Christmas 2014

 We went to Ohio for Christmas this year. The weather was great and there was hardly any traffic on the day we drove, so the trip there was relatively quick. The kids were eager to get to "Grandma's House" to play on the four-wheelers, run through the backyard, play with the collection of Legos that has been building for 40+ years, hang out with cousins, eat cookies, etc.

 We got to meet two new nephews - Jacob, this little guy pictured above, and August - both born in the past six months.

 Uncle Ben was nice enough to ride with Phoebe, who has a thing for the throttle.

 Scott was happy to grow a Christmas Beard. It got scarier for a few days after this photo, and then the miracle happened: he shaved.

 Christmas morning was wonderful as always. The kids loved tearing all the wrapping paper off of everything and loved playing with their new stuff even more.

 Phoebe got this giant stuffed giraffe, which was tricky to hide in our place for a few weeks and then haul to Ohio and back. Somehow it was still a surprise on Christmas morning. She tells me that "Giraffe" (pronounced jur-RAF-fee) is the sister she never had and insists that she eat at the table with us, sleep in her bed with her, and so on.

 My parents have a lot of wooded property and we did a lot of wandering through it. We got very muddy, but had a lot of fun hiking around with Grandpa.