Wagner Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Wagner side of the family in Melbourne, Florida this year. It is was a 6-day adventure for us and our little ones :)

We left Birmingham around 11:00 am on December 31st and arrived at Marc's mom's house a little over 12 hours later. The trip went better than we expected, with only minimal crying (Ethan) and whining (Caleb). I learned three things from our trip to Searcy in October of last year and rectified all three of them for this trip:

(1) Caleb couldn't sleep comfortably in his big boy car seat before, so I bought him two side head pillows and he was able to sleep much better this time.

(2) The oncoming headlights and streetlights flashing across their faces woke both kids up frequently before, so I created a "sleep tent" for them in the backseat using a clothes-hanging bar and a dark sheet.

(3) We didn't bring the portable DVD player to Searcy, assuming that the kids would sleep the whole trip, since we were driving at night. BIG mistake that we did not repeat this time. Caleb watched all of Peter Pan on the way to Melbourne :)

Anyway, we got in very late (around midnight eastern time) and were able to transfer Caleb to his prepared mattress on the floor. Not so lucky with Ethan. He was bright-eyed from the moment we took him out of the carseat. It was at least an hour and a half before we got him back to sleep. He just didn't get why we were trying to put him back to sleep when he thought it was morning!

Highlights from the rest of the week...

(1) Caleb and his cousin Chase (one year his senior) playing cooperatively more than ever before. The fact that Caleb can communicate well now made a big difference for their relationship.

(2) Eating Doubles sandwiches. Doubles might be my very favorite thing about Melbourne.

(3) Marcus getting to go surfing with his brother, Mike. And I'm sure Marcus would also say getting to play video games with his brother and his brother-in-law, Josh.

(4) Having a nice girls' evening with Wendi and Traci and Marc's mom. We didn't get to the games we'd planned to play because I couldn't get my kids to sleep until after 9:00, but we helped Wendi with a mosaic frame and got to visit for a while.

(5) Getting some great pictures of the boys at the park near Mike's house.

(6) Caleb playing with Marc's childhood toys, particularly the He-man set which Caleb called the "Ugly Strong Men".

(7) Caleb going on "Daisy hunts." Mimi has a VERY antisocial black cat that often goes unseen for days when company is around. Caleb was very intrigued with trying to find her.

All in all, it was a good visit. Enjoy the pictures :)