Christmas this year was spent in Phoenix and Tucson. Nicolas, Bella and I flew out to Phoenix by ourselves. Nick had to stay and work. The flight was delayed 2 hours and then we sat on the runway for 45 minutes waiting to be deiced, but we finally made it off the ground to warmer weather. We landed in Phoenix and Sean, my Dad and Betsy were all there to greet us. Nicolas was so excited to see Grandpa Phoenix. He practically ran to the waiting area. We were dressed in very warm clothes so we began stripping in the airport. My Dad and Betsy had a birthday party for Bells. My Grandma, Uncle Rick, Sean and Brandi came over to help us celebrate. It was good to see my Grandma and Rick. My Grandma was entranced by the baby. Brandi had made some super good goodies for us all. Unfortunately, my Dad inhaled it all, but I managed to get a few bites before it was gone.
We headed down to Tucson on December 22nd first making a stop at Pop's house. He is my Grandfather thus being Nicolas and Isabella's Great-Grandfather. We had lunch with him, my Mom and Larry and then headed down to Tucson. It took us 4.5 hours to drive 100 miles. There was a 20 car pile up with 3 fatalities. It took us about an hour to drive 8 miles. The distance between one exit to the one where traffic was being detoured. Luckily I had my iphone! I was able to get on the map and see where traffic was backed up and see the back way to get to back to the freeway. At one point we were on a back highway at a dead stop in between two trucks. We couldn't see the tires on the truck in front of us because of all the dirt flying around. It was the worst dust storm I have EVER seen. We finally made it safe and sound thanks to Larry's safe driving. Bella was a trooper and thank goodness for the bag of Kix that was had in the car. I just kept feeding them to her and she just kept taking them. Whatever kept her happy I was doing it.
Tucson was relaxing and COLD. It wasn't -15, but it was still colder than I remember Tucson being. Nick spent lots of time seeing his brother and Nicolas enjoyed playing with his cousins. We went and saw Avatar, and went up to his Uncle and Aunts house in Oracle, AZ. All the cousins played and all the adults ate tamales and menudo. Isabella loved the menudo as the beans. She was passed around and even took a nap. Nick's Grandma hadn't seen Bella in person so she was very happy to finally meet her.
Christmas is always fun with kids and babies. Isabella got lots of fun toys and Nicolas got everything he asked for. He even got a bomber jacket made just for him from Uncle Matt. He is in the Air force. The jacket has a patch with Nicolas's name on it. Nicolas was so excited about that gift. It was very neat to see his face light up about something that wasn't a video game. Nicolas and Grandpa Larry iced the cookies that Grandma made. The recipe was Larry's Mothers. Lots of pressure for my Mom to try to bring the nostalgia back for Larry but I think she succeeded. Santa came and only took one bite out of his cookie and Rudolph took one bite. Isabella found the leftovers and she had to investigate. She took her first bite of sugar and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. We have a great video of her eating the cookies. She finished both cookies and even cleaned up the crumbs.
We celebrated Isabella's birthday on December 23rd with a song and a bib that said birthday girl. We had a party for her on December 28th, but I will post a separate blog for that adventure.
We all had a great relaxing time with lots of laughing with tears. I think the highlight of the entire trip was watching Hangover with my Mom. I don't know what was funnier, the movie or watching my Mom's reaction to the movie.
A big thank you to Phoenix and Tucson for letting us takeover your houses for our stay. We can't wait to get to San Diego to be able to see you all more often.