Christmas in CA cont. finally

Okay, so here we go finally with the last half our Christmas vacation in California. It is a lot, but hey, it is basically like a scrapbook of our vacation. I don't even have pictures on here from my step-dad or Jaci (my brother's fiance) so you can be grateful for that at least :-)

Friday- Nicholas wakes up early and helps Grammy with getting food out. Apparently he was very excited about all the presents he saw under the tree that my mom possibly bribed him with some candy not to open them, but to wait until everyone else woke up. It is Christmas afterall. I don't really remember what time we all got up, but it was still fairly early. The boys jumped right into opening presents. They couldn't stand it. We tried to get some adult unwrapping mixed in there, but that was hard to do. By the time all was said and done I think we were finished under an hour, maybe even less. The boys helped everyone unwrap their gifts and loved everything they received. They wanted to open everything right away. Most things we let them, but since we were going to ship the gifts back some things remained closed. The adults enjoyed their gifts too by the way. In between gifts we ate some breakfast and then did the stockings. It was so much fun to watch the boys this year as they were both so interested and excited about everything that was going on. We did, however, have to explain to Nicholas that the presents are not endless and that Christmas is not just about him or the presents, but about the birth of Jesus. He didn't seem too interested in that. Guess Burt and I didn't emphasize that enough. We definitely need to work on that.

Look at all the presents!

Traditional family pose in front of the tree.

Richard and Jaci

Me and my bro. We haven't taken one of these pictures in over five years I think it is. He is a goofball.

Friday evening- We headed to my step-dad's sisters house for Christmas dinner with the family. I wasn't feeling that great so I ended up sitting or laying on the couch most of the evening. I couldn't even enjoy the dinner or dessert, so sad. Everyone had to come to me if they wanted to catch up and chat. Fun times. The boys loved being able to run around in their big backyard and play with the old video games in the house. Mike also has a train set in the attic that is really cool. Nicholas could not get over that. He would have stayed up there all night if we would have let him. We had another round of opening gifts, then dessert and games. Mom and Jeff took the boys home with them and we went home with Richard and Jaci. It was nice to see everyone and how much the kids have grown up in the past three years I think it is. Crazy. I just wish I was feeling better, but everyone understood.

Saturday- Time to visit my dad and step-mom. We left around noon to head to their house hoping Joshua would nap along the way, but that didn't happen and he didn't want to nap there so we just let him stay up. We took some trains with us to keep them occupied some. My dad has horseshoes in his backyard so that was fun to watch the boys try to do and Burt too. We ate some yummy cheese and crackers and talked for awhile and then let the boys open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. More trains and a truck. That entertained them a little longer. We then ate dinner, with a little drama, but not much. Then we let the boys watch a little tv to settle them down. I was able to talk to Dad some by myself which was nice and then we had ice cream. Of course the boys jumped at a chance for that. After ice cream we played and talked a little more and then got the boys ready for bed since neither had had a nap and were getting pretty cranky. We left around 7pm I think. It was nice to see them and for the boys to see them again. We had a nice day. The boys passed out in the car and went right to bed when we got home. Burt and I stayed up a little longer and chatted with Richard and Jaci when they got home.

Nice ringer.

Nicholas liked to put dirt on top of the stand much better than playing horseshoes I think.

Uncle Richard helping Nicholas with his new puzzle.

At least Nicholas was trying to get a picture with Grandpa. Joshua wouldn't even do that.

Tuckered out from not taking a nap. He was beyond sleepy.

Sunday- Family picture day! No need to explain that. It did go pretty well though. The kids had lots of room to run around outside so that helped a lot. (A few pics are below. We have a ton more, but here are some teasers since this post is already way too long.) We then ate lunch at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) and then took the boys home. They both passed out on the way home so we all got to nap. I am not really sure what we did after that. Probably just hung out and played.

The whole family.

Trying to get the four of us.

The sweetest two boys in the world. I wonder what they were talking about.

Monday- We went out to breakfast at the Egg Plantation. They have hundreds of omelets to choose from among other things. It is really good and way too much food. The boys were a little restless, but did okay considering. While Joshua napped Burt took Nicholas to the park. He had been wanting to go back all week so this was his last chance. He had fun playing on the playground and playing with Thomas in the sand. After Joshua woke up Burt made them some hot chocolate. Fun times. Then for dinner we all met up and had yummy chicken and noodles. We were still all kind of full from brunch, but we weren't going to pass up the chance to eat this meal. It was delicious. After dinner we sat around and talked and enjoyed our last night together. It was a good day.

A pre birthday cupcake.
Thomas looks happy in the sand.

Loving them some hot chocolate.

Our little stacker.

Tuesday- Day to go back to Montgomery. We ate breakfast, played a little bit and then said our goodbyes. We left around 9am I think and headed to the airport. Once we got there we found out our plane from Dallas to MGM had been cancelled due to "snow" in Dallas. We then had to figure out how to get back home. The next available flight was two days later. The boys were ready to get home and I didn't want to have to do this all over again so we found a flight into BHM instead. This meant trying to figure out how to get back to MGM from there, but we would work that out later. We finally got checked in and headed on our way. Then there was more waiting. Our flight kept getting pushed back and the boys were getting restless for sure. Our flight was suppose to leave at 1pm, but we didn't leave until almost 4pm I think. Thankfully the flight to BHM got delayed too. We made it in time to catch that flight only to find out it would be delayed longer due to maintenance problems. Great. It was almost 10pm by this time. We did find a ride from a co-worker of Burt's which was a blessing, but we felt bad it was going to be so late. He didn't seem to mind. Thank you for that saving grace. We finally left Dallas around 11:30pm and made it to BHM around 1am I guess and finally home to our beds close to 4am. It was a long day that's for sure, but thankfully the boys weren't too crazy and we made it home in one piece. It was a wonderful vacation for sure, but not the best way to end it. Oh well, guess there always has to be some drama right......

So, there you have it, our Christmas vacation in a nutshell, haha. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. It was wonderful to be home for an extended period of time with all the family there together. We were able to spend a lot of quality time. What a blessing.