Long entry this time, folks, I gotta catch us up to present in a hurry! (My computer is “fixed,” but that doesn’t mean what it should mean, sadly… new mother-board, new video card and a slew of new problems all for free! Special thanks to my recent back-up for saving my buns.)

It was the day before Christmas and all through lair, two kiddos watched Dora on a DVD player. See this image larger.

Connor again treats Nina to a tour of the facilities. This is where the presents are going to go! See this image larger.

The kids piled in to go check out the bocci courts! (Nina stayed home on this occasion, thanks for watching her, Grandma Barb!) See this image larger.

Looks like a J.Crew ad or something. (Do they still have J.Crew? I think I might be getting old.) Speaking of which, doesn’t he look old here? See this image larger.

Ian’s favorite activity is still to run like the wind. See this image larger.

Does this picture look familiar? (12/24/10)
We took a similar shot in the same spot two years ago, here they are right next to each other. (12/23/08) Also you can click here to see this image larger.

*Sorry about your windshield!* See this image larger.

I asked for a cheesy smile and I got it! See this image larger.

Extra cheese! See this image larger.

A nearby fountain served as an excellent backdrop for a bunch of pictures… See this image larger.

*Mom look, Kaylee’s going in!* See this image larger.

Tooth-fest, 2011! See this image larger.

Connor attempts to slam-dunk a penny into the fountain. Many wishes were made that day. And a few were lost in the nearby shrubbery. See this image larger.

The Village’s Police showed up just then to ask us to stop polluting their fountain with our pocket change. We made a run for it. 😉 (I’m kidding.) See this image larger.

On the way home… See this image larger.

Ian’s face is cute in both this shot and the next one, but you might have to click to see larger… I liked the sense of scale so I didn’t crop in. See this image larger.

Pictures like this on the internet usually have the caption “Haters gonna hate.” It basically means, take it all in stride, folks. See this image larger.

Nina enjoys some Grandma time, one-on-one. What’s the most she missed out on, a golf-cart ride? See this image larger.

*Oh Grandma, you think of everything!!! :)* See this image larger.

Eventually everybody was reunited and ready for dinner before settling in for a good Christmas Eve’s sleep… See this image larger.

Dinner Nina, no snacks!! Dinner! See this image larger.

And so we begin our journey south. Airline tickets were a joke this year, and frankly we just wanted to try driving to see how it would be. It turned out not to be too bad at all. The first thing we did was drive over to Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia’s. They let us stay the night (21st) there before continuing on our journey, which worked great. We were able to hop right onto 75 and cruise on down to Ohio.

First stop on the 22nd, Arby’s in Man-o-War, Kentucky. Ian got a cool glider. See this image larger.

Hi Arby’s. See this image larger.

We hit a pretty nasty traffic jam just as we crossed the Tennessee border, stopped for like an hour and a half hardly moving at all. Ian had to go potty too eventually, but we were so far up in the mountains we couldn’t stop until after the traffic jam. He held out nicely. We drove to just south of Atlanta’s airport and stopped at a great hotel. See this image larger.

I’ve never seen Ian happier to find a bed than that night. See this image larger.

The morning of the 23rd we headed further south, and the journey got worse. Cars used the left lane for normal traffic and people that had someplace to go had to move into the far right entrance/exit ramp in order to pass. The road was very straight and very boring as we crossed into Florida. Finally, we got to the Villages in the late afternoon.

Connor enjoyed an ice cream. See this image larger.

Nina says hello to Grampa. See this image larger.

*I smite you, Wise-person!!! PEW PEW!!!* (It took a little while for Nina to realize that the Nativity set was not made up of action figures.) See this image larger.

Nina beats Grandma Barb in the crawling section of the tri-atholon. See this image larger.

Kaylee dances around, care-free and happy… Christmas is coming! More soon! See this image larger.

The movie “Cars” has a sort of sequel that came out on DVD only… this is a set that lets you launch a car through a loop and off a ramp… He couldn’t see what it was at first… See this image larger.

Now he gets it. It was around here that he said something like “Hey guys, look! It’s the WHOLE SET!” I have no idea why he would say this, but we all cracked up. See this image larger.

Daddy tries to help put it together… See this image larger.

Another winner! He loves it! See this image larger.

Video
Click here to see Mater in action, as shot by Grampa Dave.

Mommy took this awesome shot while I was busy downstairs stealing all of Grampa Dave’s photos off of his camera. See this image larger.

After a very satisfying day, Mommy and Nina take a rest! See this image larger.

Anything can be a “super ian” mask or cape. 😉 See this image larger.

An awesome time was had by all, thanks to Grandma Marcia and Grampa Dave for a great visit, and their generosity and hospitality! (I know, we hosted, but Marcia brings stuff, bless her!) This was pretty much a perfect Christmas North… we had big fluffy snowflakes falling outside, the tree parked right in the corner of our living room, Ian was a very courteous, well-behaved little boy, and Nina started feeling better toward the end of the day. (I should have figured out how to light the fireplace? Maybe next year. 😉 )

And so now I turn my attention to Christmas South. It is going to be a little bit before I actually get all this stuff organized for the blog. Guess how many pictures I’ve got for the trip in total? Did you guess 1,181? If so, you’re exactly right… I’ll try to make it happen fast, wish me luck! Here’s a few bonus photos (these from the 19th) to buy me a little time…

It is always awesome to me when Ian and Nina can play together at all. It just seems sort of natural that it won’t last more than a second without some kind of explosion, but sometimes these two get along for 10-15 minutes… for their ages, I’m pleased as punch with that. See this image larger.

Oatmeal, she wears it well! See this image larger.

Audio
Yesterday was Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia’s Anniversary, and we send them congratulations and wish them continued happiness! So from 2009, here’s Ian’s awesome happy anniversary messages:
Message 1
Message 2

And now, back to Christmas, with, appropriately enough, Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia!

Video
Click here to watch a video of Ian opening up a rocket-ship that truly has to be seen to be believed. This wasn’t opening a present — this was love at first sight.

Space buggy in the lower area! See this image larger.

*Check this out, Gramma!* See this image larger.

Astronaut potty located conveniently under the bed! See this image larger.

*Anybody know the name of a good lawyer?* See this image larger.

*Ranyruddy row ruh rame rof a rood rawrer?* See this image larger.

Almost three-hundred sixty-five days of experience proves that this is one awesome place to snuggle in for a nap. See this image larger.

Video
Click here to watch a video of Ian playing with the new rocket!

Finally through the week, and ready to start celebrating Christmas, right after this entry…

December 16th, Ian’s Christmas party. He got “Where the Wild Things Are” and that’s about all there is to tell about that. See this image larger.

Our little hobo! See this image larger.

December 17th, time for another Nina fashion show! See this image larger.

Cute little ensemble.

Nina stands with a little help from a friend! See this image larger.

Pull out the zooey and get a frown, it’s just like magic! See this image larger.

That’s better… I guess?! See this image larger.

Little bit of head tilt going on here… See this image larger.

Admiring the Christmas tree. See this image larger.

Bye everybody! See this image larger.