Finally!
An update ... Try not to fall off your chairs!
Thanks to all of you who have been checking back often for updates... I've received your messages and I apologize that the update has taken so long. Honestly, it just seems that the evenings are so short and there have been other things I'd rather do than upload photos.
So without further delay, here's a look at our Christmas. We went to Minnesota again to spend Christmas with the K's. I was concerned about how the 3 hour flights would go with a toddler who doesn't like to sit for any lengthy period of time. The flight there went well, though not as planned.
The plan:
Eat dinner at the airport, let Cassidy run around to tire her out, nurse and give her a bottle on the way up at 6pm (only an hour earlier than normal bedtime), and she'd sleep for the whole flight.
The reality:
Dinner-check.
Cassidy running around-check.
Nurse ... nope. Not willing-we'd been working on weaning which we've now completed).
Give bottle on the way up-check.
At this point we deviated from the plan approximately 25 minutes into the flight when Cassidy finished the bottle (the only one I had packed) and looked up at us with wide open eyes and then sat up. Crap. In a last ditch effort to salvage the plan, we filled the bottle with water and shook it up to resusped the remaining powder and left over formula and offered her that ... nope. not happening.
So we spent the next hour and a half reading her books, letting her color with crayons (which she repeatedly bit the ends off of), prying crayon wax out of her mouth, and letting her get down to stand now and then. Luckily, we had changed our seats to the bulkhead which were still available so we had a bit more leg room. With about 45 minutes to an hour left, she finally tuckered out and fell asleep.
We had booked a hotel for the duration of our stay at the mall of america even though we only planned on spending a night on either end of the trip at the hotel (same price for all the days as for one on each end of the trip... go figure.) So it was a nice change not to follow the three hour flight with a car ride that usually takes about an hour and a half.
We spent thursday doing our christmas shopping at the mall of america and swimming at the hotel, and thanks to a blizzard that had started as we were flying in on Wednesday night, we stayed at the hotel again thursday night. Jeff's parents generously left us a car at the hotel, so we were able to take care of our shopping and make our journey a bit more leisurely. We arrived at Jeff's parent's home early friday afternoon in time for the family Christmas celebration.
Cassidy had fun hanging out with all of her cousins, and got to meet her twin cousins Zoe and Tristan, the latest addition to the K family.
Cassidy experienced snow for the first time and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She found it hilarious when Jeff threw snowballs at her tummy, but wasn't too fond of the sledding.
Thanks to the snow, we canceled our trip up to Duluth to see Pam and Lee's resort (check 'em out if you are looking to vacation up by Lake Superior! http://www.gardenwoodresort.com/)
So we just relaxed at Jeff's parent home until Sunday when we made our way back to the mall for more shopping and then back to the hotel.
On monday, we got together first with Amy, Nathan, Ingrid, and Kjell for a brief visit, and then spent the afternoon with Jamie, Jeremy and Sydney for more pool time!
Bill, Jen, and the kids came to swim with us, and Fred and Josie stayed over at the hotel to spend our last evening and morning with us.
The flight back home was a bit more eventful. We sat on the plane at the gate for 45 minutes while waiting for passengers from a connecting flight that was running late. During that time, we had a FUSSY little girl. We didn't want to give her a bottle before we took off or else we'd have no way to keep her ears from hurting from the pressure. So we did our best to distract her while we waited with snacks, crayons, and the sky mall magazine. Once we actually got in the air, Cassidy slept for about the first hour and a half. The second half of the flight, we managed to distract her barely long enough to prevent any major meltdowns and we landed just in time for a poopy diaper.
Next year we'll have to buy her a seat on the plane, so it should be more comfortable, but we'll also be facing the terrible twos.
Our B Christmas was on New Year's as usual and we celebrated with our traditional steak and lobster dinner (after Cassidy was in bed). I spent too much time opening gifts and watching Cassidy to remember to take photos. I'll try to do better next year!
