It Will Be Winter at Gaga's and Grandpa's House

Ruby, Ada, and I had a nice long Christmas/Winter Break from school this year.  Unfortunately, since Steve recently started his job, he did not have much time off.  The girls and I flew up to Minneapolis a few days before Steve and flew back a few days later than Steve.  Because of the logistics of flying in and since Steve was coming for the middle of our trip, we spent a few days in RF, a few in Winona, and a couple more in RF.  We would have loved for Steve to have spent the entire trip with us, but it all worked out and we had a great time.

From Winter 2014-15

I am pretty used to traveling alone with the girls and it is usually fairly easy, but we were fortunate to live 10 minutes from the airport in STL and it was a quick 1.5 hour flight.  As we drove 1.5+ hours to Dallas, Ruby couldn't understand why "it was taking SO long" to get to the airport.  The way there went fine, but we had a short layover in KC so it was just a looooong day of traveling.  Our trip home was even longer due to a longer layover and delayed flight in Chicago.  We got back to our house in Waco at about 10pm after leaving my parents house at 9:30am.  Oh, and just for the record, neither girl slept a wink either of those days.  You'd think they'd crash driving back to Waco from the airport in Dallas IN THE DARK.  But you would be wrong.  I vowed next time we will have direct flights or fly out of Waco.

We were able to visit with lots of family and friends up north and, as always, we are so grateful for those times.  We got some good family pictures (but of course forgot to take lots more)!

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

 Sorry to anyone who's pictures we're lacking.  I always feel bad when I go to blog only to realize that I don't have any pictures of people so important to us :(

We decorated Gaga's tree, read books, played inside and out, crated lots of arts and crafts, watched movies, ate good food and yummy treats, and gave the animals oodles of attention.

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

Ada is definitely an animal lover, but she is still quite afraid of dogs up close.  She warms up to them after a couple days, but I'm not sure she's ever 100% comfortable.

From Winter 2014-15

Ruby, however, likes both the dogs and the cats.

From Winter 2014-15

Ada was in love with Dora (and Benji when she'd get a rare-sighting).  Up until this visit Dora was pretty annoyed when we'd come, jealous of the attention Ruby and Ada got.  This time she figured out Ada would shower her with attention and treats, and she seemed genuinely happy when we came back from Winona!

From Winter 2014-15

The girls were expecting snow, which may have been our fault.  They kept asking when it was going to be winter so we may have told them there would be snow when we went to Gaga and Grandpa's house!  They did run around in a few flurries one of the first days but it was a brown Christmas.  We finally got to play in "real" snow the day after Christmas.  Ecstatic to see the white world, they put their snowsuits on over their jammies and headed out as soon as they woke up!

From Winter 2014-15

We all did a little sledding in Winona.

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

Sledding Winona from Steven Nelson on Vimeo.
(Maybe that is why Charley wasn't a big fan!)  Grandpa Steve pulled both Ruby and Ada around for a long time back in RF to chants of "Faster, faster!". Sledding RF from Steven Nelson on Vimeo.
It wasn't really snowman snow, but we still figured out a way to use our cool new snowman kit!

From Winter 2014-15

From Winter 2014-15

After the plastic ice rink in Waco, we had to find a time to skate on ice.  I wasn't real confident it would be smooth sailing skating, but everyone did great!  Ada was on single blades, and while she always wanted to hang on to a hand or be carried (what's new!), she was able to stay on her feet and keep moving!  Ruby landed on her butt several times, but never got discouraged, just got right back up and kept trying.  Quickly, she didn't even want any help and insisted on skating around the rink by herself.  Always observant, she even attempted some of the tricks she saw a few girls doing- a spin and one foot! Ice Skating from Steven Nelson on Vimeo.

From Winter 2014-15

Sadly, we were not able to avoid a trip to the doctor's office.  This happens every. time. we. go. anywhere.  Ada had a bit of a cold and started with a horrible cough.  I really didn't think much of it at first, but after a full day of her not being able to sleep because of the constant hacking I decided I should take her in to the clinic.  I figured they'd either a.) say it's just a cold or b.) give her a breathing treatment to help the cough and sleep.  But it was c.) she had an ear infection.  Wah, wah, wahhhh!  She never once complained her ear or did anything to lead me to think she was having ear issues.  Luckily, she perked up by the next morning with the antibiotic.  This is the first infection since getting tubes a year and a half ago.  We just finished up some ear drops that hopefully cleared the tubes out so I am crossing my fingers she will be healthy here on out!

This post has gotten long enough (I should have a giveaway or something for anyone who actually reads this all the way to the end!) so I will save Christmas day and a few other stories for another post! Over and out!