There and Back Again*

*10 Teamies** if you get that.
**Teamies are TIM & JEAN points. Start keeping score.

Helloooooooooooooo!!! WOW. I feel like we've been gone for SO LONG. Yet, it's amazing how quickly three weeks of rip-roaring vacation fun flies by. We had a lovely visit to PA and FL, which kicked off with the triumphant return of Tim's younger brother (one of 'em), Chris, who completed a two-year mission to Hungary. We mostly celebrated by asking him how to say things in Hungarian and by playing lots of Mario Kart and Mario Party on the DS. Yaaay.

From December 25 to January 6, the giant (in number) and extremely attractive Anderson Family graced Disney World with our presence. It was so fun!! There was laughing, smiling, talking, walking, waiting, shopping, eating eating eating (yay Disney Dining Plan), barfing, screaming, sleeping, rushing, relaxing, photographing, and more eating. It was everything that a Disney vacation should be.

However, because of my #1 New Year's Resolution (spend less time on the computer), I am unfortunately going to forgo posting 8,000 pictures from our trip, and instead offer this one tiny glimpse into the magic:

L-R: Mark (19), Weston (10 months), held by Tim (27), Brett (12), Jeremy (14), Jean (28), Cinderelly (ancient, as it turns out), Will (N/A), Anne Marie (N/A), Chris (22), Dana (25), Jay (25), Killian (17 months)

This is the whole group at Cinderella's Royal Table at Magic Kingdom (a character breakfast in the castle, complete with swirling, photogenic princesses, and with swords for the boys and magic wands for the girls). It was a hoot.

Some other Weston-related highlights of the trip:

(1) Weston LOVES poles. If there was ever a pole in his vicinity, he would reach for it and cling to it. He was always very well-behaved on the shuttle bus rides at Disney World because he had his precious poles. What a crazy cutie.

(2) Weston LOVES cats. Both my parents and Tim's parents have cats, and whenever they walked by, his eyes would get all wide and he'd wave his arms around and grunt or yell really loudly. It was hilarious!! If one of us happened to be walking him around at the time, he'd immediately start stomping after the cat, which of course sent the cat running. Haha! I think he needs to work on his subtlety.

(3) And finally... he LOVES his cousin Killian, and all his extended family. Both he and Killian would start squealing and smiling and shaking their arms whenever they saw each other. They're so young, but it seems like they're already becoming friends. So adorable.

Anyway, we're back now, and Tim starts classes today. We've been in somewhat of a fog since returning, in part due to the time change and in part to the mounds of laundry to be done, piles of bills to be paid, scores of emails to answer, and all that jazz. Because of my New Year's resolution, I think the 235 unread blog posts in my Google Reader may have to wait a bit, so I apologize if you miss my overly enthusiastic and moderately witty comments. I'll catch up, I promise!! In the meantime, I'll be forced to resort to the good, old fashioned, "asking people what's new in their lives" method.

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy (belated) New Year! :-)