The Hughes Family: Christmas in Virginia

The Sunday after Christmas, the Hughes family packed up and headed North to the very cold Virginia. We flew this year instead of driving as we did last year...let's just say that last year cured us of ever wanting to drive that long in a car with a toddler again...much less a toddler AND an infant! :) So, we hopped on a direct flight from Orlando to Richmond...very nice...I highly recommend it! I was a little worried about how Katherine would do on the flight, but amazingly she was great! We flew Jet Blue, so we had our own TV screen in the seat in front of us and you could control which channel you were watching on your arm rest...Katherine was a pro at changing the channels to find cartoons within minutes of sitting down...she is going to be one tech savvy kid I believe! :) Chris and I also were smart enough to bring Katherine's car seat onto the plane with us so that Katherine was strapped in...in other words, we didn't have to chase her all over the plane...it was a VERY good idea (well until we tried to get the car seat off of the plane...). Caroline was an angel as well, she slept or nursed the whole flight and didn't seem affected at all with the change in altitude. Katherine had a moment of fussiness when her ears were bothering her, but it didn't last long and by the time we landed she was fine and dandy. Once we landed it was time to unload the car seat and drag it back through the airport...yeah...the buckle wouldn't open because there wasn't enough space in the compartment behind the car seat for the buckle to open all the way...great. SO...two pilots, two flight attendants, Christopher and I later the car seat was finally freed... Then we had to drag it and all of our other stuff off the plane and to the baggage claim area.

One thing I have learned is to be VERY patient with parents traveling with young children. This is what we had to carry with us in addition to the three large suitcases that were checked at the ticket gate:
1 stroller
2 car seats
1 car seat base (for Caroline's seat)
1 boppy (for nursing Caroline on the plane)
2 diaper bags full of toys, diapers, change of clothes, etc.
2 children

I think we looked like a rolling train rather than parents with two kids in tow walking through the airport. HA!

Once in Virginia we went to CiCi and PaPa's house for some R&R. Monday morning we had breakfast with the Vails, Youngs and Hughes families and then Chris and I went off to shop at Stoney Point outdoor mall...in 38 degree weather with a windchill of what felt like 0 degrees...what were we thinking?! Needless to say we didn't last long and were shortly back in the car with the heat blasting. :)

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the Rivah visiting with the Vails, the Twins and Taylor. The all brought Katherine and Caroline more Christmas presents...boy is she SPOILED!!! She loved visiting with them and they actually gave her her bath, so she was THRILLED about that. :)

Thursday was a lazy day around the Hughes house. The girls and Chris and I went to the mall to look for some jeans, but didn't find what we were looking for. After that we came home and lounged around the house until dinnertime. We have a wonderful dinner by CiCi and then we started the epic 3 hour bedtime battle. Ugh. Katherine finally succumbed at about 2 hours, but Caroline...OH NO...she wanted to party, so I finally got her to sleep around 10:45...I was pooped!

Today looks to be another relaxing day with a visit with friends thrown in there somewhere. Let's hope anyway! :) Tomorrow will be crazy as we return to FL. Our flight is smack dab in the middle of nap time...so I"m hoping they both sleep...but I have a feeling instead they will both be cranky...I'll let you know how it went when we get home!! :)