Due to computer malfunction and lost hardware, we are a little late at posting our Christmas photos. We left Rochester on the morning of December 27 in hopes of making it to Illinois by supper. The road conditions called for ice around Waterloo, IA but we decided to try to overcome the conditions. In Waterloo, there was very little ice which we were thankful for. We stopped to get a snack about an hour later in Cedar Rapids and the roads still were pretty good. As soon as we got outside the Cedar Rapids city limits, there was a sheet of ice on the road. Apparently, Iowa was not very accurate at updating their road conditions. After driving for over 2 hours at 10-20mph, we pulled off at an exit that had 1 hotel and a McDonalds. After some discussion, we decided to stay in that "town" overnight.
Gabe got to share a bed with Daddy
Daddy slept well despite the fact that Gabe kept kicking him and Claire was awake several times throughout the night.
Claire was awake by 5am (that's what happens when we go to bed at 7:30) and everyone but Daddy was ready to hit the road. Daddy never gets up before the sun comes up (most of the time not even until Claire has had her first nap) and he was in no mood to drive at 5:30am. By 11am we were in Illinois unpacking our bags at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Then the marathon of Christmas celebrations began.
First we went to Grandma Bonnie's for some gift exchanging. Grandma Connie and Sam were there and later on Uncle Gary joined us.
Gabe was a little afraid of Tickle-Me-Cookie Monster
Claire wasn't so sure what to think of Uncle Gary but she didn't scream as loud as she did when Grandma Bonnie came near.
At Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house, Gabe got the coveted role of handing out gifts to everyone. He only got a little confused when Grandpa told him to give the gift to "George" which is Grandpa's nickname for Gabe and when he was told that there was a gift for Tom (Gabe gave it to Mom).
Gabe was kind of excited when he got Diego underwear but he still doesn't want to start using the potty yet.
