Christmas! - Christmas! - Christmas!

It's Christmas.  What is there to say?

Laurie cooked another amazing dinner, very very very excited kids, family, presents, football, horrid cold weather, cuddling and lots of fun.

Laurie and I made a run to the store and Brett and I did later.  Included here are some pics of a trip we took home later.

Some Presents and Stockings

The tree on Christmas morning

A veritable plethora of goodies

"C'mon, Mommy, start passing out the swag!"

The expression of delight

Big boxes

Mimi helps assembly

Frigid cold in Fargo

Sun dogs.  This only happens when all the moisture in the air is frozen.  It was -43 degrees.

Our driveway

Amazing sunset due to cold air.

Happy boy

Pile on!!

Lurkers

December 20th - We fly to Minnesota

We made the decision back before we left North Dakota, that we would fly back for Christmas with our Daughter and her family. Imagine getting on a plane with temps in the 70s and flying to a place where the temp is 20 degrees.  Now imagine that an unexpected cold snap hits the entire eastern US that puts local temps around 20 to 30 degrees below. 

Poor little Gypsy, our travel cat, was not to be left home.  We purchased a soft cat carrier.  It was designed to fit under the seats like a carry-on bag.  We put it opened on the floor a few days before we left so she would get comfortable with it.  She did.  She even slept in it at times.  We drove the truck to San Diego and left it in her sister's care as we got a ride to the airport.  Gypsy did really well on the flight. 

We flew Frontier Airlines.  Cut rate, but the flight out wasn't too bad.  The plane had video screens on the back of each seat and you could pull up many TV stations or movies to watch.  It also had a section for kids that showed a map of the land below us and where we were.  It was cool looking out the window and having the screen tell us what we were looking at. 

Then we land in Minneapolis.  Mama!!! it was cold.  nasty, snow, tired, etc. etc.  A couple of kids with us, Eliza and Brett.  We stopped at a noodle place for a bite and then took the long drive across Minnesota to Moorhead, across the river from Fargo.  For being nighttime, it was typically light.  This is normal, when there are a few street lights, and the snow, overcast, and ice crystals in the air spread the light everywhere.  It's beautiful, but cold. 

Did I mention it was cold???

Time to snuggle in, get ready for Corbin's birthday, Christmas, and New Years.

Nothing but family and grandkids could have gotten us to forsake our warm camper for a place where the air hurts your face.  Soon, we would go to our house and get her Jeep so we would have a car to drive of our own.

Gypsy's first flight.

Arizona, or Colorado, or....

The view after leaving the airport

Someone is not happy

Evening

The next morning

December 7th - Park lights contest

They have a lights and decorations contest here at the RV Park every year.  An entire row of sites was occupied by an RV group in participation.  Don't ask me how it came out.  The decorations were very nice and imaginative.  We walked through one night to enjoy it.  A couple of days later, we caught a great sunset just before the clouds moved in.  A guy was on the bay parasailing. he cruised across the bay barely touching the water at times.  It sure looked like fun.  A couple of days later, a group of people dressed as Santa, a Bear, and the Grinch among others were out walking around.  I'm guessing they were the judges.

It's just about time to move to our next location.  She's taking an assignment out in Imperial County in the desert.  The town is called El Centro.  It's close to Calexico and the Salton Sea in the Anza Borrego Desert.  It's winter, so it won't be too hot.

December 26th continued - The great Lego challenge.

Our family has always been a lego family.  The kids have always gotten Legos for Christmas. The Grandkids got them this year as well, continuing the tradition.

Of course, we had to get something for Alexander as that is just what we've always have done.  This year had a twist.  We bought two identical Lego kits. The kits could be built in either of two ways to create two different construction vehicles.

We gave the two kits to Alexander and Dustin.  They had a challenger where they would agree on which thing to build, and they sit down and race to see who could complete theirs first.

The race began, with Legos flying and hearts pounding.  After a little more than an hour, the dust settled and the bulldozers were completed.  Dustin Jordahl had won the first great Lego challenge.  Good work, Dustin.