christmas 2012

This year we spent the holidays with all of Blake's siblings at his parent's home in San Antonio. In an effort to be as succinctly detailed as I can, here are some of the highlights (but be warned -- this will still be a long post):

Road Trippin'
We drove to Texas, and before you call us crazy, why don't you mentally calculate how much it costs to fly a family of five half-way across the country at Christmastime. Since taking a plane wasn't financially feasible, and since we already had a car, we packed it full and hit the road. Sure, it was two 15-hour days of driving (not including stops), but we survived and even managed to have a little fun along the way. We traveled through 13 states, first driving south along the Eastern Seaboard, then west through the Deep South. I particularly enjoyed driving through Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley, witnessing Garrett's first encounter with a thick Alabama accent ("I don't know what she said, Mom!"), and stopping briefly at the Atchafalaya Swamp in Louisiana. However, I did not enjoy that time when Caleb whined all the way through South Carolina.

 It was a rare but beautiful thing when the entire back seat slept at the same time.

The Atchafalaya Swamp

The Newnan Nays

My brother and his family live just outside Atlanta, Georgia, which, lucky for us, was exactly half-way between Brooklyn and San Antonio. So we stopped there to sleep and visit each way before getting back on the road. Riley, Chelsea, and Chloe were perfect hosts, especially since they let us crash there only two days after closing on their new home. By the time we arrived, those speed demons and already unpacked and set up pretty much everything, so all there was left for us to do with them was play. They first took us to an indoor play place called Monkey Joe's so the boys could run around and forget how cramped they'd been in the car. In the evening we convened on their back porch where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over their fire pit. I wish we could have stayed longer, but now that we know Newnan is only a 15-hour jaunt away, we'll have to visit again sometime.

 Garrett and Caleb monkeying down the giant slide at Monkey Joe's.

 Hot dogs roasting on an open fire.

Aunt Chelsea reading a bedtime story to Chloe and Matthew.

Cousins

Once in Texas, the boys quickly found their cousins. Lydia is a little bit younger than Caleb, and quickly attached herself to Garrett and Caleb. Abby and Hannah are almost exactly Matthew's age. Matthew mastered sitting our first day there, and he and the other babies spent most of their vacation playing together on the living room floor. Their personalities couldn't have been more distinct: Matthew was the happiest, Abby was the serious one, and Hannah was the most mobile, though by the end of our stay, Abby was also starting to get around; only Matthew seemed perfectly content to stay right where he was, and he often would for hours at a time.

 Building a gingerbread house. 

 Abby ("the baby with no hair"), Matthew, and Hannah ("the baby with hair").

All the cousins in Christmas pajamas: Lydia, Garrett, Matthew, Caleb, Hannah, and Abby.

Outside

The first few days were sunny and warm, and the boys spent much of them outside. They collected "treasures" in Grandma's backyard (acorns, leaves, rocks, etc), and continued their search at the neighborhood playground.

Treasure hunting in Grandma's backyard.

 And more treasure hunting at the playground.

Side note: Before that blue egg carton was a holder for the seeds, nuts, rocks, and other treasures Garrett found, it was, before he tore the lid off, a pretend laptop, with the lid as the screen and the egg slots as the keyboard.

 Happy baby in the swing.

 Matthew's first time in the grass. He loved it.

Caleb the tree climber.

Uncle Neil was a little unsure about being off the ground.

Christmas

One of the benefits of driving was that we could pack up Christmas and take it with us, so, happily for a few excited little boys, Santa was able to find us in San Antonio. I tried hard to make it a simple year, but even so, the boys still managed to clean up. Their big present this year were art boxes, filled with crayons, pencils, markers, paint, and enough paper to last them...well, a least a little while. Matthew got a BundleMe for his stroller as well as a sock monkey that I made him. Each boy also got a few books and needed articles of clothing.

On Christmas Eve we ate our traditional "walk around" dinner of appetizers, then read Luke 2 while the kids reenacted the Nativity. Matthew, as the only baby boy, starred as Baby Jesus, Caleb was Joseph, and Garrett was a shepherd. The kids then opened gifts of Christmas pajamas and posed in them in front of the tree before being herded off to bed. In the morning everyone waited patiently while our boys slept later than 6:00 am for the first time since our arrival, then we headed downstairs together. The boys were overwhelmed with the abundance and could barely keep pace. It was glorious.

 The stars of the Nativity.

