Christmas in Kansas

We left Arkansas Christmas morning loaded to the hilt for Kansas. I mentioned in the last post that Landon got sick. We decided he must have had too much milk too fast, because he was perfectly fine afterwards (he's prone to this and it's happened before). Precautionary measures were taken and away we went. We arrived in Pilsen first where we opened presents with Gram, Poppy, Uncle Frank, Fred, Staci and Baby Thurston. Geoff made ribs for dinner, which were awesome! Sunday afternoon my uncle and aunt came over for a visit and we played and ate. Monday morning we headed to Hutchinson to tour the underground salt mine. Well, not all of us. Gram got sick early that morning. The tour was really cool and the kids enjoyed having Unkie (who works for Morton Salt and was an "expert" according to the kids) at their disposal to answer all their burning questions, like "Do you think anyone gets forgotten down here?" and "Why can't I download a game on Mommy's phone down here?". Tuesday included a trip to the farm to ride Barney and crack ice on the pond. Geoff had to work in Wichita on Wednesday, so we loaded up and headed that direction. As a side note, Geoff, Uncle Frank, Landon and I all got sick after Gram did. We took turns toughing it out!

We rested on Wednesday after we arrived in Wichita, as Nana and Papa didn't return from Virginia until late that evening. Thursday morning awoke to a whole new flurry of excitement! More presents and cousins to play with! The kids had a blast opening presents and then playing with their cousins all day Thursday. Friday started again with playing. Nana was nice enough to let the adults go run some errands kid-less...Thank you!!! The men took on the project of putting a new TV in the hearth room that evening, which was quite a job! But they all thoroughly enjoyed watching football on it afterwards! Our family did not stay awake for the new year, with the exception of Geoff. Sometimes the best way to ring in the new year is to just sleep! Saturday morning the kids and I went over to the Hooper house to play there. Those kiddos play so well together. They rarely fight and generally treat each other well. They are all "leaders", but have learned to take turns being "followers". It's been heartwarming to watch them grow together, even when it's only in spurts! Loaded up again, we headed for Arkansas Saturday afternoon. Miraculously, no one else got sick while we were in Wichita!