Holidays (at last!)

Well, I've been home on break for almost a week and a half now. It''s enough to make a person not want to work. :-) On top of spending a lot of time with Eamon and Erica and helping Erica find time to get her work done, there's also some time to write a couple posts!

We had a great trip to Madison over the holidays, joined by Dani, Audrey, Drew and a slew of Madison friends. The trip there was not bad. Eamon took to flying just fine and only got upset for the usual reasons, which are generally solvable. We were happy he didn't seem to have problems with his ears, and hope that this will continue when we eventually make trips to see other family! (Lest anyone think from the blog that he is all smiles, see below...)

Despite how well it went, the trip was pretty tiring, though, on top of getting up way too early to catch the plane. Still, I think it was worth it, as it gave us a rare chance to take a nap together once we arrived. Audrey and Drew were so good, waiting patiently for us to wait up to say hi.

There wasn't really much snow in Madison, although there was a sprinkling for Santa - Audrey was worried about the integrity of Santa's sleigh otherwise; Grandad was worried about his roof. ;-) So there was no sledding, as usual. We did have plenty of fun, though.

There were gingerbread houses...

An introduction to Hannukah for Audrey and Drew...

And lots of family time! This was the first time Dani, Audrey and Drew got to meet Eamon. Audrey was particularly excited, I think. She continues to love playing with her baby doll and was beside herself at times to get to hold a real baby. Dani was a most excellent babysitter as well, which let Erica and I get out for some adult fun with grandad.

Of course, everybody loves seeing the grandparents too...

And we also made it to Milwaukee to see my grandparents and Erica's large contingent of cousins, including their many babies. The Milwaukee clans are all well, and we enjoyed the visit very much. There wasn't time to see everyone, unfortunately (it seems like there never is), but hopefully on future trips.

Happy New Year to all! Hope to see everyone again soon.