Christmas in Michigan

We are back from our trip to Michigan for Christmas. We had a great time, and are a little sad to come back to regular life.

The trip out went better than anyone expected. Benadryl worked wonders, especially on Ella.



The boys spent most of the flight glued to the DVD player, and finally conked out towards the end of the flight to Detroit.



Once in Detroit, Ella was scared to death by the automatic flushing toilet (she hates those things) and Levi went into meltdown mode. We finally got them calmed down before we got on the next plane to Grand Rapids.



Once there, we had a great time. The kids got to play in the snow, which they loved. There was snow when we got there, so the first day we got all bundled up and made a snowman and a snow fort. Uncle Justin lent us his snow expertise and helped out.









The kids got to hang out with Great Grandpa and Grandma Meyer. They loved playing with them, and great-grandpa even read the boys right to sleep one night (I think they had skipped their nap.)



Of course, on some nights bedtime was a little more difficult to pull off. Such as this night... at 11 PM (That's Ella reading stories to the boys by flashlight.)



We went on a sleigh ride one night, in the snow, pulled by two huge Fresian horses with jingle bells and all...





Grandpa and Grandma had lots of fun playing with the grandkids.



Highlights of the trip:
- Ella saying the sun never shines in Michigan. Hilarious!
- Ella reading on the plane right home. She can't really read, but she has the books memorized. She was reading loud enough that the whole back half of the plane could hear her. And she reads with such expression, that both I and the nice lady next to her were cracking up. Of course, as soon as she realized we were listening, she got embarrassed and stopped reading.
- Noah yelling at me to "Go to work!" when I sat outside the bedroom at night so they would stay in their beds. (ok, so more of a "low"light)
- Giving Ben (father-in-law) the muzzleloader. I've been planning and working on it for almost three years. What on earth am I going to do with all my free time now?

- Going shooting / gun shopping with Justin (brother-in-law). It's always a happy day when someone is about to become a first time gun-owner (and just in time for the new nephew to show up.)
- Tour of West Michigan Taxidermy (where brother-in-law Julio works). They (Julio) do some cool stuff there... with a whole ton of animal skins.



Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year...

Levi:


Noah:


Ella: