Snow Storm & Christmas Part I

Christmas Part One

To those that thought hell would freeze over before we would see healthcare reform, we are here to tell you that the Nation's Capitol is buried under well over a foot of snow.

Seriously, as everyone undoubtedly knows the northeast got a monster of a snowstorm last weekend. This weather event coincided with a trek to New Jersey for faux Christmas with the Anderson Clan.

On Friday we set out from Washington for what is typically a three hour tour of I-95... famous last words. The trip took 4.5 hours and involved, among other things, a substantial amount of Isaac's vomit - punishment from Michael Pollan for feeding Isaac McDonald's french fries as we beat a hasty retreat from DC. Along the way we stopped and picked up Rachael in Baltimore who surprised everyone by getting out of work for Saturday.

We arrived at my parents house sometime around midnight. We were lucky enough to put the bad memory of McDonald's behind us with some delicious pizza! Isaac begrudgingly went to bed after a substantial amount of protest and woke up early to play with Grandma and help her undecorate the tree.

The snow began Saturday morning, and with a few brief respites continued unabated until Sunday morning. Nevertheless we made our way to Jim and Rox's beautiful new house for a fantastic dinner with the entire Anderson family (save Evan). On Sunday, despite some pretty tough conditions we dug out and made our way back to DC safe and sound.

Below find some pictures from the weekend:

Happy Holidays!

Hanukkah

We spent the weekend with Papa Rich and Grandma Sherry to celebrate Hanukkah. Mom-mom was supposed to come too, but stayed home because she wasn't feeling very good - and we really missed her!! We went to the Capitol to check out the tree and then to the Arboretum to see the holiday display including a very cool model train set that Isaac enjoyed watching go around the tree, and around the tree, and around...

Isaac had a great weekend, and got to open lots of presents - including some great clothes and his first very own Isaac-sized chair. He loves the chair - especially climbing on it, lounging on it, and dragging it across the room :) We also made latkes and took a trip to the mall to try to get a picture of Isaac on Santa's lap --great Hanukkah weekend activity ;) --but we were not alone in this goal and gave up when we realized the line would take about 2 hours. Instead we went to Nordstrom's and Isaac got his first pair of Uggs, which he has yet to take off!!

Finally, just a few cute pictures from the last couple of weeks and Isaac playing with some of his other Hanukkah gifts. He is a very lucky boy and got lots of gifts from Grandma (the car that he is now obsessed with and refuses to get out of during all waking hours), and Aunt Alli and Aunt Jen, among others. Let me just say that if Hanukkah is any indication of what's to come for Christmas, we need to buy a bigger house!!

Isaac the slide addict

Couldn't resist posting this. Ceci sometimes sends us videos during the day when Isaac does something cute or new or fun (which makes being away from him a little more tolerable). She has taught him to go down the slide on his own and he is now obsessed with going down a hundred times a day. Here he is, very proud of himself for the accomplishment ...

Thanksgiving in Sunny FL

We had a wonderful time in Florida for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Isaac was battling some ailments during the trip - a cough/cold that won't go away combined with a mystery rash and 4 new teeth busting through! Poor little man had a fever on-and-off throughout the trip, but was still a pretty happy guy considering. Grandma and Grandpa served a delicious feast and were unbelievably gracious and patient while the tornado that is their great-grandchildren wreaked havoc on their house from Thursday - Saturday. Isaac is finally getting to the age where he can actually play with other kids, so it was fun to watch him interact with his cousins.

After Thanksgiving dinner, Grandpa got out the violin and played for the kids (which they - and we - LOVED) and then they helped him "put the violin to sleep". It was priceless for us to watch the kids enjoy something we have treasured doing since we were their age.

Over the next few days we hung out and enjoyed some down time in the warm weather at the house and the park. The kids had fun together in the house and at the park. Isaac's "big" cousins taught him lots of important lessons - like how to eat goldfish after you spill them all over the house, how to dance to Black Eyed Peas, how to go really high on the swings, and why it's impolite to steal the pacifier from Arielle's mouth :)

On Saturday we left Delray and went to Ft. Lauderdale beach for a mini-vacation with Aunt Alli, Uncle Chad and Grandma. Isaac LOVED playing on the beach (he ate approximately half of it) and in the pool. On Saturday some of our friends came to the beach with their kids, and the munchkins played relatively well together while we all caught up. Finally, Stef came to hang out on Sunday and after taking me on a scenic tour of Ft. Lauderdale, she and Isaac had fun bonding.