Christmas in Ohio, part 2

SJ, of course, was very excited on Christmas Day. The very first present she opened was some finger paints. She then kept asking to paint. We had to pause the present opening time for about 30 minutes so she could try out her new paints! Evertime she opened a gift she could wear, she put in on. She finally ended up with her new coat, snow pants, slippers, apron and swim goggles! She ended up keeping her snow pants on all day. (By the way, it was sunny and 40 on Christmas day, not a snow flake in site!) At night we told her whe had to take them off and she did relent. However, when we woke her up in the morning the snow pants were mysteriously on again! SJ said she didn't know who put them on! What a kid!

Christmas night we had a really nice dinner all together as a family!

Christmas in Ohio

We made it to Ohio last Friday safely, although a bit late. We didn't arrive at Columbus Airport until after midnight. Lots of flights were delayed and the airport was packed! We were so hungry, too, that we had to stop for milkshakes and hamburgers! SJ was deliriously tired and gave us a little of a hard time on the plane, but thankfully she didn't have a full blown meltdown.









On Sunday night we headed to Columbus Zoo for the Zoo Lights display. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to go. We were close to the zoo while out shopping and decided to give it a look. Thankfully my Mom had just shopped at Kohl's for my Dad and had 2 extra pairs of gloves and 2 extra hats for us. I didin't have a hat, but then my Dad reminded me that we had the OSU Santa hat in the car that I could wear. No where else could I get away with an Ohio State Santa hat and not be laughed at than in Columbus, Ohio! It ended up being a very warm hat, too! As soon as we got to the zoo we had to go rent a stoller and buy a blanket. Yes, the gift shop sold blankets as well as scarves, gloves and hats. I can imagine they sell alot of them on nights like this - it was cold and windy. We wrapped SJ up in the blanket and placed her in the stoller. She was snug as a bug and said she was nice and warm.





We didn't see many animals, but we did see reindeer and goats. While there we got a snow squall. We had just bought some hot chocolate when the snow started. It fell fast and furious and we found some shelter in the petting zoo barn. It stopped about 10 minutes later and then we headed for home. It was a quick trip made even more festive by the falling snow!





Christmas Eve we headed to my Aunt and Uncles house. SJ was the center of attention and enjoyed jumping on many of Aunt Linda's big stuffed Santa's!

Back to Bonn

Nathan and I got to enjoy a brief visit back to Bonn last weekend. We left Boston on Wednesday (missing the great snow storm that Thursday) and then we left Bonn on Sunday. We enjoyed being back in Bonn, especially since we knew our way around, knew where to get the best bakery items, coffee, and German specialties. Our first stop was to Bagel Brothers. We reveled in the delicious bagel sandwiches, brownies, and a nice tall Diet Coke (aka cola lite.) By the way, the cola lite cost just over 2 Euros (about $3!)

On Friday I got to enjoy lots of shopping at the Christmas Market and was able to see our friends Mike and Nicole. Nicole and I also got a yummy latte macchiato and drank it outside the cafe. Even in December you can find lots of people eating and driking outside!

Saturday Nathan and I went to Siegburg to the Medieval Christmas Market. We went there last year and thought it was so unique. Second time around it wasn't as exciting, but we did enjoy the Medieval music and dancing.

Saturday night was the big Christmas Party for Nathan's company. It was so nice and we enjoyed lots of good food and fun. So much fun that we didn't leave the party until 3am! (Suprisingly many people stayed until well after 3!) We got about 1 hour of sleep before waking up to head to the train station.

It was a quick trip, but fun to relive our days in Bonn. Sydney had a great time at her Gami and Papi's house playing in all the snow Boston got!

In search of the perfect Christmas picture

Here is one of the 30 pictures we snapped while trying to capture the perfect picture for the Christmas card. This is not the one that was chosen - you'll see that one later - but it represents SJ's fun and smiley personality.

By the way, the ornament near the red bow is our most precious - an ornament with a picture of SJ at her first Christmas -8 weeks old.