Visiting my parents for Christmas was pretty important for me this year. They're about to leave on their third mission for our church. They will be serving in a family history, archiving mission in Sweden. The last time I was in California for Christmas was in 2004, just weeks before I was married. Since then, my parents have been on missions (Scotland and Washington D.C.) or Tony was recovering from a plane crash, or we had just had a baby or my parents came up to see us. We wanted to take advantae of the 11 days off that Boeing gives it's employees at Christmas time. We packed up the car, planned entertainment for the littles and set off on Thursday the 20th. We got south of Eugene, OR, when we hit snow. No biggie, we had chains, extra blankets, emergency supplies and enough food packed away to feed an army if stranded. Then there was a sign about the freeway being closed. After being "stuck" in place, for awhile, we found out that the freeway was closed both north and south of us. FUN! When we got an opportunity to inch forward a foot or so, we passed someone making a snowman. We decided to take advantage of the chance to play in the snow as well. Jase and I stayed warm and Tony and the boys played. Then Tony and I swapped.
Freedom from the carseat!
After about 3 hours, northbound opened up and we were able to cut across and head back north. We went to Eugene and got a hotel room. Seth and Tony visited Steelheads Brewery while I got the boys to sleep. The next day we decided there were so many closures on I-5 and it didn't look like the storm was letting up. Even if we waited out the storm, we were worried about getting stuck coming home and Tony missing work. Dejected, we made a plan to see a little bit of the Oregon coast and have some adventures on the coast before we headed home. During the day on Friday, we played with cousins. We got to meet the newest May! Here is Lauren and baby Riff.
Then we were offered train tickets to Sacramento. We had considered flying but it was just too expensive last minute. The train traveled in the middle of the night so it would be an adventure for sure but telling the boys it would be like the Polar Express was all it took. The California Adventure was back on!
Seth and Lauren graciously offered Lauren's family cottage for us to stay at. We were able to get as much rest as possible before we rode the train. It was really pleasant to have quiet family time together.
This was our view.
We played some Chinese Checkers.
We threw things in the water.
Seth and Tony quickly transferred presents and things for the trip into some luggage that Seth let us borrow and we left for the train station. Here we are waiting for our train. The boys dubbed it, "The California Express".
Max thinks it's too loud.
Here's Max asleep already and Ryan getting some entertainment.
We arrived at 7 on Sunday morning, quickly showered and made it to most of the Christmas service at church. Then there was time to relax and cuddle with Grandma and Grandpa!
