What a great time!

I can't put all into words what a time we had in SoCal with family but I will attempt it: it was great! There were ups and downs, some of which I will share and some not. But overall, it was great to see both my sisters and their families at the same time in the same place.

I will say - our trip out to CA was trying. Trying on our nerves and patience. We knew it would be as we watched the weather on the East Coast and realized we were flying into Dulles the day after 2 feet of snow was dumped on the area. Not good.

Our 8 hours of flying through the air was followed by 2 hours of sitting on the tarmac once we landed. I knew when we bypassed our terminal and were starting the grand tour of the hinter regions of Dulles Int'l Airport, complete with snow removal demonstrations, that we weren't getting off the plane in a timely fashion.

Everyone was informed, as we sat there, that many flights were delayed so we had a good shot at making our connection. We did make our connection - it was 4.5 hrs delayed! Unfortunately, our bags did not make the connection - even with the extra time. Problem was - due to weather, icy roads, limited public transit - employees were finding it hard to get to the airport. So our bags arrived 2 days later to the house. That's all I want to say about that.

Thank you to United: they did send all the passengers on that Zurich flight a choice of a reward for our patience in waiting so long (we waited longer than most because of the plane size and we HAD to go through the Int'l terminal). Our family chose to add 12,500 miles to each of our mileage accounts - we will certainly use those miles!

We were so glad to get to Highland and see Kris, Jason and Jayden! The girls quickly started their 'babysitting' duties and I think they enjoyed it immensely. Kris certainly enjoyed having them there to help occupy her active 18 month old!

Enjoying a game of Battleship: Kris was singing with the adult band as backup for the kids Christmas Eve choir so we all went. Their church (J is on staff as Jr Hi Pastor) is just a little bigger than ours:

Christmas Day - girls are all excited to open presents but patient enough to let us take some pic's.

We had a wonderful morning and good dinner with Jason's family coming over. By now, we were also pretty well over the time change and feeling normal. The girls loved their presents and were loving the time with their funny, little cousin.

More later with Fresno & Friends.....