Christmas Vacation -- Part Two

Subtitled:  Family -- Isn't it About Time?  Hahaha.  The answer to that question is YES.  Yes it is.  And my children in particular were MORE than stoked about the opportunity to spend LOTS of time with the cousins in Indiana.  Especially since we haven't been able to spend a good chunk of time with them in a really long time!  An added bonus was that Scott's parents were also at Kristin's house for Christmas, so we were able to get all kinds of family time in before we came back for the New Year.  :)

All in all, fun was had and memories were made -- always a good way to spend a vacation.  Right?  Highlights of our trip to Kristin's include ear piercings, hair cuts, outings to the outlets, game nights, movie nights, a trip to Kids Commons, and another installment produced in the kids' "Attack of the Sea Aliens" movie franchise. 

Picture highlights of the week:

 Sophie got her sparkle on.

 After being to afraid to get her ears pierced for years now, she finally mustered the courage about a month ago and told me she was ready to really do it!

 She was REALLY excited about the bear to clutch while getting her ears pierced.

 They did both ears at the same time, and even though the momentary pain was definitely worse than she was expecting, it lasted only a second and then she pulled it together without ever uttering a cry of distress.  Overall, I was SUPER impressed.  I thought for sure we'd have all kinds of dramatics to deal with.

 The picture is terrible, but she chose the rose crystal daisy.

 Lover Boy was MAJORLY in need of a haircut.  While we were there, we determined that the LAST time he got his haircut was some time this summer while we were visiting the cousins and went to the same place to get it done!

 He was surprisingly still for the cut which was impressive.  He really liked that cape he was wearing due to the elephant and other animals being printed all over it.

 The after shot -- not a great one, but he was really into that dum dum they gave him.

 Father-son shot!  Scott got a haircut at the same time Alex did.

 No trip to the cousins' is ever complete without visiting the children's museum, and the older kids really wanted to rock climb this time around.  Ethan and Sophie went first...

 ...while Grace and Hannah patiently waited their turn.

 Meanwhile Alex was in heaven when he found the basketball hoop.

 Back at Kristin's house, Alex and Jane REALLY liked the light sabers...

And the big kids REALLY loved playing this game.  Telestrations is the name and it's a cross between the telephone game and pictionary.

 They seriously loved it.  

 We all did.

{The funniest part is in the instructions when it tells you how to win the game -- "Did you have fun?" it asks, and then, "You all win!" it responds.  Hahahaha.}

Bananagrams was the other big crowd pleaser.  Here is a finished puzzle of Ethan's.

We stayed from Wednesday afternoon until Monday night, and even though we experienced our fair share of meltdowns and freakouts while we were there, the kids surprised us all in not making life miserable for us when it came time to take off.  With the kids having to go back to school on January 2nd {SUPER lame -- don't even get me started on the fact that they didn't get a solid two-week Christmas vacation}, we knew we needed a couple of days (and nights) back at home to get everyone back on schedule and ready for the new year.

Once we were all home, I think everyone was sad to realize the break was almost over, but life goes on and at least there was still New Year's Eve and Day to celebrate before getting back on track and back to reality...