Trip Home

Christmas was great. Enjoyed the evening with the Dennis's then Chirstmas day we went to Brian and Bridget's. Enjoyed the time there ... good food and got to see more Family. Barbie and Mike were there, David Brown, Eric, our kids (Kelly and I of course), the Rexroth kids, and a couple Barbie sits with. The chefs did an excellent job with all the food. Good thing I'mnot counting calories (although I probably should).

We were thinking about heading out Saturday evening for home - maybe take advantage of one more trip to Dollywood. However the weather was going to be quit chilly, so I was reluctant to try that. Ended up going to Columbus, trying out the Spaghetti Warehouse and then going to COSI for the afternoon. So we stayed at Eric's and left out this morning. The trip is suppose to take 8 hours of driving, but we usually can count on 10 hours. Kelly started driving and traffic was pretty good. I took over somewhere in WV and all was good 'til we can out of the 2nd tunnel and in VA. People just need to learn how to drive! I was ready to experience some road rage. I realize the holiday traffic will cause some congestion, but there were no accidents or construction delays. So people were just braking to see red lights like they were missing Christmas already! Come on ... learn how to drive. It was stop and go, 70 MPH. then 5 MPH all the way through VA. I get mad just thinking about it.

Thankfully that was pretty minor and the only "problem" we had over the holidays. Had a great time with my brother and it was the best traveling our family has done in quite some time. COSI was really cool. Hate that Seth was sick over the week end but we got to do Christmas together. Hope he really enjoys his Penn State chair.

Merry Christmas

I'm sitting here at my brother's computer - it's almost 9 on Christmas morning and no one else is up. I laid in as long as I could - maybe 7:30. We exchanged gifts yesterday, so maybe everyone is wore out from the excitement. Come to think of it, neither one of my boys took a nap yesterday. But I just feel better in the mornings, so I'm up and ... actually thought to blog.

For the trip up here, we packed most of our clothes the night before. Then, I got up around 5:30 to load up the van, and amazingly, we were on the road by 7:40! I was able to drive the entire way, so Kelly and the boys could rest, read, or entertain themselves with a movie. The boys also had their games (Leap Frog & V-Tech). The past year or two the trips to Ohio have been extremely long and/or aggravating. Not this time thank the Lord! Maybe I can convince Kelly to always leave this early - she hates the early morning but she did pretty good this time.

Christmas Eve we opened presents at Eric's house. He got the kids the night before so we were able to spend some time with them. Eric & Kelly started breakfast, I started getting Ericca's kitchen set laid out for assembly. Then we ate and Eric & I put the kitchen set together. The kids had a little time to play, then we ran to the store and then to Annette's. Eric usually does Christmas Eve with the Dennis family so we crashed the party this year. They fed us good and then surprised us with gifts!

I had to order Seth's gift - he is decorating his new room with Penn State and you can't find much in NC or OH with PSU. Since I ordered it late I had it shipped to Eric's and it came while we were at Annette's. I ran over to Eric's twice to see if UPS had delivered yet. It was a blow up chair with the PSU colors and logo. It cam with a small foot pump and several of us worked to get it pumped up. Seth seemed to enjoy the chair - he sat in it the rest of the night. A couple of the kids jumped all over him but Seth handled it very well. We hung out for 8-9 hours, then back to Eric's.

Seth & Ericca went back to their mom's for Christmas day. They will be back tomorrow. We are going to chill at Eric's and then go over to Barbie's house this afternoon. I like not having to run around so much. This is nice. I would like to see if we can catch Uncle Roger before we head back to NC.

Merry Christmas to all my blog followers. I think there are 1.5 of you out there - LOL. Maybe when I get my new phone I'll post more ... maybe.