The 25 Days of Christmas

Not familiar with that song? I'm writing a new one. Here is the list of the 25 Days of Christmas in VA.

(If you are wondering why you haven't received a Christmas Card from us yet, know that I DID take them to Virginia with me. You'll understand in a few minutes why you don't have them yet.)

15 Dec-16 Dec: Flew to Virginia. Thankfully got in to NJ early and made an earlier flight to VA. Turns out our original flight was 3 HOURS DELAYED, which would have meant we would have been in NJ for over 5 hours!

17 Dec: Birthday Party for Teresa and Alan. Mister Don came to entertain the kids. In attendance: Michaela, Savanna & Blake Myers (and Dawn), Sawyer (and Uncle Tim & Aunt Becky), and Elijah (And Victoria and his big sister.) Also, Nana, Papa, Oma, Opa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Allison, Emily, and Col. & Mrs. Jones. If you are counting: that's 7 kids (including 2 babies) and 15 Adults. I doubt Mister Don has ever played for such a group before...

18 Dec: Went to Oma and Opa's house for lunch. Then, Teresa and Alan stayed (the night) and Mom went to have her hair cut and shop at Target (WOOHOO!!). Teresa and Alan went to the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Air and Space Museum (on the Mall). Then, they stayed at Oma and Opa's house! Mom came home and witnessed the contractor who was SUPPOSED to be working on the master bathroom SLEEPING in his truck...TWICE! Then, she cooked dinner for Nana and Papa, but they didn't have time to eat before going to the Urgent Care center with Papa.

19 Dec: Oma, Opa, Teresa and Alan went Glen Echo Park to see the Nutcracker in puppet form. Then went to the Silver Diner for lunch. Mom slept until 9am, took care of a sick Papa, wrapped presents and went to yet ANOTHER TARGET to exchange a toy they sent in the wrong color. (can't possible have something BLUE...it must be GREEN)

20 Dec: Teresa, Alan and Mom stayed home for the morning. Nana came home from work and took a 2 hour nap. (luckily, that is all she caught of Papa's cold)

21 Dec: Teresa, Alan and Mom took a car, metro, MARC train and a taxi to get to the Baltimore Aquarium to see Uncle Jay and Aunt Mary. We saw sharks, a three-flippered turtle, red-eyed tree frogs, and a HUGE puffer fish. Then, took a car, MARC train, metro and car back.

22 Dec: We were supposed to go to the zoo, but it was rainy and cold. (Good thing we didn't go!) Instead, Teresa, Alan and Mom went to Oma and Opa's house to see Uncle Rob, Uncle Tony, Aunt Ellen and cousin Matt. Uncle Tony and Uncle Rob helped Teresa and Alan make different rockets from a kit from Uncle Tony and Aunt Ellen. We were also able to IM Jim and see him on the webcam! Eventually, we went bowling. Everyone had good scores! (might be because the bumpers were up for the kids) Teresa, Alan and Mom went back to Nana's house for dinner with Nana, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky and Sawyer.

23 Dec: Errands in the morning. Then, the brand-new shower (the the newly renovated master bathroom ) had a leak and the contractor had to come out to fix it. In the afternoon, Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky and Sawyer came over. Becky G. gave Becky C. a quilting/sewing lesson as part of her Christmas present!

24 Dec: Christmas Eve: Teresa, Alan, and Mom went over to Oma and Opa's house for lunch. We saw Uncle Mike, Aunt Allison, Emily, Uncle Rob, Aunt Terry, Uncle Tony, Aunt Ellen, and Matt. Nana and Papa also came with Aunt Susan (who flew in that day to spend the week with us). At 4:30, we all descended on the chapel for the Children's Mass. (we took up 2 pews) Teresa and Alan LOVED it! Then, Teresa, Alan and Mom went to Nana's house and made cookies for Santa with Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky, Sawyer, Nana, Papa, Aunt Susan and cousin James.

25 Dec: Christmas Day: Teresa and Alan woke up just before 6am. We opened stockings with Nana and Papa. Then, Aunt Becky, Uncle Tim and Sawyer arrived around 8am. We took a couple hours to open all the gifts under the tree with one break in the middle to talk to Jim on the phone! It was a rainy day, so staying in our PJ's all day was totally in order!

26 Dec: Teresa, Alan, Mom, Nana, Aunt Susan and Sawyer went to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Teresa and Alan stood perfectly still for 10 minutes watching a lighted map show about the battle. Then, with Aunt Susan, we walked around and saw all the cannons. Mom went inside to tell Nana and Sawyer it was time to go. When Sawyer saw Mom, he spit his pacifier out across the room! It was really funny.

27 Dec: Teresa, Alan, Mom, Nana, Aunt Susan and Sawyer went to the Hidden Pond Nature Center. We had the whole place, including the 2 college-aged employees, to ourselves. Sawyer got to play with his first turtle and touch his first snake. (he LOVED it) That evening, Teresa, Alan, Mom, Nana, Papa, Aunt Susan, Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky and Sawyer went to Casablanca for dinner and Sawyer had another first: his first belly dancer. Teresa was invited up to dance with the belly dancer and really did a GREAT job keeping up!

