Here's December the day before we left for Michigan, helping Mommy clean the bathroom. We went and visited my family for Brad's Spring Break
Here is Brad studying for his Hebrew Exam that he took on the day we left.
December and her cousin Makenzi, taken the day after we arrived. Mom and Dad picked us up from the airport that was 2 hours away from their house, and we ended up getting back to their house around 2:00am. That was a long travel day, but not nearly as long as our return trip.
My sister Kelli had come over to Mom and Dad's house to practice with my Mom for my cousin's wedding. Mom played the piano for it, and Kelli played the flute. So Kelli brought over December's three cousins, and they had a blast playing together!
Brad and I at the wedding...
Mom and December having December's very first tea party! Before we left, December had watched a video of Mom having a tea party with Makenzi, and she kept asking if she could have one with Grandma, too.
December pouring the "tea" (cold water). It's a good thing Mom uses water because December spilled it everywhere!
December blowing on the tea, to cool it.
Playing dolls with Grandma
...giving kisses to the doll
December playing piano with Grandma
The first Sunday we were there, my Mom's side of the family came over. December loved playing with all of the girl cousins! Sitting next to December are Danielle, Makayla, and Makenzi
Everyone got together to celebrate the people who had March birthdays. Here we are eating birthday cake around December's high chair. My cousins, from left to right, Makayla (in the front), Justine, December, me, and Tara. They are all such great girls!
Here's Justine playing with December. Justine does soo good with all of the little kids! She loves playing with them, and they all love her!
Making silly faces on the window ;)
Dad put up the trampoline so that the kids could jump on it, even though it's still fairly chilly there (according to our California sun-weakened bodies)
December having a blast as Justine helps her jump!
There's my little bundled-up girl! She's not used to getting all dressed up to go outside, so I had to take pictures of how cute I thought she looked.
December and Belle (my parents' dog) playing together. Belle LOVES to play fetch, and December LOVES to throw the ball to Belle. The only problem with that arrangement is that the farthest December has ever thrown a ball is about three feet...so December would throw as hard as she could, and the ball would just land at Belle's feet. Belle didn't even bother bringing it back to December. I enjoyed watching that immensely.
December and I right after coming inside from the cold
Almost a week after we got in, Mom and Dad took us up to see my brother Karl and my sister-in-law Maria's new house!
Everyone standing in a closet: my dad, Maria, Mom, December, Karl, and Brad.
Brad checking out the view from one of their bedroom windows
On Saturday night, Karl, Maria, Brad, and I watched the four cousins (December, Makenzi, Markus, and Emilia) while Mom & Dad and Kelli & Craig did a Youth Group event together. Here are December and Emilia hanging out together.
Emilia is such a cute little girl! Brad thinks so, too :)
The four cousins on the couch with Brad
Karl was picking them up and swinging them around, so here they all are, clamoring to get picked up next
Then they took turns hand-feeding Belle as Karl helped them. They all loved it, and Belle enjoyed all of the attention!
December's turn to feed Belle!
Later that night...three tired girls, all ready for bed!
Easter Sunday! Easter egg hunt downstairs in Mom and Dad's house because it's too snowy outside
December, Makenzi, and Emilia filling their Easter buckets
All the kids and their M&M-filled Easter eggs!
December apparently doesn't like the taste of this particular gummy candy, so she's spitting it out...
This was taken on the day we left...here's Mom and December singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" (one of December's favorite songs) while hitting sticks together to the beat of the song. December still talks about how she did this with Grandma and makes Grandma sing the song and hit sticks together when she talks to her on the phone.
Our return trip to Calfornia was pretty crazy! As I mentioned earlier, the airport we flew in and out of was 2 hours away from my parents' house. We left the house at 1:30pm to begin our journey. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5pm. All went well driving there, and Mom and Dad even stopped to let us eat at Tim Hortons! Our 2-hour flight to Atlanta went well, too, and December did well. She's a fairly good traveler. We arrived in Atlanta around 7:00pm, and we were scheduled to leave a bit after 9:00pm.
Thankfully, we were somehow put into first class when they assigned us our seats. It was fun! December and I sat together, and Brad sat four rows behind us. December slept the whole flight (waking up every 30min and fussing, wondering where she was), and Brad and I got a meal (!) and watched movies! All in all, not bad! However, just when we were about to land in San Diego, we were told (after circling around for a while) that there was too much fog to land. We had to re-fuel in Los Angeles, which is about 25 min away, they said.
When we landed in Los Angeles, the stewardess told everyone that we would need to take busses to the San Diego airport. We got off the plane at 2:30am (Michigan time/11:30pm California time) and gathered our luggage. After being bussed to San Diego airport, being picked up and driving home, we stumbled into our apartment at 7:00am (Michigan time/4:00am California time). Here's a picture of our travels:
2 comments:
I had SO much fun with you guys! Its too bad that your trip back home was so long. I really miss having you here. December sure has changed a lot since the last time I played with her (in August!!!). I can't wait til the next time you visit (although, that might be a while :( )
Thanks for all the wonderful pictures! It's so neat to watch all the kids growing up. It looks like you had a terrific time and a blessed Easter! The only picture missing was one of the lovely bride and groom ;o).
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