We were planning on having a quiet Christmas at home this year since we really didn't want to travel with Julia being so little, but at the beginning of December we found out that Rich's brother, Brian, was going to be home for his deployment and in Atlanta for Christmas so we decided to make the trip to see him and most of the rest of the Ducote family. Brian left in July for what was supposed to be a two week trip which is most likely going to end up being a full year deployment. We are so thankful for his service and for the sacrifices that Gina and the boys have made.
We left on Monday the 22nd around 1:00 p.m. to begin the 12+ hour drive!! We were definitely anxious as to how the drive would be but we are so happy to say that it went great both ways! One of my friends recommended for me to pump for Julia and feed her in the bottle which was fabulous advice because it saved us a lot of time since we weren't stopping to feed her but only to change her, go to the bathroom and eat. We made it to the Ducote home around 2:30 a.m. which was really great especially considering the hour time change. At one point we had stopped because Joseph had to go to the bathroom (about an hour after we had stopped for dinner) and no more than 5 minutes back on the road Ella yells out, "Poop poop" so we stopped again to change her and then no more than 10 minutes back on the road again, Julia had a dirty diaper so we had to stop again! That was the worst of the trip though so we can't complain. Lots of snacks, ipad and iphone time definitely made the ride much more enjoyable.
On Tuesday we all slept in which was nice and definitely needed and then had a nice day relaxing with Nonna, Pop Pop, Aunt Katelyn, Brent, Rhanatah, Greg and Jeff. Gina, Brian and the boys arrived that night after dinner which Joseph and Ella waited up for and were so excited. On Wednesday (Christmas Eve) we just all hung out and waited for Gary, Amber, Max and Annabelle to arrive. It was so much fun seeing the cousins together and picking up where they had left off. We had actually never met Annabelle (who is 18 months) and the last time that we saw Max was when he was about 3 months old! The last time that we saw Michael and John was last January and all of the cousins just played so well together and picked up right where they had left off.
The cousins played all day and then we headed to 4:00 mass which was in the gym at All Saints. They do a really nice children's mass with a live nativity so that kept the kids interested for at least a good portion of the time. Ella and I spent a lot of time out in the hallway admiring the Christmas tree but overall all went well.
Here is the Ducote crew in 2014 minus Justin, Anne Marie, Sam, Joey who were in Kansas and Mark who was in Hawaii. Hopefully soon we can get a picture of all of us together.
The cousins, minus Annabelle, after church. The Ducote's tradition is to open all of the gifts (except for the ones from Santa) on Christmas Eve so everyone was excited to see what was under the tree. Joseph and Ella both got scooters from Nonna and Pop Pop and Julia received some great baby toys! The cousins drew names and Joseph received a super cool personalized Star Wars backpack from Max and Ella received adorable pajamas from Sam.
Uncle Greg set up "Uncle Greg's Gingerbread Shop" for the kiddos on Christmas Eve night. Everyone loved creating their houses and eating the candy!
Julia wanted to check out the creations!
After they settled down after the excitement of opening presents and the sugar from the gingerbread houses we all went to bed to get some sleep for the fun in the morning!
The aunts and uncles decided that we would wait until 7:30 to meet in front of the tree so all of the cousins could be together-we actually had to wake Joseph up since they were up so late the night before. Joseph and Ella were so excited to find that Santa had received their letter letting him know that they were going to be at Nonna and Pop Pop's on Christmas. Michael had tried setting up some traps to catch Santa so Santa was sure to address that in his letter to the cousins as well. Joseph and Ella were very excited about their gifts from Santa!
Ella waking up Joseph on Christmas morning!
Ella checking out her camera from Santa. Now she no longer has to use our ten year old broken camera to take pictures with!
Joseph was Super excited about his Batman Building Set from Santa!
Showing off his Paw Patrol figurines!
Sweet Julia's 1st Christmas!
Michael took this picture!
We had a great day of playing with the presents, going to the park for a few hours in between the rain and playing with the toys and eating delicious food all day long!
Our Ducote kids in their Christmas pajamas
The Ducote cousins (we missed Sam and Joey so much). Nonna and Pop Pop have 9 grandkids all under the age of 7 (and 8 of them are under the age of 4!!)
I made my family's tradition of Delicious cake for dessert on Christmas and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
It was such a wonderful Christmas to be surrounded by our family.
For the rest of our trip we just had such a great time hanging out with everyone. We didn't do any special outings other than to the park but just had such a wonderful time together. I almost felt like I didn't see Joseph for the time there since he was so busy playing with the cousins. Ella had so much fun, too, although was a bit clingy at times but overall did great. And, Julia was just as sweet and as chill could be bouncing from one set of arms to the next.
Ella getting some love from Nonna
All of the cousins are Jake fans!
These two are definitely going to be trouble together! They have pretty similar personalities and for the most part got along pretty well other than the occasional sharing issues.
Tickling Daddy
Lots of time just to hang with Julia. It really was a relaxing trip and just loved the low key days of hanging out together.
Everyone loved Gatsby! He got more attention during the week that we were there than he probably has all year long!
Sweet picture.
Ella and Annabelle checking out the shoes
Everyone wanted some Julia time while we were there!
On Friday afternoon we headed to the neighborhood park to get some fresh air.
She's a monkey
Excited about the worm that he found
It was a beautiful afternoon.
Ella was a crazy sleeper while we were there-she is definitely not ready to get out of the crib! We had her set up on cushions next to the bed and every night we would find her off of them lying on the floor somewhere. Rich or I would move her multiple times as she would never stay put!
Here she is looking so big once Rich put her back into bed.
We began the trip back home on Saturday around lunchtime. We were the last to leave and it is just crazy how fast the house went from being so loud (controlled chaos) to so quiet. Katelyn was getting ready to go back to school that night so it was just going to be Nonna and Pop Pop for the rest of the weekend-I am sure they were ready to enjoy some peace and quiet. We are so appreciative of all the hard work that they put in to having so many of us there for the week-Nonna had delicious meals prepared for every meal, the washer machine didn't seem to stop and thankfully I think the only minor incident during our time there was a toilet overflowing. We just love spending time with everyone and look forward to our next visit. Our ride home took a bit longer due to some rain but went really well again-the kids slept more this time (I think the week wore them out). We made it home around 1 a.m. and are so thankful that we had a safe trip and that all went well.
Julia all ready to begin our ride back home to Texas! She was such a great little traveller. I am definitely glad that all went well but I will admit that I don't really have any desire to drive for an extended amount of time again real soon!
We had a very Merry Christmas and are so glad that we were able to spend it with the ones we love. Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment