When I planned this trip to visit Carrie and family up in PA, I was still under the assumption that I would be on leave, the baby would be a dream to travel with, and PA would be on VA's snow schedule (none til after February)-->only one was correct. Jason could not have been a better traveler! He slept the whole way up (7+ hours) and still managed to keep to his regular nighttime sleeping hours! The other two assumptions were absolutely false--I was back at work a week early (by my choice) so everything about this trip was a little more frazzled than planned, and the snow gods dumped 8+ inches before we got there and an additional 5 the day after we got there!
Jason was a huge fan of Britton's Christmas present above--the purple bean bag chair. He snuggled down into it like a giant womb and sucked on his knuckes....ahhhh, bliss.
One could say that Sadie was less than thrilled by our visit: "Ummmmmm....remember when I wasn't happy that you brought one baby home? Now you are allowing six people into my house? Your wool rug will pay for this injustice."
Trying out the new snow bibs and boots!
Did I mention the bean bag chair? Excellent babysitter.
Climbing up the hill was a great workout for the kiddos.
My kids were thrilled to play in "real snow". The poor things didn't get one flake last year, and it seems that recent years just give us a dusting or icy pellets. So they were eager to build snowmen, go sledding, and throw a few snowballs at each other.
Even Aunt Kiwi got in on the sledding action.
Snow angels 101.
Garrett claimed he was in concert band, but his plastic trumpet skills told a different story.
Opening presents! We let the wrapping paper fly! Carrie outdid herself this year with clothes for all the kids, video games, gift cards, a mountain of books for Caroline, and jewelry for me (and who can forget my new coffee mug from the Cranberry Township Historical Society)! My most favorite present was a necklace with all four kids' initials on it. Little did Carrie know that I had been marking my "favorites" of mother's necklaces on Etsy for a few weeks and she actually ordered the necklace from one that I had marked! It must be the twin telepathy.
The kids were so sweet with Sadie that it makes me actually want to get another dog.
Caroline took baking lessons from Aunt Kiwi. Orange scones first, then an impromptu lemon cake that was better than Starbucks!
Getting her practice in! Baby boys are awesome :)
Love this pic of me and my little guy. You can also see my new necklace above!
"Ummmm, guys? My butt fell asleep in my car seat an hour ago and I'm getting tired of staring at the same dangly toys. Can we just hurry up and get home? I have a swing to get in."
So close yet so far! This the the Harry Nice bridge, which connects Maryland to Virginia. It is our ONLY way home from the Maryland side (King George is on the other side of it). I pointed out to Tim that there was a row of red brake lights as we neared the toll booth. Luckily, we only sat for a few minutes before inching forward. Turns out that two cars rear ended at the top of the bridge (in the other lane, thank God). So while we were only delayed for a couple of minutes due to rubber-neckers....
The lane headed from Virginia to Maryland was backed up for over 4 miles! (See that line of white headlights? Not going anywhere fast, let me tell you!). I felt sorry for all of those cars (and there were a ton of them) but I was eager to get home too! We had some long hours on the road, but had a great time seeing Carrie and her family!
