After two successful drives to Minnesota over the summer, we made our first wintertime attempt, knowing how miserable flying can be over the holidays. If we got sidetracked by snow, we figured we could just stop at a hotel. Our drive up to Minnesota was the easiest ever -- the roads were perfectly dry, and we bypassed Chicago entirely by taking I-74, which was technically longer but we made it in 20 hours, our best time so far. Unfortunately, on the drive back, we ended up passing through a terrible snowstorm with nowhere to turn off (not that we were eager to pull off in the middle of W.V. anyway ...)
Nate and Theo loved every minute of Minnesota. They got so much attention from the whole family and got to bond with their cousin Brody. Nate kept asking him, "Brody, you wanna play cars?" It was pretty adorable. Nate and Brody also got to sit at their own personal Toy Story kids table, where Brody could see how the human garbage disposal could wolf down as much food as his dad. Also, Nate is as tall as Brody now. But Brody is still the boss.
Santa comes to Grandma and Grandpa Wissman's house every year. Nate refused to look at him.
Best buds. "Bwody, you wanna play cars?"
Where all the cool kids sit.
After getting back from Minnesota, we ramped up for another Christmas with the Daleys. Nate and Theo enjoyed all the attention. If you can believe it, they got even more toys, including a train set from Mamma and Grampy!
Theo loves to destroy the train set, and Nate will tell him, "Stop it, Theo. You're making a mess! You need a time out!"
Christmas with the Daleys was fun at first, but then Theo got the pukes and couldn't keep anything down. He lost a whole pound and still had random puking episodes for a whole week. Even worse, he gave it to Mamma, who was stuck in bed with the sickness for a couple days. :( We hope everyone will be healthy for the next family get-together.