28 Dec: Teresa, Alan and Mom found out that Grandmother C., Aunt Sheila and Uncle Jerry were going to be briefly in town and were able to go over for a short visit. Then, Opa dropped Mom off at the hotel in Old Town for 2 nights with her college-girlfriends!! (Good news is that we PROBABLY could go back to Old Town...they didn't QUITE kick us out forever...) Teresa and Alan went with Oma and Opa to a wetland park, then back to Nana and Papa's house, where the contractors FINALLY finished the bathroom! (they started at the beginning of October!)

29 Dec: Teresa and Alan helped Nana and Aunt Susan with Sawyer. Mom was with her friends at Mount Vernon.

30 Dec: Teresa and Alan went with Nana and Papa to drop Aunt Susan off at the airport, to Frying Pan Farm, then to pick Mom up at the Metro from her girls-weekend. We ate lunch at Fudruckers and Alan had a Chocolate Milk shake.

31 Dec: New Year's Eve: Mom, Teresa and Alan drove to Aberdeen to spend a couple days with Uncle Mike, Aunt Allison and Emily. Minus Emily, we all drove through Amish country (with the kids yelling: COWS! SHEEP! John Deere! Buggy!) to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. There were tons of real, historic trains and fun stuff to do. Teresa was able to "drive" the trains in the education center and even earned a certificate! We all went back to Aberdeen and were asleep when Jim called at 11:45pm to wish us Happy New Year.

1 Jan: New Year's Day: Opa joined the group along with friends of Uncle Mike and Aunt Allison to watch football. Highlight of the day: Penn St beat Tenn, 20-10.

2 Jan: Teresa, Alan and Mom stop by Aunt Allison's classroom before heading back to VA. That night, Teresa, Alan, Mom and Papa went to the National Air and Space Museum (this time at Dulles) and saw all the historic aircraft. Then, at the IMAX, we saw Night at the Museum. IT WAS AWESOME! The perfect movie for the IMAX format. If you have the chance to see it in that format, I HIGHLY recommend it!

3 Jan: Mom, Teresa and Alan meet Nana for lunch. Then, we went to Nana's work and Teresa performed her Christmas hula for all her co-workers. The music went out in the middle and Teresa didn't skip a beat. She just started singing the song. Nana's co-workers were in awe!

4 Jan: Teresa, Alan and Mom went with Oma and Opa to the National Zoo. Though they didn't close the zoo, we think we witnessed a baby fox not in a cage near the wolves. Teresa and Alan also brought toys from the zoo's wish list to the animals. After the zoo, we stumbled upon an excellent Italian store/deli for lunch.

5 Jan: Teresa, Alan and Mom met Victoria and Elijah at the Border Cafe to hear Mister Don again. The kids had a blast. We stayed after for lunch. Thanks, Victoria! Then, we did the shopping tour of post: Clothing Sales, Garden shop, PX, Commissary & Class 6.

6 Jan: Alan was picked up by Oma and Opa for the night. They went to the National Museum of Natural History. He got to hold a prey mantis and a grasshopper, saw a three-d IMAX Shark movie, and saw dinosaur bones. Teresa, Nana and Mom did a bunch of errands and ended up at Olive Garden for lunch (Teresa was SO excited.) That night, Teresa spent the night at Michaela's house, celebrating Michaela's birthday, and stayed up 'til 4am.

7 Jan: After picking Teresa up, Mom, Teresa, Nana and Papa met Alan, Oma, Opa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky and Sawyer at Frying Pan Farm. We were there for a bluegrass "jam." It was Teresa's turn to sleep at Oma and Opa's house and she convinced them that she ALSO wanted to go to the Natural History Museum to see the mummies she had read about in a book. At Nana's house, Mom, Alan, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Becky, Sawyer and Col. & Mrs. Peterson had dinner, then Mrs. Peterson conducted a sewing class for the Beckies. The women also put together a diaper cake for a friend. The men all watched football. Alan helped Mrs. Peterson assemble dessert: a gingerbread snowman cake (the best gingerbread cake I have EVER had...I'll be shaking her down for THAT recipe!)

8 Jan: Teresa was returned from Oma and Opa's house. We said goodbye to Oma and Opa and thanked them for all the wonderful things we did with them! Then, Uncle Tim and Sawyer came over for the day. First, we went to Hidden Oaks Nature Center. It was very different from the other nature center. Lot's more child-friendly, interactive displays (costumes, puppets, experiments) but no one said one word to us. Then, we went to Nana's house and made a HUGE fort in her family room. Tons of fun.

9 Jan: Teresa, Alan and Mom started out the day mailing 3 boxes back to Hawaii with all the loot we received, then continued on our Target tour of Northern Virginia by visiting another store. We also went to a cool, three-story Burger King Indoor-Playground for lunch. (it was cold...in the low 40's.) We meet Nana and Sawyer at Nana's house and played with him for a while. Then, when Nana went to pick Papa up at the Metro, it started to SNOW. That's right...the first SNOW we had seen the WHOLE TRIP...but it only "snowed" for a couple minutes and we didn't get ready in time before it stopped. Uncle Tim and Aunt Becky were able to come over for dinner and to say goodbye.

10 Jan: Nana dropped us off at the airport and we winged our way back to Hawaii...

I need a vacation...