Saturday, February 11, 2012

Christmas 2011

Ok, so I'm completely lagging on updating this blog. It's February and I'm just getting to Christmas stuff. What can I say, life keeps going!

This Christmas was a spoiled Christmas, for sure. The kids got everything under the sun and "Santa" decided to drop the Chidy Fam an X-Box Kinect. Still need to have words with him on that one. Alyssa got her Fijit Friend and a new Karaoke machine and Katelynn got a new little clubhouse with a slide.



We spent Christmas morning at home with Uncle Tim and Auntie Carolyn, then we jumped in the van at 4 am the next morning and high tailed it up to Vancouver, Washington to spend some time with Jason's family. Road Trip! The kids were serious troopers. Alyssa can go forever as long as she has a laptop, her ipod, a good book and some road snacks. We discovered that the only thing that would keep Katelynn quiet for a decent amount of time is the portable DVD player with Elmo in Grouchland playing on a constant loop. It's a high-tech generation for sure.

We drove all day and stopped for the night in Redding. I was supper excited to drive through Oregon, since I had never even been north of the Bay Area. Of course it rained all through or drive on the second day and I could hardly see anything. Sadly, I didn't get to take pictures of anything. We stopped in Eugene to visit with Jason's grandparents and have a well deserved pit-stop. From there we made it through Portland, which looks awesome at night with all the lights and bridges, and into Vancouver where Jason's brother Aaron and his family live.

The Chidester Family



The whole Chidester family was there; Uncle Aaron, Aunt Shannon, Andrew, Rachel, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Sally and Auntie Sarah. It was awesome to have everyone together for the holidays. The kids were so excited to see each other! Alyssa and Rachel were joined at the hip until we left. It rained crazy pretty much the entire time we were there (welcome to the Pacific Northwest) so we played a lot of board games, ping-pong and went shopping a lot.

Cousins!


BFF's

Balloon Fight!





Auntie, look at me when I'm talking to you.

Grandma on her Birthday with her Grand kids

The trip back home was a bit rough. It was supper foggy, so again, no sight-seeing of any kind through Oregon. We had a nice stay at Grandpa Bob's for New Years Eve, we were all so beat that we passed out as soon as midnight hit. Back on the road heading for Southern Cali, the kids were pretty well done being stuck in the car, even Elmo couldn't make Katelynn happy. Finally we were back home and happy to be in our beds. It was an awesome trip and so great to see the family. But I think next time, we will fly.....just sayin'.