Nightmare Before Christmas

I went up to Portland to visit Chris, Jess, Maryn and Lucy for an early Christmas. It wasn’t a typical visited.
The Nasty Bug
First, Jess had warned me that Maryn had a bug before I came, but she was feeling great when I arrived. The day after I got there, Lucy was barfing. For a visual, just picture getting her out of her crib with barf imbedded in her face, ears and hair. It was then two days later that Chris and Jess spent the day in bed and in the bathroom. As you might guess, today is my first day home and my best friend is the bathroom. But, I have to admit that I don’t feel too bad. I just can’t leave home.
The Bitter Cold Weather
This wasn’t actually a disaster, but it did mean that we stayed home and didn’t go anywhere. One of the days I was there, Chris didn’t have work because the office closed because of the weather. The day I flew home, he came home at 1 PM because the office closed early. The roads were very icy. As DB suggested, we gave Chris & Jess chains for Christmas. What an exciting gift. It took a long time to find a place that had chain for their car. The positive side of this storm is that the snow was so beautiful. Maryn and Lucy made indoor snowmen. We played outside for a short time until it got too cold.
Airlines Nightmare
My flight was suppose to leave at 6:10 PM. I left Chris & Jess’s place and took the light rail at 2:30PM. It took 2 hours to get to the airport. The roads were snowy and icy and I didn’t think it was safe to drive. The airport was slow and it took almost an hour to check my luggage. As a side note, it is a good idea not to pack your heavy coat in your suitcase. Then if you get separated from it, you won’t get cold. My flight kept showing a new departure times (7:05, 7:45, 10:05, 11:05, and finally 11:50). It was at this point (about 9PM) that I decided to stand in a long line and see if there were other options. I had check earlier with a women that I met in another line that worked for the airlines and she said that she wasn’t able to book anything else. When I got to the front of the line, I had two seconds to decide if I want to go to Reno and then Oakland. I was told that they couldn't get my suitcase on the flight and I would have to retrieve it in Oakland when it finally did arrive. I jumped at the chance to get close to home. I was one of the last to board. To make a long story short, when I got to Reno they wouldn’t let me board my plane to Oakland because I wasn’t on “the list”. I finally got on to that totally full flight 2 minutes before it pulled away from the gate. I arrived in Oakland minutes before midnight. Now if I could find my suitcase, the Nightmare Before Christmas” wouldn’t seem so bad. I'll try contacting baggage claim again tomorrow. I left many messages today. Ohhhhhh, except for the fact the bathroom is currently my best friend, this really isn't that much of a Nightmare, but I'm glad to be home.

So here are some pictures that will show you that the trip was well worth it.

They include outdoor snow play with Doug and Kathy, Grandma Carol, and Chris & Jess.

They include indoor play with the play kitchen, jumping, creative indoor snow hats, indoor snowman, Maryn with her "Cars"