We were Dreaming of a White Christmas

For months we knew we were going to Connecticut for Christmas! It was a surprise, and grandma Barbara had no clue! Do you know how hard it was for me to not blog or post about packing and prepping for our travels? 

Well, I documented it anyway knowing I could blog about it later. And I also plan to prep a new post about traveling with toddlers, because I think we are killing it!

We did KFC Christmas with Becky and Tom the night before we left, and opened gifts from family back east, as well as some of the gifts we got from Jill for the girls since they were too big to bring back with us. (we felt really bad about that, glad we got video to share!) 

Alex was so good to sit in front of the tree in her OMG SANTA shirt and smile! 

Of course we had to keep KFC Christmas a total secret or else people would know something was up!

Josie really liked all of the toys! 

After dinner we all went to bed for our early wake up the next day and trip to the airport! It was our third time with the girls and we kind of have it down now. 

We park our car and take the shuttle to the airport. We each push a baby with one hand and a suitcase or two with the other (thank goodness for the nice rolling ones!) We wear the car seats on our backs by the straps we pull out. 

On our way out, we paid a little extra for first class. Alex liked it. I liked it a lot too, since having food brought to us was fantastic! And the extra large seats were perfect for coloring activities and letting the girls sit together. 

Josie was very comfortable.

Lots of room here for lap sitting.

Alex really took to it.

We had a 3+ hour layover in Chicago. It wasn't bad until the girls really wanted to run around and explore the airport. James and I kept having to take turns chasing them, which was fine for a while but after an hour of that we were tired, and they were not. We finally had to get them to sit so we could use the restroom and prep for our next flight. 

They both slept on the next flight while we ate delicious dinners. They woke up in time for some rolls. That night we checked into the airport hotel and got ready for the big surprise the next day.  

We got in the car Monday morning while Barbara and Eric were at the store. BOTH GIRLS puked in the car, which wasn't something we wanted to deal with when racing to get to the house in time to set up and hide! (We had a few more puke incidents later in the trip too, and suspect the car's bouncy suspension had something to do with it).  We got to the house, James hid the rental car next door while I did a quick puke clean up, and then we hid behind the couch, leaving the girls in the living room to be found. Clearly no one had ruined the surprise - it was genuinely amazing. I had looked forward to this for a while and it was worth every moment! 

Josie wanted nothing to do with posing.