Exciting New Year's Eve

We flew home today.  IT should have been easy--an 11:00 flight from Dulles,  get in at 12:30, home by 2:30, time to get some groceries to make dinner and maybe even pick up the movies waiting for us at the library.  

Mother Nature had a different idea and there was a snowstorm across Connecticut and Massachusetts.  The 12:30 flight was cancelled, but ours held on.  We had tried to take an earlier flight but you can't do that without extra fees unless your flight is cancelled.  So we left for the airport a bit after 9:00 and arrived to easy check in and an easy pass though security.  We sat down at our gate and when it was time to board...they shut the door.  That is never a good sign!  

A quick announcement that there was a mechanical problem, it will be about a 15 minute delay.  Each minute means that we are coming closer to needing to land at the predicted height of the storm (2:00), or for us, needing to drive in the worst of the storm.  We wait, and wait, and eat the sandwiches we packed, and finally they start to board again.  Oh wait, we really can't board because they have too much fuel!  They need to back the plane away from the building and remove some of the fuel.  We go to buy some tea and coffee.  Everything is set, but now they can't get clearance from Boston due to the storm.  We continue to wait.

Finally they get clearance and we board the plane.  Oh no!  They took all the fuel out of one tank and they need to be balanced.  We wait while they add fuel to one tank and remove fuel from the other.  At least at this point we are able to access the Jet Blue tvs so the kids are happy to wait.  

Even though we were warned that take off might be bumpy, it was not and the flight was uneventful.  Then we got to Boston and they needed to plow a runway between each flight landing.  So we circle, probably over Cape Cod if we could have seen it, and circle.  Then they need to change the runway they are plowing because the wind changed.  Finally, 3 hours after getting on the plane, our 1 hour and 10 minute flight is over.

The landing was smooth, the kids never complained, and although I know it was extra long they really did a great job of keeping us informed just enough.  All our suitcases came in, some covered with snow, but they arrived.  Then we just had to get to the car in overflow parking and find our way home.  By the time we got to the shuttle stop it was 5:00.  When we left home it was warm and was predicted to stay that way so we were a bit under dressed.  Teagan and I had brought our down vests, but Jeff and Braeden only had fleeces.  Teagan wore two long sleeved shirts, two fleeces, and her vest.  The kids and I all had gloves--Jeff's were in the car.

On our way to the car we passed News 7 reporting about the storm from the airport.  When we got to our car this is what we found.

Tire tracks, but no plowing.  This actually made it easier to get the car out.  This picture is what we needed to pull in to.
The front of the car warming up with the windshield wipers trying to clear the snow.
The car with Braeden trying to get around it.

Washington DC and a show

We went to DC with Meeps.  We were able to park at a Metro lot and take the Metro the rest of the way in.  We first went to the Ntional Gallery of Art to see their exhibit about Pompeii and some of the treasures found there.  It was fascinating.  We were also very excited to se some paintings by some artists we know from school as we walked through the galleries.

We enjoyed lunch at the Cascade Cafeteria and then went to the newly re-opened Museum of American History.  That was a disaster--there were long lines for everything we wanted to see and they don't seem to have the heat quite right yet so it felt over heated.  We did wait in line to see the White House copy of the Gettysburg Address writeen in Abraham Lincoln's own hand.  It was neat to see something that was written by him, especially to notice how beautiful his handwriting was, but you could also tell that he probably rushed a bit in most things that he wrote.  Given what he accomplished in his lifetime I am not shocked that he would rush a bit.  Dorthy's shoes from the Wizard of Oz had a much longer line and will be on display later, so we will go back to them one day.

We walked to see the White House and the Christmas trees.  The kids were shocked at how small the White House looked.  Then we tried a new restaurant for a snack before heading home.  We went to Founding Farmers, a farm to table restaurant with a co-op of 42,000 "family farms".

We went over to Riley and Logan's for dinner.  After dinner Teagan and Riley put on a show for us.

Teagan in front of Calder's Red Horse at the National Gallery of Art's sculpture garden.
Teagan at the inside view of the waterfall.
Braeden going from the East wing to the West wing and enjoying the changing LED light art piece as he travels the moving sidewalk.
Braeden and Teagan on the way back to the East wing.
Braeden in front of the Massachusetts tree.
Braeden and Teagan in front of the Vermont tree.
Braeden in front of the National Christmas Tree.
Braeden and the South Lawn of the White House.
Braeden and Teagan and the front of the White House.
Teagan playing the drums.
 Logan playing the guitar.

Braeden playing the drums.
Uncle John giving Braeden a lesson on drum playing.
Trying them out.

Teagan and Riley's show--first instruments and some dancing from Logan, then singing.

A movie day

We had a great relaxed day--a bit of dress up in the morning, out to lunch, meet Lala, Riley, and Logan for a showing of Bolt (in 3D), stop in a couple stores on the way back to the car, some more dress up, dinner together, and then we all watched Elf.

Teagan had a great time with Meeps' dress up clothes in the morning.
A store with great dress up clothes was going out of business, so of course Meeps needed to stop in after the movie.  Teagan and Riley were loving it--what isn't great about shiny pink pants and a pink sequined shirt?
Watching Elf--Braeden was astonished that Uncle John had not seen this holiday masterpiece!  Any grown person who feels that the four food groups are "Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup." is right up Braeden's alley!

Virginia Christmas

We flew down to Vrginia on the 27th to spend a second Christmas with Meeps, Lala, John, Riley, and Logan.  We had a full "late Christmas" Day--seen backwards here because I wasn't thinking when I loaded the pictures.

Teagan and Riley both ready for bed in their High School Musical pjs.
The kids made and then decorated cupcakes for dessert.  They used a lot of sprinkles and m&ms on each one!
Teagan, Lala, Logan, and Riley.
Logan decorating.  He would push his m&ms all the way to the bottom of his cupcake.  They didn't look to appetizing to the rest of us, but he was thrilled with the process!
Riley
Logan
Teagan
We went bowling in the afternoon.  We tried to go ice skating but it was too warm and the Reston Town Center rink was closed!  It was 65 degrees.  Lisa and Cheryl
Riley and John
Teagan bowling.
Teagan and the beautiful bowling balls.
Braeden and Logan.  Logan was the high scorer for the kids!
Opening presents in the morning.  Riley, Lala, and John opening gifts.
Teagan and Meeps open a gift.
Teagan got the doll she had asked for--pierced ears and all!
Teagan and Riley open gifts.
Some of the cousins--Logan prefered not to be photographed at this time.

Getting home

We got everything together and it looked as if it wouldn't fit in three cars.  As usual, Jeff worked his magic and managed to get everything in the car even leaving room for the five of us (Jeff, me, Braeden, Teagan, and Lily the bunny).  We headed down the road only to encounter a tree across the road--obviously a victim of the Christmas Eve windstorms.  We backed up to the house, got Steve and Bev and the four of us were able to move it to the side of the road.  It was a much tougher job than it might seem.  The road was icy (the sand truck had stopped here yesterday) so our feet could not grip and the tree did not have a lot of room to swing to the side of the road.  It was an exciting end to our trip to Vermont!  They will have someone come cut it up later.

No downed trees at our house, although our electricity went out while we were gone.

Christmas

Christmas Eve night turned out to be very windy with periods of rain.  The wind and a resulting power outage (short lived) set off a smoke/carbon dioxide detector at 3:15 am.  Luckily it was not a loud noise upstairs and the kids slept through that excitement.  Since Braeden had not been able to fall asleep until 1:30 that sleep was needed!

Christmas morning saw us struggle to keep them "reasonable" hour.  Since reasonable is different to everyone I will just say that we saw the arrival of dawn before we went downstairs.  We were all good enough this year for Santa to remember us.  He must acknowledge effort as well as actual behavior :)

Teagan carefully chose her outfit to go with her glittery red shoes and then forgot to pack the shoes!  SHe was thrilled to put on the outfit before she even saw if Santa had arrived! 

Santa came!
He brought Teagan a microphone.  She was thrilled we were unsure.
Stockings with lots of fun stuff.
A picture before opening the rest of the presents.
Beautiful gifts and quick moving kids.
Me reading about one of Teagan's gifts.  I was tired and always seemed to be a gift or two behind what was actually happening :)
Still opening.
Afternoon meant time for some sledding.  Braeden cruised down creating a trail,
while Teagan worked on getting to the top.
After sledding Teagan came in a put on her new High School Musical pajamas, robe, and slipper socks.  She stayed in them the rest of the day!
An attractive make-up job done by Teagan herself.  She asked Santa for make-up and High School Musical cards and he complied.