I really wanted to title this post, "The Lice That Stole Christmas," but that would be giving those little pests too much significance.
That being said we discovered this on the 23rd:
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| They're hard to see--but look for the white dot in Scout's hair |
After that news, we did this:
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| Covered in pesticide... that's how we like to party! |
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| She looks thrilled, doesn't she? |
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| The nit picking camp out in front of the TV |
It was a wild and crazy start to the Christmas vacation, that's for sure. Upon discovering the critters, I had to contact two mommy friends who had been over in the previous days. And then, of all people, I had to call my mom. I am pretty sure she said, "Did you buy travel insurance?" upon hearing the news, but maybe that's not quite right either... I'm sure she said something more like, "Oh, honey, that's awful! I'm happy to have my lice-infested grandchildren over to the house despite this inconvenient discovery! C'mon over!"
The Christmas eve celebration was a bit buffered by the time consuming nit picking I did during the day, but fortunately we had the foresight to make our big ham dinner on the Saturday BEFORE Christmas so that we could munch on the leftovers for a few days. Funny enough, both girls were very patient with the whole combing process, and it helped that we sat them in front of the TV to do this. Ha.
On Christmas eve, we opened presents from near and dear and far and wide. Grandma Margie & Papa Alan's presents were a definite hit, but we also had a few lovely things from our friends The Fussingers who are in Japan, and a sweet book given to Ruby from her godmother Auntie Anne. We had previously talked about attending a Christmas eve service at church, but we decided that most folks plans of holly & jolly don't include permethrin rinsing their family. We listened to a lot of Christmas music, including a Sing-Along CD that Grandma Karen had sent for St. Nick's. Their favorite song? "I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas"
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| Ooh, her first Monster High video--a gift from Grandma Margie & Papa Alan |
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| With her new "Frozen" book--we've read it at least half a dozen times already! |
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| A gift from her friend Sara Mei, who is in Okinawa |
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| An awesome camping book from Auntie Anne |
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| Ooh--Frozen dolls! |
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| Ooh--a set for Ruby, too! |
After that, we set out cookies for Santa and we called it a night. On Christmas morning, Santa stuffed their stockings full and brought the girls a Wii gaming system. Scout and Ruby both remarked, "Wow, Santa didn't really bring that much stuff." My own opinion, that means Santa is doing his job! Ha!
Our plan had originally been to open presents and then play around on the Wii a bit before heading down to the airport, but we did need to reserve time for one last examination of the heads. Cory's mom told him that she had always heard that blow drying helps eliminate the bugs, and after a bit of research, Cory determine that this was a great way to go--wish I'd known that trick from the start, I would have just bought the nit pick and blow dried the heck out of our heads. (Side note: We must have done an awful lot of drying, because our blow dryer has since gone kaput.)
On Christmas Day, we went the airport to fly out to Milwaukee and the airport was relatively calm. After arriving in Milwaukee, we stayed in a hotel nearby that night before driving to Sheboygan (again, just to ensure one last time that we were all lice-free before staying at my mom & dad's for the week). Finally, on Thursday the 26th, we arrived to a winter wonderland and lots of presents under the tree for the girls.
It was fun to see everyone in Sheboygan. We spent Thursday afternoon making fleishbrook together--Cory made the bread, and Jake made the filling. Together, Jake & I assembled the fleischbrook. Cory was very interested and vowed we be making these together every so often in the future.
Another hilarious aspect of Christmas was discovering the chair massager that had long sat on a chair at mom & dad's house. Jake could not believe that this thing had been sitting there all this time and he'd only now discovered its joys. Even Scout enjoyed it a time or two.
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| With the massage controller in hand |
On Friday we went out to the "toy store" and that night we went out for a delicious fish fry at Al &Al's (and I forgot my dang camera!) On Saturday & Sunday, we spent time at the nearby waterpark. It was a nice getaway and the kids had a blast. Scout's stamina is amazing--she just kept going and going, but Ruby was more like me--the lazy river is more her speed. We, of course, had to take a trip to our favorite spots-Gosse's restaurant.
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| Trying on her new lip balm |
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| With Grandma by the tree |
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| Not sure how anyone can be grumpy at Gosse's, but... |
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| Taking "selfies" at the waterpark |
After we got back to Grandma & Papa's, we did some more TV watching and we got to root for the Packers on Sunday. It was a good game, but probably a bit upsetting to Papa Matty as Scout revealed her favorite team was the Steelers (really???) and she kept saying, "Boo Packers!" Cory & I both agreed that she shouldn't be permitted to any sports bar in Wisconsin until she learns to suppress this desire to Boo the Packers. As Cory would say, "She could get strung up for them kind of words."
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| Scout enjoys the massage chair |
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| Watching shows |
On Tuesday, the 31st, our plan was to fly out, but United and the weather made for other arrangements. You know the scenario: Delayed. Delayed. Delayed. Cancelled. The girls did fairly well with the news, considering we spent most of the day at the airport. By the time that we left, they were playing hide-and-go-seek with another couple of kids in the concourse. Scout did say, "Momma, you promised me that I'd get to sleep in my own bed." We returned to the Enterprise desk, and drove back to Sheboygan that night. By the time we arrived, the kiddos were asleep and Cory was plenty tired. The irony might be that my parents & I watched the ball drop and we stayed up until midnight for the first time in ages. Sure, we probably went to sleep at 12:02, but still, we made it!
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| Our camp-out at the airport |
We were lucky enough to get out on Thursday the 2nd. There has been so many reports of snow from all over, I guess that we could've been stuck in WI much longer. Before we left, we got a few cribbage games in with Papa Matty, we checked out a game that the kids got for Christmas and Ruby cooked herself (and Papa) some Mac-n-cheese at Grandma's house.
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| Feeling a bit stumped by her "Headbandz" character |
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| Dad putting his clue card in the holder |
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| The little chef |
Our flight back on the 2nd was delightfully uneventful and the flight attendant was sweet as could be to the girls--fixing them "Princess Drinks" (orange juice & sprite, I think). When we got back to Fort Collins, the girls were asleep, but they quickly woke up with a shock--Cory had set the thermostat to 52 degrees (!!!) and it was freezing in the house. I snuggled with the girls while they fell back to sleep, and Cory found a space heater in the basement.
Well, now it's been a few days, and the tree is down. We're moving on from Christmas, and I think despite all the ups and downs I could certainly say that Christmas of 2013 was definitely NOT boring.
