Thursday, January 21, 2010

"Through the Eyes of a Child" or "Why I'll Never Travel on Christmas Day Again"

In Calvin's words, "Christmas is the best day in my whole world."

Yes, the boys had a wonderful holiday this year. What little kid wouldn't enjoy a day like this:
  • waking up before 6am to find the loot Santa had left them
  • receiving more than one present that mommy had sworn they would never own- incredibly fast shooting nerf guns, HALO legos, and an XBOX game of their very own
  • discovering that Santa's reindeer really did eat all of the "reindeer food" Calvin had prepared at school and then scattered over the snow covered deck without asking
  • getting to ride on not 1, but 2 airplanes
  • playing all the v-smile they wanted while hanging out at the airport
  • staying up incredibly late with no naps
  • riding a sweet shuttle bus
  • arriving at a hotel with a swimming pool and free donuts

Just a few highlights from the grownups' Christmas day:
  • staying up late for... obvious reasons as well as packing for the trip
  • RB sifting through the snow on the deck trying to gather all the mini-marshmallows, chocolate chips, and pretzels (ie reindeer food) without leaving tracks
  • Christmas day, RB yelling at having words with an airline worker in a Santa hat about their carry-on policy
  • the Santa hat lady informing us we have too many kids
  • finding out someone was just arrested for trying to blow up a plane
  • the 2nd leg of our flight getting canceled
  • thanks to RB's shall we say persuasive nature, eventually finding a flight taking us to an unexpected destination, Denver
  • unpacking from our carry-on's not 1, but 2 new clean pairs of underwear for the boys because mommy couldn't leave all the luggage unattended to get to a bathroom while daddy was busy persuading
  • arriving past midnight in Denver to find the shuttle bus from the hotel only comes once every hour
  • forcing Calvin and Noah to go against all mommy's taught them and butt in front of everyone in line for the hotel shuttle because waiting in the freezing weather another hour wasn't an option
  • eventually arriving at random hotel where we would then wait 24 hours for our ride to Utah
Woohoo! Hooray for holiday travel. Alright, yes, I am whining. After the "getting there" part was over, we all had a wonderful time. We were able to see Uncle Joe get married and the boys got to try out skiing.

Spending time with family was of course, the best part. It was definitely worth the head ache of getting there, and I might even be up for doing it again sometime... maybe.

8 comments:

Nicole said...

Even as a nightmarish as that sounds, I still do not see it as a good enough excuse not to come visit us. I expect you to come down shortly.
Also I would like to see more skiing photos, another reason for you to come to Florida....my list honestly keeps getting longer.

Anne said...

Hahaha! I had a very similar airport/luggage/underwear experience when we flew back for Thanksgiving. Scott disappeared at the *wrong* time leaving me with a desperate child and too much luggage to get to the bathroom.

He casually sauntered back from wherever he'd been and said innocently, "What'd I do?" when I gave him the look of death.

But hey, that's the way memorable holidays are made, right? :)

LeeAnn said...

You're a better traveler than I am! I thought taking 1 child across the country was torture enough, but 3?! And you might be willing to do it again--you win. That was enough to cure me of ever wanting to travel with toddlers again. Glad you had a good holiday though:)

Anonymous said...

That makes me semi-thankful that we didn't have to travel around christmas time, the difference is...three kids to my one...glad they got to experience skiing! there's nothing like utah powder!

Dehner Family said...

How do you get such great pictures? That picture of your boys is awesome - Malcolm's face is hilarious. The best picture I've seen in a long, long time! I've been thinking a lot about my running buddies and wish we were all by each other so we could go for a Saturday run... Aw, the good old days!
I'm glad you survived your holiday travels. sounds crazy!

Our Family said...

I'm glad you survived the travel nightmare and made it to Utah. It was so great to see you. However, it's been bittersweet remembering how much I missed having you in my life on a daily basis. I think the world of you and your sweet family!

Tina said...

That is the best post! What a nightmare. Glad you had fun after you got there.

Becca said...

Wow! What an eventful day. I'm impressed you held it together!