Christmas 2008

Hayden trying on Papa's hunting hat

Olivia loved holding Ava

Josh and my little dolly Ava

Hayden checking out one of his new books

Grandma and Ava

Two rivals with their new flags

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Ava after she rolled over for the first time! Bi Bi saw her, but I missed it. :(

Bi Bi (grandma Dawn) got Ava special wrapping paper for her first Christmas. She got the other grandkids special wrapping paper too.

Cole (Josh's cousin Mandy's baby) and Ava. They were so cute together and seemed really interested in each other.

Hayden coming over to check out Cole

Hayden in the hotel not ready to get up

Papa and Ava

Grandma and Ava

Our Christmas adventures started on the 17th of December. We had planned on leaving the 18th, but bad weather was on its way so we decided to get going a day earlier. Our first stop was Muscatine, Iowa where we had Christmas with my family. Everyone was able to make it despite the icy weather the day before. On the 21st we headed out after breaking two ice scrapers and loading up. We picked up Louis and Carly (Josh's brother and his girlfriend) in Iowa City and started the long trip to Colorado. At 11:30 pm we stopped somewhere in eastern Colorado for the night. We were able to make it to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where Josh's mom lives by early afternoon on the 22nd. On the 24th everyone ventured out to either ski, snowboard, or go to the spa. Carly and I decided to go to the spa where we got pumpkin wraps, massages, and pedicures. It was a nice day. Hayden went to the resort daycare for the day (next year they will add skiing to the day of activities) while Josh tried snowboarding and Ava was with a babysitter for a few hours. The whole clan met up at a slopeside restaurant in the afternoon. The daycare gives a nice report of what he did and he enjoyed storytime the most.

On the 25th we waited for Gabe to get out of bed before we could open gifts. I don't know what child sleeps in on Christmas Day, but he did. Haha. Santa left him a nice letter, a Santa cookie, and a candy cane. After everyone open gifts and their stockings we all got ready really fast and went out for breakfast. The rest of the day was just games and hanging out. I got all of our suitcases ready to be loaded up in the morning.

We left Colorado on the 26th and tons of snow was expected so we got out as quickly as we could. The snow in the mountains was so bright that Josh wore his ski goggles just so he could see better. After getting out of the mountains a car was swerving headed our way, but the driver corrected himself and headed into the ditch after hitting a road sign. We pulled over as well as the car behind them and they were ok. We saw several cars on the side of the road. Not a fun way to start a vacation for them. Just after we got on I-80 in Nebraska the roads were looking wet and the other side was slowing down. I slowed down too, but it didn't seem icy. There must have been some black ice because we were seeing cars flipped on their tops in the ditch. We slowed down to about 30 mph and Josh called the hotline for road conditions. Luckily it was only bad for about 20 miles. We stopped for the night just before Omaha and between Des Moines and Iowa City the westbound traffic was slowed to a standstill and the semis' wheels were spinning. There wasn't an accident, but traffic was stopped on that side. People were getting out of their cars trying to figure out what was going on and almost falling down. I guess we were lucky that our side wasn't affected. After dropping off Louis and Carly we headed to Burlington to visit the rest of Josh's mom's family. We had a good time and visited Josh's great grandma Heiniger while we were there. When we left there the roads were extremely icy so we decided to stay in town until the salt trucks could get out. We made it back to Muscatine on the 28th and finished up our visit with my parents. On the 30th we decided it was time to get home so we could get things put together and put away before Josh went back to work.