Christmas Vacation

So I am sure you have all been dying without a blogpost! ha! So here it is. The MEGA post! And then you will be all caught up.

Pics from the McCue Family Christmas

Caleb wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus (of course he got to blow out the candle).

So for weeks before we flew out to California I agonized over our trip and basically dreamt of everything that could possibly go wrong. And as far as the traveling part of our trip---IT DID! Here is the "short" version.

We drove up to Spokane to catch our flight, only to find that the garage parking was full and we would have to park outside and come back to a car buried in snow. Caught our delayed flight to Salt Lake. Got stuck in a holding pattern after high winds and poor visibility would not allow us to land. The high winds & poor visibility ultimately led to one of the roughest 20 minutes and landings of my life (like I am almost throwing up & crying with Drayson sitting on my lap). We assume that we have missed our flight to LA, but NO, because that flight has also been stuck because of the weather conditions. They allow us back onto that flight (assuring us that our luggage will also make it). After getting onto that flight we get stuck INSIDE the airplane ON THE RUNWAY for 5 HOURS! Due to a broken radio, weather, having to be de-iced like 3 times and waiting behind several other planes to take off. Finally take off, land in LA without any further incident only to find that the before mentioned luggage has been lost and did not make the trip. Talk to some useless people at the Delta Counter. John has been sleeping in his car in the parking garage this whole time. We then realize that Caleb does not have his booster seat (it was checked & lost as well). But at this point it is 3am on Christmas Night, so we strap him into the truck and pray for the best. Chip and John had to drive back to the airport the next day to wait for our luggage! And then on the way home they cancelled our connecting flight from Salt Lake to Spokane and tried to tell us to come back tomorrow. Thanks, but no Thanks, we were getting on that flight. At this point I am nearly in tears and just want to be at home and cannot imagine having to spend a single extra minute, let alone hours, in an airport with the kids. Chip is starting to lose his cool (and we all know that means that things must have been really bad). We are like how about any flights to Seattle (NO), Portland (NO), then randomly the guy behind the ticket counter goes "are you familiar with Pasco?" And I nearly threw up...they gave us the last 3 seats on a tiny plane back into Pasco. So we did finally make it back to the Tri-Cities....but yes, our car was still in Spokane. So thankfully Travis drove Chip up the next day to pick it up (they brought a shovel, but ended up not really needing it, because a guy with a snow blower happened to be wandering by our car in the parking lot at the same time they were picking up the car!)---That is probably the only good thing that happened during the whole travel escapade. So there you have it! I am here to report that we will NOT be traveling/flying over Christmas again any time soon.

Now for the actual vacation part of our trip....we had a GREAT TIME! Thanks again to Gma Jane & Papa Larry! And to Char & George for being such wonderful hosts!! And to John for being the best TAXI driver ever!! We did Disneyland & the Wild Animal Park, played with cousins, etc. It was so good to see everyone. Caleb had such an amazing time and sobbed when we had to leave!



Thanks Uncle John for the Ducks jersey & hatCaleb & cousin Nathan

I cannot believe I didn't get a better pic of all 5 of the grandsons together. But I had to post this (this one is for you Rosie)

Caleb has been begging for a goalie mask (he even asked Santa for one), but since the real deal are like a couple hundred dollars, he did not get one. But look what Daddy found in California at the Anaheim Ducks Team Store

We had dinner at the end of this Pier in Oceanside

Disneyland here we come!


Check out Caleb's painted face! It was supposedly a "puppy dog" but it looks more like a member of KISS to me! He loved it though!

Drayson was such a trooper. We were there for over 10 hours.
They boys with Gma & Gpa staying warm under the heaters.

Wild Animal Park

My hottie of a husband rocking the front pack! I know he is an awesome dad, but he proved it time and time again on this trip!

The Carousel. Check out Caleb's safari hat.

Look at this cutie pie!

I am so thankful for being able to give these experiences to our kids, but man was that a lot of work! I totally would have lost my marbles if not for my rock steady husband, my awesomely well behaved children and by the grace of God of course. I just keep thinking that maybe this will be like childbirth and eventually we will only remember the good parts!