Well, we are back and both of my "kids" are napping after a late night – we rolled into the driveway about 1:30 this morning after driving all the way back from Colorado Springs with a stop in Hays, KS to retrieve Skip’s car.

Looks like Santa might be bringing Skip a new car as a belated Christmas present – on our way up to Holdrege, we stayed overnight in Wichita on Thursday as there were ice and snow storms north of I-70 in Kansas, and the thought of driving through such fun and festive weather late at night (and probably dodging a few deer to boot) didn’t really sound like our idea of a good time.

So Friday morning we begin our trek anew from Wichita and stop off in Hays, KS for some lunch and a pit stop before continuing the two or so hours remaining into Holdrege. Well, we pull into a Village Inn, I stop the car, remove the keys … and the radio keeps going. And Skip’s Lexus is NOT the kind of car where the radio continues even after the keys are removed. Oh boy. I try to re-insert the key to see if that will do anything and I cannot get the lock to turn one way or the other, at all. Joy joy joy joy. So Katie and I settle into VI for some lunch while Skip attempts to call a tow; of course, with all of the storms the previous night most drivers are backed up several hours. Yippee. He finally gets ahold of one who says it will be at least an hour and a half, so we eat our lunch and Skip camps out in the cold car (it was maybe 15 degrees outside) and Katie and I trek over to Hastings Bookstore to kill the time.

Ever try to kill three + hours in a bookstore with a toddler? Yeah, it was a challenge. Katie did get to run amok for a while, which was good, and we found a few books and a comfy chair, which would keep her occupied for maybe 10-20 minutes at a stretch. But she really liked pulling all of the used video games off of the shelf AND she was especially drawn to the “over 18” magazine section for whatever reason.

Skip finally calls – the tow truck driver has taken our Lexus to the local Toyota dealer, Skip has a rental mini van, and he’ll be by in a few minutes to pick us up. It’s something with the lock mechanism; the part that is needed can only be found in one dealership in the country. Guess where: Plano, TX, the same dealership we both drive by EVERY SINGLE STINKIN DAY on our way to Katie’s day care. Ugh.

The mini van works well, and we continue our trek to Holdrege where we have a very nice Christmas with Grammy DiAnn and Angie, although D was a bit under the weather (we understand she’s a bit better since we’ve returned). Katie got an “Elmo Live” (from us), a “Ba Ba Elmo” (from her Grammies) and an “Elmo goes to the Potty” book, also from her Grammies. Katie wasn’t too into unwrapping her presents, although she did get a kick (for a while at least) out of helping Daddy play delivery elf.

We left Holdrege on Monday for Colorado Springs and I am happy to say no car trouble from the rental. ☺ We stopped in Ogallala for Valentino’s pizza and made it to Grandma and Grandpa’s house by about 6:30. Katie went NUTS running through Grandma’s house – lots of new stuff to see and entirely new cabinets to rearrange for Grandma. Oh – and Grandma and Grandpa bought Katie her very own table and chairs. The motif? Elmo, of course. And she got an extra copy of “Elmo Potty”, too.

Tuesday we went to a ranch to the south of the Garden of the Gods to check out the animals – Katie loved seeing the horses, cows (MOOOOOOO!), ducks and chickens. In fact, in our travels, any time Katie saw cows she’d say “Cow cow cow cow” and then “MOOOOOOOOOOO!” Wednesday Skippy & I got to go skiing and I am happy to say I didn’t fall, not once, not even getting off of the lift.

We pulled into Mom & Dad’s driveway right behind my brother Jason, his girlfriend Sarinya, and Gus the Houdini dog (who was VERY well behaved). We opened gifts and Katie got quite the haul – I think my favorite is a farm animal “bowling” set she got from her Uncle Jas. Katie really liked Uncle Jas – they’d chase each other around and around the kitchen.

Christmas brought an awesome dinner (Mom outdoes Martha Stewart, I swear), with a visit from aunts Karol and Mildred and some of mom & dad’s friends from Oh, Canada! After everyone left, we packed up all of our stuff and we headed out Friday morning for the trek back to Dallas, with a stop in Hays to get our Lexus out of hock (almost $1000 – yikes).

Aside from the car trouble, all in all it was a good holiday! We’re spending today and tomorrow just catching up on stuff, putting stuff away, and getting some rest. Monday it’s back to work for me and Skip will likely be headed back to Nebraska for a friend’s mom’s funeral, unfortunately.

That’s all for now … more to follow as events warrant!!!

Wow, longest time ever between blogs! We've been responding to an audit at work, and that's taken me to Arizona and back, and kept me in a locked room for extended periods with several coworkers to work on responses, policies, procedures, et cetera, et cetera. And why yes, it was exactly as much fun as that sounds!

And in between work, Skip and I have been back and forth to a few Nebraska games, both on our own (Skip to the Colorado game with Mack; me to the Missouri game with Sharyl) and as a "couple" (the KU game). We also made a trip to Austin to witness cousin Benjamin's bar mizvah, and to spend some time with family down there.

Geez, you'd think for having been so long in blogging I'd have more to say ... must be that since I've gotten so distracted I forgot what all we did. Hopefully it will come back to me when I caption the pictures!

Oh, I can say we did take Katie to see Santa, and it did NOT go very well. For starters, we went on "pet night" - something we didn't realize until we were in line, surrounded by dogs. Katie LOVED it, of course - there was a very large, gentle white lab behind us named "Cotton"; he'd come up and sniff Katie from time to time which sort of freaked her out, but she kept pointing at all of the doggies and panting (her way of saying "puppy"). We finally get up to see Santa, and the mall has "changed out" their Santas - the dude who is there this year is not the same one Katie got her picture with last year, which is too bad. And, to boot, he SUCKS - I don't think he said a single word to me OR to Katie the whole time. And of course Katie cries her eyes out the whole time, so we have a nice picture of her in total meltdown on Santa's lap. Oh, and as an added bonus, we're pretty sure she's allergic to animals - she had big red splotches on her chin and cheeks when we were done. Yippee.

Katie's vocabulary continues to grow and I am sorry to say that she does now say the word "no", but I'm not sure if she quite realizes what she means yet. "Do you want to put your shoes on, Katie?" "NO" - but then she'll get on my lap and put her feet out to put her shoes on. Go figure. She did hand me the remote the other day and say "foo baawl" and keep handing me the remote until I turned on the TV, and found a game to watch (I'm SO proud). She's very into her books, and we read "Let's Dance Little Pookie", "The Easter Story" (she is totally fascinated with the picture of Jesus watching the disciples' feet for whatever reason), and "Hello Herbie Husker" - a book where she finds it necessary to lick the inside cover.

Katie is still a challenge in the eating department; she will eat grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, mac and cheese ... you get the drift? for us, but according to day care, she's a regular chow hound. Skip got her to eat some chicken last night, so maybe the tide is turning.

We are about to head north for a Christmas trip - hopefully the weather won't be too bad, although the forecasters are predicting snow and ice in KS, YAY. So where we thought we'd make the trip to Holdrege in a single swoop looks like now we'll have to split it up. Oh well! I can't believe all of the stuff I managed to get in the car - suitcases, cameras, computers, ski stuff, presents ... sheesh.

Well, that's it for now - will try to do a better job of staying current in the new year.