes then usual, they slept through the night and until 7 in the morning both days. Hooray!

Our tradition is a book and a toy for each kid. 

We are thankful for generous grandparents on both sides!

The stockings were full of clementines and apples 

which make for great entertainment and ready snacks!

It was a very lego Christmas! That kept them quiet and busy for a while. ;)

On the 28th in the afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa graciously opened their home to 8 more adults and 2 more kids for a "cousins" party.  If you're counting, that's a total of 14 adults and 10 kids. That is a lot of commotion. We took the kids to the park for a while and then came back to the house to visit and catch up. This was our first Christmas in Pennsylvania in two years so it was great to see family. 

Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed some snuggles with their newest granddaughter.

 

We were served the traditional Christmas brunch on Monday. 

Can you find Darin?

The whole gang! 

It was a whirlwind trip to the north. We even squeezed in a great visit with Darin's best friend from childhood and his family. There were sad farewell's on Monday afternoon. But the celebrating wasn't over yet...