Our First Rv Trip!

We left on Friday after Jake got home from school and headed down to Fort Mill, SC (where Carrie and Brian live). It was a long trip, but we made it to their house around 12:30. We hung out for a while and stayed in the parking lot in their subdivision for that night. The next morning we headed over to the KOA campground and attempted to get hooked up. It turns out that we were missing a few things that allow us to hook up to sewer, so after our safari ride we went to a local RV dealer and picked up the necessities. It was the best weekend! Brian and Carrie taxi'd us around town all weekend. On Saturday we went to the Lazy 5 Ranch (which deserves a post of it's own), then to TGI Fridays, then did some shopping and back to the RV for the night. It rained and rained Saturday night, but we woke up warm and dry, so I was thankful for that. Sunday, we played on the jumping pillow and then met up with Brian and Carrie and headed to Hickory Tavern for lunch. The playoffs were on, so the place was crowded and loud, which meant we could be as loud as we wanted! After lunch it was time for a nap! Later that evening Brian and Carrie came over for some chili and to watch Dumb and Dumber (for about the 5th time that weekend). By the way...Dumb and Dumber is the kid's new favorite movie...Jake couldn't remember what it was called and asked me if he could watch Goofy and Goofy-er (sp?). Rudy actually thinks their names are Dumb and Dumber, so he asked me, "Why did Dumber catch on fire?" So cute!
On Monday we did a little more jumping on the jumping pillow and then hit the road for home. I even helped with the driving. Besides clenching my butt the entire time, I didn't mind it too much. It's not as hard as it looks! (Mom, you should give it a try sometime!) Believe it or not, at times it's easier to be the driver instead of the passenger...between "I have to go to the bathroom" or "I dropped my crayon" or "Is it my turn with the ipod?" the kids keep the passenger VERY busy! We made it home safely sometime early in the evening.
All-in-all, I couldn't have asked for a better start to our RV'ing future. Everything functioned well and we were all comfortable, so I couldn't ask for more.

Carrie and Jake wrote notes to each other at lunch. Jake wrote that "Keree smells like a bat"...translation...Carrie smells like a butt. :-)

After Christmas Fun!

Suzie's dad, Bruce was nice enough to take us on a personally guided tour of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. What a great experience it was! We had a wonderful time touring the museum and stayed for an IMAX movie. It was all about weather, including tornadoes, so I figured it was right up Jake's alley. Boy - was I wrong! He cried within the first 2 minutes and spent the rest of the time hiding under his coat watching the ipod!

These are space diapers!

Aidan made all of the kids a treat with her new cake decorating kit!

Cheers!

On Amanda and Aidan's last night here, we went out to dinner and had the best time. Everyone was feeling goofy and I don't think I had laughed that hard in a long time (see video below).

Rudy's newest favorite dance move (as you will see from the video).

They're definitely Gann's...

Christmas

Between Jeremy pulling out FedEx trucks that were stuck in the snow, we were able to squeeze in a few minutes to do our annual stockings. The kids did their own for the first time this year and I think they turned out fabulous!

You can see what a huge Cowboys fan Troy is...he can't even spell the team name right! We had a good laugh at that!

All of the kids slept in our room on Christmas Eve, another tradition in our house. We drag their mattresses down the hall and spend a while acting like fools and reading Christmas books before tucking them in for the night. Amanda's got some good pictures of all of that action. Santa Clause was very good to everyone this year. Aidan got the number one thing on her wish list (see the wheelchair???). Rudy got his Spiderman suit. Jacob got his colored skateboard and Bakugan toys. Unfortunately, the turtle OR snail that he wanted was not under the tree. He'll have to ask for that again next year. Actually he did tell us that he will only be asking Santa for one thing next year.......a wheelchair.

Yes, I know it's weird, but you never know when there could be a bear in our backyard. You've got to be prepared!!!

Jeremy wrote lovely (insert sarcasm here) little notes on many people's gifts this year. He was feeling creative when we were wrapping on Christmas Eve.

Mom and Joe took a turn down the sledding hill. Wish I could've gotten that on video!

Uncle Kim took a video of himself going down the hill on the sled. It came out really good! If he ever sends it to me I will post it on here.

Rudy's FAVORITE gift this year was his Spiderman costume. Thanks Haylie!

Grandma (cupcake) gave us tickets to see Wicked. Can't wait for March!!!!!

We are very thankful for another great Christmas. There's always a lot of running around, but getting to be with family and friends is so much fun and very special to us. Wish I had pictures of the fun games we played at Aunt Leanne's! If anyone has some, please send them to me so I can show everyone what fools we made of ourselves!!!