MN Trip- Christmas 2011

We drove back to Minnesota for Christmas this year, and even though a 22 hour drive is never fun, we are so glad that we made the decision to go back.  Christmas just wouldn't have been the same without the family traditions we're used to.  We left for Minnesota right after I got off of work on Tuesday, and drove for about 12-13 hours.  We stayed in Indiana for the night in a little hotel suite.  By the time we got there around 2:30 am we couldn't have cared less what the hotel looked like, instead were just so glad to see a bed.  Jace slept on a hide-a-bed pullout couch in the living room and it was so sweet to see him cuddled up like such a big boy in a big bed.  Even though he'd been potty trained for over a month, I was a little worried that being off schedule would cause him to wet the bed overnight, but luckily he stayed dry overnight throughout the entire trip.  Thank god!  Because I had been having nightmares about him peeing on hotel and families beds for weeks.

The second day of the trip is always harder for some reason... I guess because you're anxious to just get there.  I drove the first half of the day, while Tate took conference calls.  I usually like driving cross country, but we ended up hitting all of the toll booths in Chicago during peak traffic and everyone was going 80+ mph and being aggressive (gotta love Chicago drivers!!) so I was getting a little anxiety about exiting in time for each toll.  We made pretty good time once we got through Chicago, and were "home" within just a few more hours.  Right as we were crossing the Wisconsin/Minnesota border, the snow started.  Not much, but just a few light flurries to put a pretty little dusting all over everything.  I was excited, since there wasn't any snow forecasted for our entire trip... which is really rare for Christmas in Minnesota.

Since my mom lives about 40 minutes closer to the border than Tate's family, we usually stop in at her house first.  We were there around dinner time and enjoyed just sitting down on the couch and letting Jace catch up with his uncles and grandma.

The next morning was my nephew Micah's second birthday, so we headed over to my brother and sister-in-laws house for a little family celebration.  Micah picked one of his favorite meals for everyone to eat (spaghetti and meatballs) and we sat around eating and watching him open presents all night.  Jace really enjoyed "helping" Micah open and try out his new things.  The biggest hit of the night was definitely the Thomas ride-on train!

Cousins reunited over the train table.

Jace and Grandma playing "choo choos"

Thomas!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Micah!  Glad we were there to celebrate with you!

The next day was the 23rd.  I met my friend Kristen at Caribou that morning to discuss her engagement (from the night before!).  It was great to see her since it has been a full year since we last saw eachother... crazy!  I guess that's what happens when one person moves away to ND and the other to SC.  That night we were planning to celebrate my 26th birthday with friends, since my real birthday is Christmas Eve.  Tate and I left Jace with my mom around 5 and headed to the Embassy Suites downtown St Paul for our first overnight away from Jace.  Since Tate travels often and has some perks, we got a nice top floor corner room with three beds, a bar, and lots of windows.  We grabbed a drink from the bar downstairs while waiting for the shuttle to take us to Kincaids.  We sat at the bar in Kincaids (one of our favorite spots in St Paul) and enjoyed some wine, jumbo tiger prawns, and crab rangoon for a snack.  Afterwards we walked outside to enjoy all of the Christmas lights up at Rice Park.  Our friends Alli and Zach buzzed by and picked us up and we all headed back to the hotel to have another drink before heading out to meet everyone else.

Hotel

Rice park

blurry :(

Alli and Zach ready to head out

We met up with a group of friends at the Bulldog at 8.  It's a nice chill place to just catch up with everyone and have good food and drinks... but after a while I wanted to do a little dancing, so we headed next door to Barrio and we danced the night away.  It had been too long :)

Rachelle, Alli, me and Kristen

Some of the girlies hanging out eating...

Dancing at Barrio... with my friend and fellow
cosmetology school alum Matt.

It was alot of fun letting loose and celebrating getting older with old friends!  And leaving Jace overnight was no big deal at all... he apparently didn't even care we were gone.  The next morning, Christmas Eve, we woke up early and headed back to my moms house to have breakfast with the fam and open presents.  We all got spoiled this year... and I loved watching Jace and Micah's excitement with each new present. 

Playing with uncle Alex's big walking T-rex

Fighting over lego

Breakfast time...

J & M tackling uncle Alex

Zebra!!!

We hung out and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, before packing up and heading to Tate's parents house across town for the remainder of our trip.  We got there around dinner time, and snacked on amazing appetizers until we were ready to burst.  Then we opened gifts under the tree.  We all got MAJORLY spoiled once again... Jace got his first hockey net and his first sleeping bag, which were really special gifts!  After presents we enjoyed a feast of crab legs for dinner, just like last year.  By the time the ten pounds had disappeared we could all barely move.  Needless to say, our plans to stay up for a bit and watch a movie didn't work out too well.

Opening presents with Auntie Mandi

Checking out what Grandpa got

Nice new tools for Tate!

New present opening- swimming method.

Opening up his very first sleeping bag!

Peekaboo!

Hugs for Grandma

Sitting down to dinner

Ready for bed... can't wait for Santa to drop
off his stocking ;)

First night in the new sleeping bag, he loved it!

The next morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast and then opened stockings.  I was really SUPER excited to see I had a stocking as well... and it was filled with amazing stuff.  Thanks Santa! ;)  We relaxed for a bit before picking up a little in preperation for Tate's extended family to come over for a big Christmas celebration.  The theme was "ugly sweaters" though several people were party poopers and came in regular clothes.  Not us!  :)

Mandi, Tom and I in our ugly sweaters...

Tate's ugly sweater... he won the contest ;)

Jace modeling his ugly sweater.

I actually thought it was cute once he had it on!

Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Mandi with Jace

Everyone arriving, and enjoying some appetizers.

After enjoying some appetizers and drinks with everyone, we headed downstairs to let the kids open up their gifts.  Jace got spoiled... again.  He got a huge Chuggington train set from his great grandma and grandpa that he's absolutely obsessed with.  He also got some nice books, stuffed animal, dinosaurs, hockey sticks, and craft supplies from everyone.  Very generous.  After the kids opened gifts we played a gift exchange game.  Each year everyone brings something that cost $10, wrapped.  Then we draw numbers and open and steal gifts from one another.  This year I got a soft fuzzy holiday blanket that I love.  Regardless of what you leave with, it's always a good time!  The rest of the night was spent socializing and eating dinner and [too many] christmas cookies.  It was really great seeing Jace making bonds with people that he really hasn't gotten to know yet... even though we were around Tate's extended family often during Jace's early days, he didn't really have the memory or personality that he does now.

Opening up presents with Great Grandma's help

Hugs for great grandpa :)

Hanging out with Grandpa

Kisses for Great Grandma Nani

Tate and his grandma

Jace enjoyed playing with Zac and the "big blue ball" all night.

"My ball, my ball, my ball!"

The 26th was our last day in Minnesota, we spent it relaxing with family, going out to dinner with friends, and packing up all our new stuff for the trip home.  We headed out early the next morning and drove for 13 hours until we hit Lexington, Kentucky.  We stayed at a Residence Inn there and pretty much just crashed into deep sleep before waking up and doing the next 8 hours through the mountains.  The second day was once again way harder.  Just when we were finally an hour from home, the traffic signal popped up on our GPS and told us that our trip was now 2 hours and 6 minutes due to traffic.  UGH!!!  We sat in traffic that wasn't moving for a long time when we were only about 30 miles from our house.  Not a fun way to end the trip.  As soon as we walking in the front door, it was all behind us though.  Nothing like coming home after a long road trip!