 Matchy-matchy Christmas pjs.

 Santa came!

 Christmas morning.

SeaWorld

On one unseasonably cold day, Grandma and Grandpa treated everyone to a trip to SeaWorld. Garrett was in heaven! When I asked him what his favorite part was, he quickly told me that he loved the "shampoo" whales. I loved the dolphins, which were close enough to touch. And Caleb loved both the kettle corn that Grandpa bought and the kiddie whale roller coaster ("I want to do that again!!").

 Garrett with the "shampoo" whale.

"Shampoo" in action.

 Though they sure tried, it was next to impossible to entice the dolphins over without the promise of food to feed them.

This was the most fun Matthew had all day.

We bought the boys a pack of whale figurines, which Garrett almost immediately set to work building a pool for.

Family Pictures

Because it's a requirement of any family gathering, we all sat for family portraits. I don't have copies of the proofs yet, but I'm pretty sure they turned out great. Afterwards, because it's a long-standing family tradition, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for ice cream. A few of us started sharing bites of our chosen treats. Caleb thought that was a pretty great idea and so started offering everyone around him bites of his plain vanilla soft serve. He even gave a spoonful to Matthew, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever, and which Matthew also completely loved.

 "Open wide!"

"Don't mind if I do."

LBJ Ranch

Near the end of our stay we drove out to the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site. My cousin, Julie, and her family drove down from Austin and met us there. It was great to see her and meet her two darling little girls, Sofia, who Garrett thought was pretty awesome, and Eva, who was as much of a spitfire as Caleb. While the kids chased chickens and we toured the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm, Julie and I caught each other up on our lives and families. Then we all piled back into our separate cars to take the audio driving tour of the LBJ Ranch with a few stops along the way. The tour ended at the "Texas White House," where LBJ and Lady Bird lived when they weren't in Washington. The boys and I opted out of the tour so I could visit with Julie a little longer and so the boys could play with their second cousins, but what I did see gave me a new appreciation for Texas ranch lands.

City folk down at the ranch.

 Garrett and Sofia show off their collection of pecans.

 Me and Julie.

 Caleb and the Cow Pie: "Poopy!"

President Garrett, filling the shoes of LBJ at his presidential podium.

 President Caleb, who is planning to succeed his brother.

 LBJ's private presidential plane that Garrett deeply wished he could fly.

This only captures half of the new-found second cousins, but Garrett and Caleb really hit it off with Sofia and Eva. It was sad to see them say goodbye.

Happy Birthday, Blake

The day before we began the journey home, Blake celebrated his 32nd birthday. At a simple family party we watched him open presents, the best of which was a homemade puzzle from Garrett that he was on pins and needles with excitement to give to his dad (and Blake was equally as confused to receive). We devoured hot fudge sundae cake, then started up a rousing round of limbo in the living room.

 Trying to figure out what the bits of cut up pieces of paper Garrett gave him could possibly be.

 Trick candles require lots of help to blow out.

 Limbo!

Putting together the puzzle.

Unphotographed, But Still Memorable

• A trip to Texas wouldn't be complete with a visit to Fredericksburg. This one was brief, but I made sure to stop in at my favorite store, Things in a Room, where I loaded up on darling fabric and a yard of chalkboard cloth which I have since turned into a large drawing mat for the boys.
• Garrett had a few unfortunate experiences, including a case of pink eye, which required a trip to urgent care, and a splinter that, because of his sudden and extreme fear of tweezers and needles, was difficult to remove. It seriously took three adults to get it out -- two to pin him down and one to maneuver the removal of that stubborn little splinter. At one point he cried out, quite unexpectedly, "Mamma mia, here we go again!" which reduced even him to laughter for a moment before he remembered that he was freaked out and resumed his screaming. Eventually we got the splinter out, and Garrett realized (a little too late) that removing it wasn't as bad as he'd anticipated it being.
• One day, while my sister-in-law Kiersten was doing a bit of laundry, Garrett poked his head into the laundry room and exclaimed, "Wow, this is a small laundromat!" As if I needed further proof that I'm raising a city boy.

I'm sure there's more I could share about our trip, but this, I think, is plenty for posterity. The trip home was rainy but otherwise uneventful. It was strange to drive over the bridge and back into our neighborhood. I don't usually remember until I leave the area, but Brooklyn is a bizarre place. But it's good to be back. (And even better to be out of the car!)