Call me crazy, but I love adventures! Even adventures that require spending most of the day in the car for a few hours at a place we've never been to. Last weekend happened to be a long weekend for Dave. It worked out that because of MLK day he got a three day weekend from teaching and it also was his weekend off at Target. We decided to take advantage of this. Dave agreed, with some encouraging from me of course, to take a day trip down to Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah on Saturday, Jan. 14th. Bryce Canyon is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours south of us and we drove down and back in one day! I don't know very many people that would do such a thing, but I love those kind of adventures...and we got to sleep in our own beds that night.
Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, all national parks had free entrance last weekend so it only cost us the gas money to get down there and food/snacks while away from home.
I think we all had a good time. It is such a pretty national park (although I don't think I've seen a national park yet that isn't pretty). It was a first for all three of us too so that was fun. We did as much hiking around as Miles could handle and then headed home. Miles had a blast having races with his dad. He'd also point at the pretty scenery around and say, "Look at that!" He is a bit of a chicken though and was scared to get too close to any of the edges, which made me very happy! Dad, on the other hand, was trying to convince him to go out further than I would like either of them to go. It was a great day and we were home by 8 p.m. to put Miles to bed. At the end of the day we both agreed that it was pretty crazy of us to do such a trip in one day, but we had fun and made some memories and that is all that matters. Hopefully next time we go we'll have a tad bit more time to explore!
Taking a stroll
Posing by a drop-off
He is too interested in taking his gloves off then to smile for the camera
Dad trying to give Miles and Mom a heart attack (they are right on the edge)
Taking our own family photo (we took lots of these kinds of pictures)
Southern Utah is so pretty
Notice how he cautiously walks up to the fence in this video
While I was taking pictures of the scenery, Miles stood in this spot and waited for me to take a picture of him! That is the first time he has ever willing wanted his picture taken.
Miles & Dad racing
Another family photo taken by me
Dad trying to get Miles to go closer to the edge
Dad stuck Miles in a crack in the rocks
Some nice stranger offered to take a family photo for us
Mom & Miles
Miles saw a little girl getting her picture taken on this rock so he wanted to sit on the rock too, but he refused to look at the camera and instead had fun stomping on the snow
Miles wanted to go up a slick hill so Dad offered to take him up on his shoulders
Yesterday we woke up to some snow on the ground! It wasn't much, but it was exciting for us because it has been such a dry winter so far. Even though we haven't been feeling well around here, we decided to get bundled up anyway and go play in the snow while it lasted. We built a snowman, rode around on a sled, admired the snowman and snow-dog work of some neighbors, made snow angels, and ate lots of snow (most of these were done by Miles). Within about a half hour of us coming in to warm up, the snow was pretty much all gone. So glad we took advantage of it while it lasted. Miles wasn't a huge fan of wearing his gloves so his hands got really really cold which in turn made him cranky, but overall he had a great time eating the snow!
Pulling around the neighbor's sled
Eating our snowman
He then knocked the snowman's head off and proceeded to crush it
The day after Christmas we spent the majority of the day just hanging out with my grandma and grandpa. I also was able to squeeze in lunch at my favorite taco place (Taco Grande) while we were in Wichita. I love that my grandma and grandpa live close to one! Miles got in a great nap in their dark basement. We even had to wake him up so that we could head to Halstead for dinner at my mom's. My brother and his family came over for dinner as well. It was nice to see him and his girls again. The girls both loved Miles' new instruments and basically took over them for awhile. Miles didn't seem to mind 'cause he had lots of exploring to do at Gra-Gra's!
Our band
Silly Dave
Laiken loved the trumpet
Isn't that just music to your ears
Grandma's guitar was a favorite as well
The next day was Tuesday and it was our last day in Kansas. We didn't do a whole lot that day but play with grandma as much as we could. My Uncle Fred (from Colorado) has been staying at my mom's for a bit so we got to see him as well. We did take Mom and Fred out to the house that I want to buy so badly just to check on it. It is still for sale and it looks like the builder hasn't done anything to it to finish it up. Maybe someday it'll become our house! Wishful thinking!
We then left for home on Wednesday, December 28th. Because of our horrible experience in the hotel room on the way to Kansas, we decided to just push on through and do the entire trip in one day. It was a LONG day, but it was so nice to be at home in our own bed. We made it home at 11:50 p.m. Miles was wide awake for the last hour or so of the trip. He is such a silly boy when it comes to sleeping anywhere but his own crib.
Dave went back to work at Target the next day and resumed teaching on January 3rd.
We did manage to see some of Dave's family on New Year's Day (for some reason I forgot to take pictures). His sister from Washington was in town with her family so we had a big family dinner. I'm so glad we were able to see both sides of our family during the Christmas break. Now life has resumed to normal again and we are looking forward to what 2012 brings for us and our family.
**Congratulations if you made it this far in reading my blog! I did all of this for posterity's sake so kudos to you if you cared enough to continue reading!**
Christmas day was so much fun! Holidays are definitely more enjoyable with a little one around. He was so excited about his presents and reacted just like we thought he would to all of them. He really got the hang of opening presents this year and only needed assistance from Dad a few times.
