Kika's Nest: (a late) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(watch out! Long post. Huge amounts of fun in a small window)

Christmas 2014 came upon the Glynn house with a full load of action!

School vacation could not get here fast enough. We were all ready to get to Texas in The Ark (that is the new name of our new van). We were so grateful for some elbow room and Paige was glad to not have a 70 pound black lab sit in her lap for 13 hours!

We were at the farm for less than a week but we tried to pack in as much fun as we could.

Elfster Christmas - this was super fun by the way. Thanks, Amy, for hosting!

Paige Bear turned 11 with Shipley's for breakfast

The Aquarium for lunch - Thank you so much Nana and Papa

lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Got to enjoy the rides!

The ferris wheel went so high some of us were a bit nervous!

Christmas Eve with some godparents

It was so comforting to worship with family

Then the one present on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day was a whirlwind of joy. Italian food for lunch (Chris called it our Giuseppe Christmas) with all of the family. Santa brought some treats for the kids but we didn't have too much to open. Our main Christmas present would happen the following week.

The next day, I got a baby fix! Shelby said, "Kika is my favorite!"

the Carr kids have gotten so big. I guess that means the Glynnlets have, too.

We had loads of fun while we were in Texas trying to make the most of our few days...

Then off we trekked to Angel Fire, New Mexico for skiing with the Browns. We drove out through Amarillo and spent the night there. Had dinner at The Big Texas Steakhouse.

Off the next day to the house we rented. The start of the trip did not start out so well. The dogs ran off within the first 5 minutes of being out of the van. They were gone for hours. Finally found them and brought them home. They were subsequently grounded.

We got stuck down the driveway. Got down easily but couldn't get back up. Luckily, Mike got his van out so I could get to the grocery store. Then took Chris to the store and we bought snow chains. We're now prepared for the next snow storm in Georgia.

Then Hannah was sick. Really sick. Was even wondering if we were going to have to call an ambulance in the middle of the night to take us to the hospital (we didn't have snow chains yet). But a full day of nursing her and making her lay low, she pulled through fine. It ended up being caused by the altitude. Once she was there for 24 hours, she was a new person. Thank you, God!

Finally, we got to ski and things were starting to look up. The first day, all the Glynnlets and I took classes. Chris and the Browns skied. But they had to endure the top of the mountain being -25 with the wind chill. Yes. I said negative 25. The Browns proceeded to buy gators after their first trip down the mountain. Chris was about to be done and go home for the rest of the day. It was C.O.L.D. But fortunately, for those of us taking lessons, we did not have to survive that wind. I won't complain.

The next day we finally all got to ski together. Sort of. Paige took off with the Browns up Chili Express to the top of the mountain and had a blast. Some others were still trying to find their legs down on the lower parts. But we mixed and matched being paired up all day. Hannah, Paige, and Jenna skied. Abby and Adam snow boarded. And they all did great!

Nicole and Caleb skied. Kevin started on a board but changed to skis on day 2.

Caleb, Hannah, Kevin

me and Chris

Me and Hannah

Abby and Kevin

Hannah & Kevin on Chili Express

our view going up the mountain

Jenna

Abby Jane

Adam, Paige, Lolo, Hannah, Kevin, Caleb, me, and Jenna

Lolo and I finally got to ski together on the last day!

It was so much fun watching Adam snow board. He picked it up so quickly and got to be really good! This video doesn't show how awesome it was to watch him snowboard, but you can definitely see how comfortable he was doing it. He was a natural.

Hannah: She enjoyed skiing but I think if we get to go again, she is going to try snowboarding.

Abby: She got the hang of it and had fun, but I think next time she will do skis. She was slow coming down the mountain, but she was persistent.

Paige: She was a natural and took off as soon as we let her. She and Caleb buddied up the whole time and went "off road" every chance she got.

Jenna: She got so comfortable being on the skis that she tried to jump off any elevated piece of snow that she could find! And she talked the entire time down the mountain. The. Entire. Time.

Some other fun:

We banged pots and pans to ring in the New Year (about 9:00 pm!)

Michael is cooking as a good man should be!

We had a fantastic time with the Browns. It was an amazing experience that we got to give our kids and we were fortunate to share the time with family. I wonder if they would go on a trip with us again?