Christmas Trip - Part 2 - PA

We were out of the house by 3am to catch our 6am flight to Philly.  The early morning didn't stop Daniel from making himself right at home in the airport and crawling around everywhere.

The early morning caught up with some of us.  An afternoon nap was much needed.

While we mostly missed the cold weather in Texas, it was plenty chilly in PA!  Thankfully Nana had a huge, puffy jacket that Daniel could use.

We went out to central PA to visit my cousins on their dairy.  My favorite part is hanging out with the baby calves.  Danny loved talking to all the animals.  

A priceless picture of Danny and Nana. 

The best part of an east coast trip...Wawa!

Sitting up and listening to the adults.

We had a really nice visit with Aunt Jo on New Year's Day, but of course didn't get any pictures.  We spent lots of time going for walks, swinging, talking, and EATING.

Danny discovered the cat...

Playing with Grandad

More walks..

We had a 22 hour trip home, door to door.  Danny did really well, but it was rough on all of us.  We are very thankful that we found the play area in the international terminal at LAX.

We were thankful to find a play area in the LAX airport and perhaps surprised to learn that even at just [nearly] 9 months old, kids need time and space to move around and let energy out.

And finally...22 hours later...home!

We had an awesome 2 weeks and got to visit with lots of people!  We ate wayyy too much and indulged in too many treats.  It was perfect.  Hopefully it's not another year before we see everyone.

Christmas Trip - Part 1 - Texas

Whoa, we took a boatload of pictures on our 2 week trip to the mainland.  Too many for one post so I'm going to break things up.  Here goes part 1.

In the Maui airport, Danny is up way past his bedtime and excited for a red eye!

We tried to convince him to go to sleep before we got on the plane since our flight wasn't until about 10pm, but no luck.

He was all smiles when we arrived in Dallas after a 7 hour flight.

Danny napped a lot on our first day, but he also wasted no time playing with his cousins!

After pretty much taking it easy on December 23, we went to Valley View on Christmas Eve and Danny got to swing!

We had a really wonderful Christmas Day!  Lots of time outdoors (it was 70 degrees!), a big family meal, too many presents, Boggle, visiting, desserts, oh my!  Here's one attempt at a family photo..

Cheesin' it up with Aunt Emmy and Grandpa.

Opening presents..

Checking out the lights with Grandpa

I found that belt loops are a convenient way to keep Danny from crawling away from me..

Danny loved being outside and looking at the cows.

We of course had to take a trip to Babe's for some fried chicken.  I packed him some steamed zucchini, which he ate up.  But of course he wanted some of what we were eating too.  I finally had to stand up and take him away from the table so that he would stop eating.  Crazy kiddo!

Then we had another glorious day in Frisco where we went to the park, attempted more family photos, and played a massive game of Dutch Blitz while ALL 4 kids napped!

The first time I pushed a stroller.  Never felt more like a mom..

Emmy and Alex had a tunnel that Danny loved to crawl through!

Successfully learned how to climb stairs..

We had an awesome visit to Texas and of course it felt too short!  Danny loved meeting his cousins and discovering they like banging their hands on the ottoman just like he does.  It was a great trip!