Remember This?

Okay we are back. I guess that we have been back, it is just early in the morning. Linus has been teaching us that he doesn't need naps during the day but would rather start his bedtime routine around dinnertime and get up at 5:30AM. So, weekends are early, especially this lovely dark, damp and cold, sunday michigan morning.

So....before Christmas we left you with the thought that we would be posting and posting and posting, I guess that this hobby gets my time more occasionallly than I thought it would.

We had a great Christmas in Connecticut (i'll get to that) and just wrapped up a Christmas in Ann Arbor with the Kozlowski side which was one of those whirlwind 48 hour visits from Mom and Dad and Laura and Dean.

Again....So.....we spent a great week in Connecticut for Christmas. This was Linus' first trip on a plane and he did great. There was some fussing by Linus due to the changes in pressure, but wouldn't that be expected? I was a little nervous about the flights with the fear that we were going to be labeled "that couple with the crying baby" after the trip. Here is a picture of Linus on the plane. Ready for Takeoff!!



It was Christmas Eve when we arrived in Connecticut and were arriving just in time to prepare for a 'get together' with the Davisons and Katie's Aunt and Uncle and her cousins and their families. It had been three years since we had all been together like this. We had a great afternooon together. Here is a snapshot of the crew (minus Uncle Peter - apparently we don't know how to set the timer on our camera - thanks Pete for taking the picture - note Katie's expression)



Christmas Eve even brought a special guest to the Davisons. Tumptin!! (spelling?) This was the first Tumptin I have ever seen and the first time I have ever heard of one. A Tumptin guards the chickens from the foxes on farms all over the land and on Christmas brings little gifts to all of the good little girls and boys. I think that is the story, those of you who know more about these characters please chime in with your posts. We were lucky enough to catch a picture of the Tumptin when he wasn't expecting it and are putting it here.....a first? (This is like having a picture of Santa Claus in parts of the Scandanavian culture - so appreciate this)



While Christmas Eve was a great event, it was nice to cozy in at the Davison's Christmas morning with brothers and sisters, cousins, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas. We were in our PJ's for a while, while enjoying the company all day. Here are some shots that describe it briefly.









The week after Christmas brought us some other adventures and visits with love ones. We were able to visit with the heralded Aunt Jackie, Katie's friend Sarah Dreyer, her son Spencer and her mother Ann Uphoff paid a visit one afternoon. We were very lucky that Kristen Migliaccio-Walle needed to travel from NH visit the local salon in West Hartford because she and her family even spent the night with us in conjunction with some other local visits. Gabe, Kristen, and their two girls spent some quality time with us and it was so great to see them again. My how people have grown up!! The night Kristen and Company visited we also were blessed with a visit from Andy Gagnon and his wife Kris and their son Sean. You can imagine that it was NUTS at the house for a couple of days even after Christmas. After the madness we took a trip to the Connecticut shore to visit Katie's good friend Megan Roarick and her family. I had never seen Long Island Sound before and the sky was clear enough to see Long Island from the shore. We had a great visit with Megan and the kids complete with beer and Andy Capps HOT FRIES!! I always have a good time visiting with Megan, and she and Bruce have a beautiful home on the shore. We were able to spend some time with Bruce but we sure look forward to the time we can spend with him when we don't need to rush out the door. Here are some pictures of various times of the visits. One is of Katie reading to Sofia (Walle), one is of me enjoying the competition with 9 year olds (Keaton Roarick & his friend) on their Playstation 2.





FAMILY SNAPSHOT!!!



The week sort of wrapped up nicely with time with the West Hartford crew. Here are pictures of Daddy-D having 'conversations' with Linus and, 'The Boys'.





With five mintues to spare before we had to leave to catch our return flight we caught this picture of Linus and his Grandma and Grandpa Davison. We had a great Christmas in Connecticut....