Christmas 2017 - 3 Parts

Christmas 2017 Part I - Washington DC

Christmas in 2017 was a multi-part affair. It started early in Washington DC with Granddad and Aunt Debbie. We ordered food, opened gifts, and watched the McLean parade. Both kids got hammocks from Aunt Debbie which we managed to hang.

Santa was in the parade, but this picture is from when he drove by our house handing out candy canes.

Christmas 2017 Part II - Cedar Rapids Iowa

RJ and Julia were super excited to get on an airplane and see their cousins. Dad was super stressed about how much luggage we were taking with us and the cost of tickets. We flew into Chicago and rented a 'car' to drive the rest of the way. The car turned out to be a F150. The luggage had to ride in the cold, but the 4-wheel drive came in handy for the 1-2 inches of snow.

We stayed at a 'downtown' hotel which featured a real train that drove past and blared it's horn 3-4 times a night. The hotel had a workout room and a pool. Julia maximized her time in the workout room. Here she is doing a 1.5 mile walk/jog at 2-3 mph. Yes ... do the math ... Dad had to stand there for 40 minutes and monitor the machine.

While at the cousins, we had fun playing in the basement, running crazy with cousins, playing hockey in the front year (except for a puck/tennis ball to the face), and a few random things such as having a squirrel funeral.

Church on Christmas Eve was super cold and packed. But, we had seats thanks to Aunt Trina.

Christmas 2017 Part III - McLean Again

Santa came while we were in Iowa, so as soon as we returned home to got to open more gifts. Julia was very excited about Gigi (dog with sequin dog house) as well as Abby/Gabby (bitty baby like Katelyn's). RJ liked his junk box of legos and his Nerf dart gun.

Ice Skating

St. Luke Kindergarden Ice Skating Social

RJ's class organized a day of skating at a local ice rink in Reston. RJ got his first experience on single blade skates.

At first, RJ had fun, but spent a lot of time on the ice.

But as the session went on, he got quite good at going forward and make it around the rink a few times without falling.

His classmate Emmit was there ... trying to keep up with a hockey player was super fun.

Train Party

Neighborhood Train Party

Folks came over to eat cookies, drink cider, and look at trains. This year the trains featured HO only. Thanks to eBay, we have new engines that can pull a lot of cars and work more reliably. Five trains running at once was the highlight.

Julia delivers freight before the party.

New engines, longer trains, more reliability.

Granddad visited for the party

Downtown included a traffic jam (not pictured) thanks to the kids.

A wider angle view of the layout