Holiday break-down

*Warning: this is a VERY long post! *

After flying over 4500 miles, driving 700 miles through 3 states and 13 hours in the car, $2.50 in tolls (not including the $11 in Starbucks coffee), seeing 45 people, and -18 hours of sleep, we're home in Montana. What a whirlwind of a trip! All in all, the Cline clan did pretty well. The kiddos cooperated as much as could be expected on the flights although our idea of flying at night so Madeleine would sleep didn't work out the way we planned. And the airline websites don't tell you that you can't have two lap children in the same row with another person because of the number of oxygen masks. So we ended up doing some seat shuffles but sat next to really nice people so it worked out.

Christmas morning was pretty non-eventful due to our late arrival into Dulles (12:40am). We all took some time relaxing, eating pancakes for brunch, and napping as much as possible. On the day after Christmas, we had a great time visiting with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Steve, and Grandma who drove down from Maryland to visit for the afternoon.

The beautiful quilt Janet made for Parker.

On Saturday we spent a short time with my old friend Molly ("old" as in long-time friend, not ancient...just to clarify for your sake Molly!) who drove over to say hello. Molly has been like the little sister I never had. She's the best friend of my best friend Carol's little sister Stacy. Got that? Anyway, we've known one another a long time and it was really fun to see her. And she did a great job putting Parker to sleep!

We also got to spend the rest of the day with the Johnsons: Carol, Jeremy, and Soren. I hadn't seen them since March and they had never met Madeleine or Parker. It was entertaining to pal around and walk the old neighborhood with our whole families. Madeleine didn't take to Soren as well as I would have liked but that's no surprise as she's super cautious and he's a go-getter. They have plenty of time to learn to like one another as I plan on trying to visit them after they move to Indiana this summer for Jeremy to start his job as a professor at Butler University.

(Notice Madeleine's dubious look. What a piece of work!)

Carol and I sported matching t-shirts for the day!

We also enjoyed spending time with my parents who graciously hosted us. Madeleine seemed to remember them from their visit in October when Parker was born. Besides feeding us and letting us abuse their laundry (packing for 4 with baggage costs required re-wearing a lot of clothes), they watched Elmo with Madeleine, chased her around the house, taught her to play the piano, rocked Parker, and helped him pass gas (a stinky but important job...thanks Mama, sorry that you almost passed out a time or two!).

Saturday night we drove up to Clearfield to spend time with Justin's family and friends. We spent Sunday celebrating Christmas with his mom's side of the family and Monday with his dad's side. Madeleine was immersed in gifts and has since taken it upon herself to open anything with wrapping paper thinking that it must be for her! She grew quite attached to Uncle Aaron ("Bubba") and his girlfriend Jessica and was sad to see them leave for New York. (Hint, hint...want to come and visit you two?) As is the story with the holidays, we ate and ate and ate and did laundry :) We didn't get pictures with all of the people we visited with (Jayna and Micah, Alan and Michelle, Audry and Bob, the Lovesky family, Uncle Dipe, the McCrackens) but we were so delighted to spend time with each of you!

Justin's dad Jerry with Parker

On Tuesday, chaos ensued (in the best possible way)! Justin's college roommates Preston and Craig came to visit with their respective wives Aimee and Suzanne. We had a blast! As always, stories were retold and mischief was caused. But we also created new memories and deepened bonds that were formed a long time ago. Preston and Aimee drove down from Erie for the day (after driving to Erie from Marshfield, Wisconsin) just to see us. We are incredibly blessed by these friends and the joy they add to our lives.

Back row: Justin, Craig, and Preston Front row: me, Suzanne, and Aimee

Preston discovered the puddle at the bottom of the slide AFTER he slid down it!

Madeleine had a lot of fun having Craig "catch" her at the bottom of the slide and run her back to the top. She played on the slides for over 30 minutes before we convinced her to keep walking!

We spent Wednesday hanging out at JoAnn's and preparing for another night of driving. We had to head back to VA for my dad to drive us to BWI to fly out Thursday. It was a nice day of down time before the big trip home.

We rang in 2009 by having a glass of Justin's Uncle Jack's homemade chocolate raspberry port. And then we hit the hay. It had been a long day but we had more fun ahead of us. My other best friend from high school Stacy and her family recently moved to Stafford and came over to visit with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were second parents to me throughout high school and college and I've missed having them around when I've visited Stafford since they moved to South Carolina a few years ago. I hadn't seen Stacy and Zach since my wedding 4 years ago. It was wonderful of them to drive over with their new baby Wendy (born 8 days after Parker) to say hello for a few hours. I wish we lived closer!

We landed in Missoula at midnight that night after racing through the Denver airport to make our connection. We're slowly transitioning back into a normal routine. We were so glad to visit with all of you and are sorry we couldn't have seen more people (Hunter family and Amanda, especially) but we'll be back. It may be a little while yet but I'm sure we'll be back. In the meantime, we're planning Christmas 2009 here at 4 Wakonda Ct. You're all invited but reservations are suggested. Love to you all and Happy New Year!!!