Tricia, David, and the Little Ones: Christmas 2011

yup, I am fully aware that it is March, and that I am extremely behind in posting anything relevant or even picture laden. We've had a busy couple of months and certain things inevitably fall to the way side. So here now, in March, I am updating the blog, starting with Christmas. This means that by the time I catch up to March it should be July and I will have entered the never ending circle of blog updates.

I digress...

This Christmas we traveled. We went to Maple Ridge for a week, and bookended that with Winnipeg. We decided to fly to Abbotsford from Winnipeg as it really was easier for us not to try to get three one way tickets (Regina to Abbotsford, Abbotsford to Winnipeg, and Winnipeg to Regina). So We went to the 'Peg, spent time with the family in the new house, and then stayed the night at the airport hotel (waaaaaay easier for an early morning flight!).

My sweet little Niece...she's cute, hey?

The girl cousins. Sophia and Jacob are both taken with Baby Rachel. so much so that when I asked Jacob for a kiss one day, he said "no" and I asked who he did kiss and he promptly and without hesitating said: "I kiss Baby Rachel" My response: "only Rachel?" Jacob: "Yes." Thankfully he's come around on the kissing Mommy front.

The tree that everyone helped decorate! What fun.

Then to Abbotsford and Maple Ridge for a Mantel family holiday. It was great fun to see Auntie Dea and Uncle Todd, especially at Christmas. We haven't all been together in BC for Christmas in a long time.

We discovered that Bear Creek Park has a mini train, and even better a daytime running Christmas train! Nana, Poppa, mommy, daddy, Sophia and Jacob all travelled out and had a ride. We even got to see Santa, who was very friendly, and treated the kids to a candy cane. Can't say enough about the train and the folks who work there. They made it very festive and joyful, going the extra mile in making little craft goodie bags for each kid and welcoming them to the train. It was fabulous.

The Gerhard contingent decided to take advantage of the closeness of the West Coast Express which is part of the public transit system. It is an honest to goodness train train which went from Maple Ridge to downtown Vancouver in about an hour and a quarter, stopping at regular stops to pick up folks. It is an inexpensive way to get downtown, especially when you can use your ticket for the skytrain and buses as well. Awesome.

We spent some time down at the waterfront, checking out the Plaza of Nations and the Woodwards Christmas windows (which are no longer at Woodwards, but they are in windows!).

From there we hopped a skytrain to one of the hotels downtown to check out a huge display of Gingerbread creations...done by professionals and students alike. This is the display created by my friend Jacquie's food class at Prince of Wales highschool. From here we hopped yet another skytrain and spent several hours at Scienceworld before heading back to Maple Ridge. It was a fabulous day!

Christmas aftermath....serious toy liberation.

And Christmas dinner...yum!

Then back to Winnipeg....

Wrangling the cousins for a Christmas morning photo...Thank you Uncle Alan and Auntie Chris for the great matching pajamas. This is about as good as we could get. It's a bit like wrangling cats, cats on catnip. Yeah...you get the point.

Gift openings

Daddy and Uncle Adam putting together Adam's Millenium Falcon lego kit with Jacob's help and supervision.

"See, see, I no too big."

Jacob as his cars...all lined up and ready to go.

The kids and I spent some time at the Manitoba Children's museum. This here is slide which is part of the Optical illusions section. It is not as big as it seems.