We enjoyed a wonderful two weeks spent with the Dahle family down in Fort Worth, Texas. Four of Jim's five siblings and their families were able to come this year. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins even if it was a love-hate relationship at times. Maren learned the word "mine" from the other two 2 year olds. Whitney asked when we were going to move to a bigger house so we could have a trampoline and swing set like her cousins. She spent many hours outside playing with her big cousins so it was a huge loss coming home.
Maren was officially the vector this year. She was healthy when we got there but started coming down with symptoms the middle of our first night there and eventually shared her cold and conjunctivitis with just about everyone else. Whitney picked up some kind of stomach bug the last few days which included losing the contents of her stomach on the (luckily) tile floor on our trip to Cabela's to see the fish and stuffed animals. Luckily we had no incidences on the flight home that evening unlike the mom three rows behind us whose daughter puked all over herself and the seat before even leaving the gate and they ended up leaving the plane before we took off.
We enjoyed the time spent reconnecting with family and exploring the local area. We lucked out and had a beautiful warm afternoon our 2nd day there so they pulled the boat out and we headed to the nearby lake. It was amazing to see such smooth water in the middle of the afternoon. The outside temps were in the mid 70's but the water was in the 50's which is probably why there was only a handful of fishermen on the lake. We all had a blast taking our turns wakeboarding and the kids enjoyed the boat ride.
The next day we headed over to Grapevine to ride the historic railroad that is transformed into the North Pole Express for the holidays. They do a nice production that the kids seemed to really enjoy.
The following day was Sunday which we spent at church and then had a combined birthday party for the four family members with December birthdays. The next afternoon we visited the Fort Worth Stockyards where they herd the longhorn cattle down the middle of the road. It was interesting to see the longhorn cattle up close and we enjoyed watching Jim and the other guys take their turns on the mechanical bull.
Tuesday was spent visiting the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and learning more about the production of our currency. We enjoyed acting out the nativity on Christmas Eve. The cast is growing each year but Grammy did a great job with the costumes for everyone.
We enjoyed a relatively quiet Christmas day. The girls actually slept fairly late and Whitney needed a little reminder about what day it was and then she hopped right up and was headed downstairs. She was excited to get a new climbing harness among other things. Maren has been enjoying her new Baby Signing Time DVD's and other gifts. Maren is sporting the cool hat that Aunt Cindy made her.
We made a trip to Gainesville, TX one day to visit the zoo and meet the adopted grandparents of the family that live in Oklahoma.
We pull up to drop Whitney off at preschool this afternoon and I notice there aren't a lot of cars in the parking lot. It wasn't a scheduled day off so we head on in and meet a teacher as we get to the doors who tells us that school is cancelled for a "snow day". I'm totally blown away given the fact that I haven't seen a single white flurry today and the roads are totally dry. I guess the one of many weather computer models that showed we might get 1-3" of snow today was enough to scare the district into cancelling school. However Whitney is now ready for all the rain we do get here, thanks to her Nana-san and Papa-san. This is the first time she's had rain boots and she is so excited. 
