Christmas in Michigan

First rest stop in central Illinois.

McDonald's play area is a hit once again!

We overlapped for only a day and a half with Cindy and her family.  Just enough time for Dr. White to take a "serious" look at some patients. 

All the cousins (minus Will and Sarah in California)

One of the first orders of business was writing a letter to Santa, letting him know that the goodies are for him and his reindeer.

Alex and Annika carefully made a plate of goodies and set out their notes. 

Wait a second. . .that's not Santa!

We somehow convinced them to stay away from the cookies milk. 

Annika, Lauren, David and Alex are ready and waiting for Santa to come!

Christmas morning - Santa must have been hungry.

Look at all those girls checking out each other's presents.

Audrey and Sami are practicing "stringing a farm" with Daddy.

Again, where did all these girls come from?  Grandma's lap needs to be a bit bigger. . .

The Double Stuff Orioles (Jay) were the big Fantasy Baseball winners this year.

Enjoying some of Grandma's yummy soup on Christmas Day.

Light one candle for Jesus!

David and Alex had spent lots of time working on "the fort" before we arrived.  Annika and Lauren quickly continued on where they had left off.

Hiking with Grandpa and Daddy behind Grandpa and Grandma's condo.  We saw 4 deer - and the girls didn't run away scared! 

I caught Daddy and Lauren hiding behind a tree waiting to scare Grandpa and Annika.

King of the Mountain went awry.

Lauren decided she didn't want anything to do with snow in her face.  Hence, she went in the back of every sled ride. 

Annika pulled Lauren up the hill.  I was impressed by both Annika's strength and Lauren's ability to convice Annika to pull her up. 

Yum yum.  Peppermint stick and hot cocoa.

Annika actually did pretty well on snowshoes this year (even with her hair hanging in her face the whole time).

Audrey didn't mind the snow.  Sami, on the other hand, was not a big fan.

Here is some serious fort construction.  The wheelbarrow as needed to transport snow blocks from across the street.

Uncle Jay should enter those Strongest Man competitions, eh?

Audrey wasn't intimidated by Uncle Jay's block size.

"B" and Audrey even got an assembly line going.

Apparently Audrey was hungry. . .

Just because I'm little, it doesn't mean I don't want to hang out in the fort. 

Wayne and JoAnn, our friends from our time in Minnesota with Annika, met us for lunch.

We spent an afternoon with Mrs. Shanda and family.  Here we are creating some crazy dancing elves.  Always a good time. . .

We also spent and afternoon hanging out with Mrs. Sue and Liesl and Annemarie.  Dress-up never gets old.