Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Christmas Firsts

Here are a few pics from our Christmas trip to Arizona:

Fun on the plane (gotta love Dollar Tree!)
The noses blinked and were a big hit!


SUGAR!!!!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
(Hey, at least it kept her happy!)


Screech finally put on her antlers and nose.
(That's candy stick residue all over my top!)
This was her first time flying. She did great! Almost no tears!
(Last time I flew, I was pregnant with her. I was 36 weeks along and everyone was really nervous! I had to get permission from my doctor to fly.)


This pic was taken in my "in-loves" (in-laws') neighborhood.
Screech laughed and called these "silly trees"!


American Girl fever has struck our household.
Here is a very happy Drama Queen with Molly.


Persnickety Pete went to his first football game with Uncle Dennis.
The Arizona Cardinals played the Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona won.
Pete had a blast!

Our family put on a Christmas Eve concert at my in-loves' church. My kids are pictured here with cousin Princess. The little ones (minus Screech, who sat with me and was chain-fed cookies and granola bars) sang "Away in a Manger" together. It was a big deal for Pete to sing; in the past he refused to participate. Drama Queen sang a very sweet solo. My favorite part was when she played a violin duet with her daddy.

After the Christmas Eve service, we gorged on Aunt Denise's cookies, a yearly tradition. I believe there were 23 different kinds of cookies and candy! I made the Fairy Food (AKA sponge candy, angel food, sea foam, honeycomb, or hot air candy). It is HARD to make, but I love the challenge! Hubby and his family are crazy about the stuff.

Screech finally conked out after all that eating!

On the trip back, Screech fell asleep minutes before takeoff. She slept quite awhile and was content in Daddy's arms for the entire flight. No tears!

We had a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed playing Rook with the family. My in-loves are precious! We all get along so great. It's amazing, even when we're all cooped up in a tiny house, no one seems to get on anyone else's nerves. They are a wonderful, godly family and I have learned so much from them.

Overall, our trip went really smoothly. Getting through the airport on the way back, though, was tough. I didn't realize it until I went through security but I had lost my driver's license. This of course meant that I was a terrorist. (Even the pic on my VISA check card wouldn't count.) I got the whole enchilada - I was patted down, they went through my purse with a fine-tooth comb, and they strip-searched me and sent me through the x-ray machine. (Okay, I'm kidding on that last one. But it felt like it.) I felt REALLY stupid because we bought some extra snacks for the plane which included some Capri-Sun pouches, which of course had to be thrown away. Then when I got to the gate and the guy got ready to scan my ticket, he said that I had to go through the whole security bit again because they had failed to punch my ticket. (I was ready to punch more than a ticket by this point.) Thankfully, someone in security remembered me so I didn't have to go through it all over again. (Hey, aren't you the idiot terrorist lady who tried to bring a bunch of explosives disguised as drinks on the plane?)

I'm sorry, but I've got to vent about the Atlanta airport. After we landed, we were in a hurry to get to baggage claim because it was so far from the gates that we had to take a subway. We knew that by the time we got there our stuff would already be on the carousel and we were worried about things getting stolen. We don't know the layout of the airport very well, so we followed the signs to baggage claim. A few of the signs were COMPLETELY in Spanish with NO English anywhere to be seen. If it weren't for the little picture of the suitcase, we wouldn't have known where to go. I. WAS. LIVID.
If I had landed in Mexico or Spain I would have expected this, but THIS IS AMERICA! I know that many people and businesses have chosen to cater to Spanish-speaking people by putting Spanish translations underneath the English in signs, but making signs completely in Spanish in an English-speaking country is RIDICULOUS!

Okay. My little tantrum is over now. I feel much better, thank you.

2 comments:

Carla said...

Sounds like you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. I love the pic of screech asleep in the highchair.

Anonymous said...

I can so relate to the Atlanta Airport thing. We flew from Atlanta to Kansas City a few weeks ago. I know the airport pretty well but my complaint was how rude the people were to my kids. Out of the 4 only 2 have flown and not since all the restrictions (taking off shoes). The ladies scanning baggage were so rude to my 7 year old because he didn't quite understand what she was asking him to do. I was so mad. I did tell her she needed to chill out with the comments. People who are rude should not work in any kind of public service capacity. I say that all the time. There is no excuse for being rude. Even if you are having a bad day you shouldn't take it out on people you don't even know. So there, my hissy fit is over too.