Christmas in the Northwest

  I'm finally getting around to our epic trip up to the great northwest.  I have already blogged about some of the things we did so those are not included here.

 

Warning:  LOTS of pictures.  May zap your energy just looking at all we did.  Just thinking about it makes me want to take a nap.  :)

 

  Not really, but we did do a lot!  Enjoy!

 

  Mama took 3 kids on the airplane by herself.  I got a lot of looks and half-smile/smirks.  I'm sure there were comments, but thankfully I didn't hear any of them.

  All that to say, the kids did amazing.  As soon as the plane landed, the praise came flooding out of the mouths of those around me.  When we were about to leave the plane, Joel started crying (really loud) because he wanted to drag Calvin's luggage.  Everyone thought it was just the cutest thing.  Had that happened before the plane took off, I'm pretty sure they would have started to reach for their headphones.

 

  Okay, so we made it to Seattle, but how were we going to fit in a BMW 325 hatchback?  Let's just say, I know how to shake and shimmy things in.

 

We stayed at my sister's until Mike and Hannah came in town a couple of days later.

 

Welcomed to Seattle with snow.

  Dinner at Gung Gung's and watching the Seahawks.  This was one of the most relaxing moments in Seattle and felt the most normal.

 Christmas morning in Portland with the cousins.  They are my first cousins, but Hannah and Calvin refer to them as "my cousins in pote-lin."

Let the plethora of presents begin.

  Ava was basically held the entire time we were in Portland.  This is the first of many times she fell asleep in someone's arms.

  My grandparents and their 5 kids.  Everyone still congregates at their house for a won ton lunch and then opening presents.  This is very much a part of my childhood Christmas.

 

More presents.

Me with almost all of the cousins.

  Christmas dinner was somewhere else.  These have to be hidden or else they are gone before dinner.

 

We love California rolls and food in general.  Time to insta!  :)

Popo and her latest great grandchild.

  Back to Seattle.  My mom got the kids scooters and we went to the skate park at Jefferson park.  It was FREEZING this morning.

It was a giant hole.  I can't believe kids skate on this!

 

  After the skate park we went to the newly remodeled and opened Rainier Beach pool.  It is SO nice!  The water in this kid's area is 90 degrees and so perfect for kids and sitting around in.  There was a nice smiling picture of Mike and his boys, but this one was funnier!

Ava's first time in a pool.

More Christmas!  This time with Mike's side of the family.  7 grandchildren from 2 families.

So many presents and Calvin was sooo excited about the sucker.

 

 

So fun for the cousins to play!

Time to head home.  It's about 5:30 am in this shot.

 

 

  We did a lot of seat juggling on the flight home.  It seemed to be a seamless flight, we even saw San Francisco.  Then, the captain announced over the intercom that we couldn't land in San Jose due to dense fog and so we were going to do circles until the fog cleared.  About 20-30 minutes later, the next announcement was that we were going to land in Oakland because the fog hadn't cleared and we needed to refuel.  We landed in Oakland and they let people get off of the plane.  However, they did not keep track of who got off and were not getting back on, so we ended up sitting on the runway for 20 minutes while they sorted out the numbers.  We were supposed to land at 8 am, we did not land until 10:35 am.  Fortunately, our kids did great and we were home by noon.  Makes for another great airplane story, we all have them.

 

  You made it to the bottom.  If you are still with me, wow, you really love us!  :)  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!