Well, after months of waiting, we were finally able to make our trip to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It was a terrific trip. We have so many fun memories and pictures, I believe I'll share a few. I hope you find it. . . entertaining.
Every time I've flown with the kids before, I've insisted on non-stop because I just thought that would be easier (and I've been alone for much of it and I had the most horrible thoughts about getting separated in the airport. . . *chills* . . . I can't even get into it. . . ) Anyway. This time, we planned a stopover and the flights went much better. Of course, Ryan was with me and Annie is old enough to behave herself, and I know that helped. I was a little concerned, however, when as we were waiting for the first flight, Rhett was a little squirmy and fussy and I was holding off the nursing until takeoff. Well, the man in front of me turned around, glared at me, and grumbled something offensive. I've never been good at quick witty responses, so none were made. I seriously can't believe how rude some people can be. Have they honestly forgotten what it's like to have little kids? Rhett was 5 months old, for Pete's sake! But I guess I can't be too judgmental about rude people, since I ran over some poor lady's injured foot in the airport and she's probably blogging as we speak about how rude young harried mothers are with their big fat sport-utility strollers.
So, we left Salt Lake at 6 AM and flew to Dallas. We had three hours at that airport and before you gasp and wonder how we handled that, I'll tell you: It was a cinch! Possibly the best part of the trip. Here's what we did: We rode the super tall escalators a few times, spent a good half hour and an undisclosed amount of money in the Dallas Cowboys store, ate some yummy barbecue, and rode the airport train for an hour. The kids stood up in front and enjoyed every second of it. We circled the airport more than once and entertained many a passenger with our "ooooooooohs" and "ahhhhhhhs" and "MOMMY!! THIS IS SO MUCH FUNs."
Here they are on the Dallas Airport Train.
Carson never turned around once. He LOVED it.
Anyway. On the second flight, we had a row of three seats together and the seat directly across the aisle. We decided (since Annie did so well on the first flight and this one was shorter) that we'd try her in that aisle seat and we'd move her if we needed to or if we thought she'd be uncomfortable with whoever ended up being her seat-mates. As you can see, she was just fine. She kept cracking us up. She was talking to this poor lady the whole time, drawing pictures, asking the lady to draw with her, etcetera.
Annie and her very patient, very kind seat-mates.
Thank you wherever and whomever you are!
My daughter. Hilarious. During take-off, we heard "this is the part that makes my tummy tickle" from across the aisle. At one point during the flight, we apologized to the lady and told her she didn't have to be so polite. Annie could leave her alone. Nope, she said. Just fine. She had taught school for 25 years and was just fine, thank you very much. At this point, I relaxed and enjoyed watching out the window as my home state came into view. . . nostalgia. . .
Little did we know that the fun was JUST beginning. Unbeknownst to us, my younger brother Tim (who just passed the Massachussetts Bar exam, by the way--YAY!) had decorated the inside of his car. And I mean DECORATED. Christmas tree lights, my mom's vintage ornaments (she wasn't too happy about that). The kids were thrilled, and even I couldn't believe my eyes. Annie told me later that people passing them on the highway were taking pictures of their car. And Tim told us later that he blew a 15 amp fuse.
Uncle Tim's festival of lights. An instant hit!
We stopped at Vinny's (a massive garden center with hundreds of lit trees, ornaments, decorations, and RUDOLPH!!!! the talking reindeer to whom Carson and Annie spoke for a moment) on the way to my parents' house. Carson was so funny. He was rocking back and forth from foot to foot because he was nervous.
Here Carson is with Grandma and Aunt Gretchen.
Well, our caravan of three cars finally arrived at the house and we got all settled in. It felt so good to be home. My mom had put up her Christmas tree already and the hot tub was waiting for us. My parents decided to put a hot tub on their roof. It was soooooooo nice to sit there and relax (well, as much as you can relax in a hot tub with a 2 and 5 year old in it) and listen to the waves at night. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
The kids in the hot tub. Very relaxing and fun!
