Christmas Vacation in Arkansas

We spent last week in Arkansas and have had a pretty great time. The drive out took us about 17 hours due to the 2 hours of DC traffic we had to endure, but Abby was the perfect traveler and never complained once. Adam and I had had enough of Dora and Backyardigans by the end of the trip though. We've been really lucky to be able to stay at my sister in law's home while they are in Arizona visiting family. So, we had our own place, but were still within a mile of the rest of the family.

We got there on Christmas Eve and spent the night making cookies for Santa Clause and acting out the Christmas story with family. Abby was chosen as the baby Jesus since she was the youngest, and I was Mary, but holding an almost three year old that was struggling with my huge stomach getting in the way, didn't exactly work out. We had fun all the same though.


Christmas morning was fun. Abby woke me up at about three am so I quickly got her some water and headed her back to her room. Amazingly I was able to keep the presents out of sight and we didn't have to get up for at least a few more hours. She loved her Dora kitchen and Dora castle. She also got some clothes and dolls, and a V-smile and Leap pad from my parents. And there was also another Dora gift from Grandma and Grandpa Pierson. All day she insisted that she looooooved Santa Clause.



The rest of the week we walked around very sleep deprived because Abby decided to get up several times a night to come and "just say hi." She also let me know one night when we were on the way back to her bed that, "I am so frustrating." I said, "Why are you frustrated?" She said, "Cause I have so many stories to tell you and I just can't in my bed." Another night she insisted that she was scared of the spiders, so for the first time ever we let her sleep in the same bed with us. She hasn't slept through the night through since. (While I am writing this she just got out of bed to say "hi".) Oh, if only the made cribs higher that couldn't be climbed out of.

All in all it was a great vacation. We all loved being back in Arkansas among family, and came back more home sick than before, but more and more grateful for the blessings of family. I hope our children realize how incredibly lucky they are, like Adam and I do for our parents and siblings. We really missed being with my family in CA but look forward to seeing them next Christmas.

The past week Adam and I have worked every night until midnight on Adam's resumes for summer positions. We've had such a good time thinking about different places we'd like to live. We used a lot of time on our car trip just talking about all of the possibilities. I just love knowing I'll be with him and our children. We've been looking at Arkansas, Seattle, North Carolina, California. It will be fun to see how it all plays out.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year and is doing well.

This is Abby having fun in the hotel after sitting in the car for hours.

This is Abby telling Adam how much she loves him and talking about names for the baby.