We made the mistake of letting him open Santa's gift first (a toy violin). He was so excited about it that he couldn't quite focus on the other presents. He would open another gift with our encouragement and would say things like, "Play! Play!" and then would set it down and pick up his violin again and say, "Ah-lin!" It was too funny! He also got a toy trumpet and carried the trumpet and violin around for the next several days. Miles got lots of other great toys and some cute clothes. He was taken care of for sure! He got lots of "big trucks," some books, some wooden puzzles, a train set, and the blanket I had made. He really has enjoyed every gift he got and just goes from one toy to the next all day long.
Grandma showing him how to play his violin
A "big truck"
Playing his trumpet
Grandma helping him with his trumpet
George with a book he got
Cathy with her mug we gave her
Grandma got a big picture of us
Sporting my new necklace from my aunt
Dave got a new sweater
After we were done opening gifts, we then had our traditional Cowboy Christmas Breakfast Casserole. Yummy! We then got to spend a few more hours hanging out before loading everything up again to head south to Wichita for Christmas with my dad's side of the family.
Miles slept almost the entire way to Wichita (about a 3 hour drive) with his violin and trumpet in hand! We all got more wonderful presents and had a delicious meal together. We spent the night at my grandma and grandpa's so we could spend more time with them. I'm so glad we got to spend that time together, it isn't often we get to!
Grandpa helping Miles open his "BIG truck"
Miles playing with his truck with the violin in one hand and the trumpet close by
New clothes
A big truck
Grandpa with his mug we gave him
Great Grandpa opening his mug
We had a wonderful Christmas Day! Thanks to everyone who made it so. We love you all and miss you terribly!
Grandma drove up to Kansas City Saturday morning (Christmas Eve Day) and made it just in time for breakfast so we got to spend almost the entire day with her as well. She needed to do some last minute shopping so while she and I went to Wal-Mart, the rest of the crew took Miles and the dogs for a walk down to the lake in my aunt and uncle's neighborhood. It was such a nice sunny day! I'm glad Miles was able to burn off some energy since he had been in the car for two straight days prior. Wal-Mart was busy, but not as crazy as I had pictured.
We spent the rest of the day chatting, relaxing, and eating wonderful food. My Uncle George made a delicious turkey and my Aunt Cathy had many wonderful sides to go with it. It was a fantastic Christmas Eve Day!
George and the bird
Our feast that Miles slept through (he did get some later)
The Christmas Eve tradition that my family has is for my Uncle George to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and then we each get to open one present. With Miles we've started the tradition of giving him Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and apparently my aunt had the same idea. We were all dying of laughter by the end because we all got pajamas and the pajamas we bought were almost identical to the pajamas my aunt had bought. Great minds think alike!
George reading to us
Miles loved Aunt Cathy's tree
Opening his first present (he really got the hang of it)
Grandma's pajamas
Opening my pajamas
Dad's pajamas
By the end of our opening presents adventure, Miles was yelling, "Pajamas!" and "Yea!" It was too cute! He was so happy for everyone to get new pajamas!
After Miles went to bed we watched our traditional "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and then called it a night. We tried to watch some of it while he was awake, but he didn't seem too interested. Maybe next year.
Christmas Break for us began on Thursday, December 22nd. This was the day we left for a very quick trip to Kansas for the Christmas holiday. Even though it was a fast trip, I'm so glad we got to go! Miles doesn't get to see that side of his family very often so any chance we have to make the long trip back to Kansas, I like to take it.
The day before we left Miles' face/eye started to look slightly swollen to me and of course I started to panic. I was nervous about sticking him in a car for two days if he had something major going on. So, I called our fantastic neighbor who is a Nurse Practitioner in a pediatric office. She was so kind and very willing to come over and check Miles out. She listed a couple of possibilities, but figured the most likely cause was an injury. She offered me the reassurance I needed! She also warned me that it could potentially look worse in the morning and it sure did!
Our original plan was to leave fairly quickly after Miles woke up on Thursday so we could make it pretty far down the road before needing to stop for the night, but Wyoming had received some snow overnight and the roads didn't look too good. So we slowly got around and eventually headed out at about 10:30 a.m. The roads in Wyoming weren't perfect by any means, but they could've been a lot worse. During the worst parts we at least had one lane that was entirely cleared of snow. The passing lane on the other hand was pretty much snow packed. We made it as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming the first day which left us another 10 1/2 hours of driving to do on Friday. My aunt was the host for Christmas this year which meant we were heading straight to Kansas City instead of my mom's house down by Wichita, KS.
Our night in the hotel in Cheyenne was rough! Miles just wouldn't settle down and fall asleep and was still going strong at midnight. Once we all finally got to sleep, I woke up an hour or so later in sort of a panic because I couldn't breathe. The room had become so hot and I was starting to come down with a bug. Needless to say it was a rough night for all three of us.
The next day I pretty much slept most of the way (I was feeling pretty awful). Miles did a good job of staying entertained by his movies and Dave did a great job of getting us to Kansas City alive! My aunt said we all looked like raw hamburger when we arrived! That pretty much summed up the way we felt. We didn't spend too much time chatting before we all headed off to bed. Miles did not move once the entire night (which is abnormal for him)!
Miles playing in the hotel room
Buddy wishing he was in the backseat with Miles so he could steal some snacks
