A Glimpse of Christmas Travels

On Christmas Day the three of us travelled down to Seattle to catch our flights to Michigan to visit my family. When we got to the airport Aidan found these water jugs rather fascinating to play with. They orginally started against the wall in a row and when he was done with them he had them scattered. It was rather funny to watch because he was concentrating so hard and he seemed to know exactly where he wanted to put each one.

Our flights were rather uneventful (which is always a blessing) and we arrived to snow welcoming us.

After we had been at my parents for a couple of days we all packed into the minivan and travelled to Illinois to meet up with my mom's side of the family. This was the first Christmas with both grandparents gone. So the family decided to still get together and just all stay at the same hotel. The hotel had a pool that Aidan found tons of fun. The pool was off of the breakfast area and every morning Aidan would stand at the windows just wanting to go in. One evening Jamie took him in and he was thrilled (as you can tell by his face). We were only in Illinois for Friday and Saturday and then returned to Michigan. It was good to see family and Aidan really travelled well. He kept us all entertained in the car.

This was the first Christmas in 4 years that it snowed while we were in Michigan. We had bought Aidan snow pants especially for this trip in hopes that there would be snow. Papa and Jamie took him out in the front yard for his first sled ride. At one point, Jamie took a corner too fast and Aidan toppled out face first in the snow. He, of course, was NOT impressed but was willing to get back on the sled for another try. (What a big boy) Both my dad and Jamie thought that if we had had proper gloves for him he would have loved to stay out longer but I couldn't find the gloves I had brought him so we used socks instead.

My brother seemed to warm up to Aidan this trip. Aidan would always wave and smile at Ben and when he waved and smiled back Aidan would smile and laugh. I don't know what was so interesting about Uncle Ben but Aidan was determined to win his heart this year. So, the day before we left they were sitting next to each other on the couch and to decided to take the opportunity to snap some pictures.

Last year we tortured Ben but taking some pictures of him with Aidan and my mom had put on on her cell phone as her background. She said she needed an updated picture so this was one of her options.

Uncle Ben was leaving for Israel the day before we left for a school trip. His bible class offers this 2 week trip and he decided it would be a fun trip to go on. We all are very excited for him in going and can't wait to see pictures when he returns. For my parents, this is a foretaste of what it will be like next year since Ben is senior and will be leaving for Capernwray Thetis Island next September. I am sure they will be quite the party animals :)

We are back home now and ready to start back into the daily life. It was a great trip and thanks to mom and dad for all the great food and good times. It won't be too long before we see them again.