Let the Vacation (Memories) Begin!

Our trip back east was by far the highlight of our year! We thoroughly enjoyed our time catching up with family and friends! You know a vacation is too short when you're just not quite ready to come home yet...our overwhelming feeling on leaving was "Goodness, we wish the rest of our family lived closer."

The kids were troopers for the flight there, especially considering that our flight left Anchorage at 2 a.m. It counted as a school day...a field trip to the airport! And Andrew traced our path on a map of North America that was packed in his bag.

It was fun getting the kids ready to go...the boys each got an early Christmas present of an LLBean backpack. (Hmmm...I wish I had remembered that it was a Christmas present a few weeks ago). Anyway, LLBean packs are truly kid-sized but adult-version durable. And nothing like adding a bright splash of color to your child's back to keep track of them in the airport! The boys had all manner of novel snacks, coloring books, 4-color pens, etc. They did really well! Even Anna only had one bout of fussiness...and I was grateful that she wanted daddy most of the way. ;)