On Sunday, my mom brought out a belated birthday ice cream cake she had bought for Ryan. But, having forgot the candles, we did the best we could. We figured with the 6, the 4, and the other 17 candles, we got about as close to 35 as we could get (27, I think). Happy belated, Ryan!! And yes, we put that huge ice cream cake away! It was yummy!
SO yummy! Love ya, Ry!
On Monday morning, everyone went back to work except my sister Sam and my Dad. So the 7 of us headed off to the Norwalk Maritime Center. We had so much fun. We took the kids to the IMAX production of the Deep Sea. As you may recall, Annie has a very deep and sincere love for jellyfish and she was soooo excited to see this film. We had to laugh, though, because when the lights went out, movie began, and the theater quieted for just a moment, a small Carson voice could be heard: "I scaowed." No matter, Papa Foof was there and they watched it together. At one point, one jellyfish was being devoured by another, and at a pause in the sound, we heard a little Annie voice exclaim, "That's so rude!" Yes, eating a fellow member of your species (or genus--which is it?) is quite rude, I guess. Anyway, we saw a lot of cool stuff: turtles, sharks, sting rays, penguins, and an area where they had live shellfish native to the CT shores for the kids to touch. Fun time.
Aunt Sam, Annie, Carson, and Ryan.
Such a shocker that Annie chose the jellyfish!
Probably not very nice to do to Annie, but was a little funny!
Annie, Carson, and Papa Foof checking out Nemo, Dori, and a few others.
This is how Rhett spent the day: in his stroller staring at Papa Foof.
Apparently, it was also an exhausting time, because the kids just crashed that night, as you can see, in the middle of what they were doing. So cute!
Carson face down and smashed in the cars.
Probably no place he'd rather be!
No explanation needed.
On Wednesday, we helped Grandma Foof make pies and I made 96 (yes, you are reading that correctly) rolls. We were so exhausted and decided to order pizza. Now, you may have heard me talk about east coast pizza before. Suffice it to say I was in heaven. We had it a few times while we were back there and I have to say, my personal favorite was the sausage (crumbled, not the little stuff), red & green peppers, and onion pizza we ordered on our last night there. It was SOOOOO good. This is a picture of my dad's slice of cheese (a la Foof--meaning, covered in jalapeno slices). He actually ate it. Gross! The man loves his hot peppers!
Pizza a la Papa Foof!
Thanksgiving was fun. Yummy, of course, but fun too. We played games and ate till our sides threatened to burst. Rhett was kind enough to nap through dinner, so I actually had a warm meal!
First thing Abe and Kate's dog Harry did was take off with my mom's porch decor.
It was so funny but I don't think my mom shared in the laughs.
Harry is always a big hit with the kids and you can see why.
He has a GREAT sense of humor!
The day after Thanksgiving, we loaded up into three cars to venture off to acquire a Christmas tree. As I mentioned, my mom put up her artificial tree that she bought last year. I know it was a difficult decision for her as we have traditionally cut down our tree every year that I can remember. It's always been a day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. My sister Sam and her boyfriend Andrew wanted to cut one this year and my parents decided they'd also cut one for the kids to decorate with homemade ornaments. So that's what we did.
Uncle Jeremy, Annie, and Aunt Gretchen
buckled in and all ready to go!
Ryan, Andrew (Sam's boyfriend), and Uncle Jeremy's bum.
The fam
(minus the infant who would've fit perfectly into that last hole)
at Jones Tree Farm.
Can you see how wet we all were
(and this was having been under an umbrella most of the time).
But his spirits don't appear dampened!
The only downside was that we got SOAKED--and I mean SOAKED--at the tree farm, as you can see from Carson's picture above. But, we dried off and enjoyed a nice warm enclosed porch with the beach view for our creative afternoon! And we had Thanksgiving leftovers and made homemade ornaments for the rest of the day. The kids really enjoyed this and I do believe the tree came out nice. And thank you to Aunt Beth for watching Rhett while we went to the christmas tree farm.
Here is Annie "helping" Uncle Tim with the lights.
Carson with the finished product. Very creative.
Several games and Christmas movies later (including home videos of Christmases past--awesome), it was the day to leave. We were so sad (probably no one more than me) to leave because we'd had so much fun. I dressed the kids in their Christmas outfits and we all took some pictures. Here are some of them:
And a lovely "outtake" photo for you to all enjoy:
On the flight home, Annie helped cheer me up by continuing her in-flight shenanigans. For the first flight, we were on a jet that had one seat on the left side of the aisle and two seats on the right. So Carson and Rhett and I sat in the two seats (can't have a lap-riding infant in the one seat), and Ryan and Annie each had their own single seat on the left. At one point in the flight (we were getting close to Chicago for our stopover), I could see Annie looking out the window and chattering to herself. It was total random speech but really loud--each sentence connected to the next by one common thread. I figured, however, she had been sooooo good, I would just let her enjoy herself. The speech went something like this: Ooooh, look down there! It's a town. I wonder if there's dogs there. We have a dog named Jack. But Maisey is in the back with the horses. We have a garden. My mom put tomatoes in jars and grapes too. I like green AND purple grapes. And my mom eats TONS of grapes and tomatoes. And that's my mom with Rhett and Carson over there. My brother Carson is silly. And we play with toys. I love Barbies. I want a Barbie computer for Christmas. I like Christmas lights. And on and on and on and on. I started to realize that perhaps she wasn't talking to herself (but she was staring out the window!) Well, I paid closer attention and heard little responses like "oh! That's interesting," and so forth and then I realized that she'd been talking the ear off of the person sitting BEHIND her through the crack between the seat and the window. I had let her prattle on for a good half hour--maybe longer. I was really embarrassed but once again reassured by my fellow passenger that it was really okay. Thank goodness for cheerful travellers, that's all I can say. What a contrast to that grinchy ole grouch from the first flight!
Well, we only had an hour in Chicago. I much preferred the three hours in Dallas. Fortunately we had time to grab some dinner, go potty, and feed the baby and still pre-board. Phew! This pilot was not only hilarious, but actually let Annie check out the cockpit and paid attention to her for a few minutes. I'm sure she liked that. When we arrived, we were tired but happy. Grandpa Droubay was waiting for us and we headed home! What a FUN trip!
Papa Foof with his Cowboy Boys!
Here we are baking cookies.
This party always marks the beginning of that 48-hour festival of food, family, fantasy, and fun known to this family as Christmas.
This was the coziest Christmas Eve scene: 
. . .a new set of Christmas pajamas for the kiddos.
A couple of years ago, I started taking pictures of the kids in the morning (in their Christmas pajamas) waiting for the "green light" from dad. Unfortunately, my so-so camera skills coupled with their Christmas morning ecstasy enabled me to only get ONE non-blurry picture--and although they appear a tad bit grumpy, I can assure you that only the opposite was true: 
This year was no different.
Annie in her little office--she literally sat there for hours.
Here he is totally relaxed
Cute Cute Cute!
Here are Annie and Gretchen playing
I don't know what game this was,
First of all, this shot reminded me of the early Christmas present that Carson gave me: I had decided that my project for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be to potty-train Carson. It took a day or two. SERIOUSLY. Best gift ever.
I kept trying to get pictures of all three kids. . .
And all three kids in Santa hats. Best I could do was this one!
The week between Christmas and New Years is one for relaxing.
Rhett was going through this
Words are not necessary. But I DO know I'm biased. . .
Wonder if Santa is missing an 
Another of our favorite holiday traditions includes dinner out on New Year's Eve with the Droubay family and then the par-tay at Oma and Opa's afterward. Here is Oma with the great-grandkids del Rico.
Swing, Carsie, swing!
