Christmas

 

We left Los Cabos on December 23.  This was a nice, cheap ticket because, who leaves Mexico right before the holiday?  The problem was that we arrived late that night, after the rental car places were closed, so we booked a hotel by the airport and Christmas Eve morning, I bussed it to Bellevue to get the only sort of reasonably priced car at one of the few agencies open that day.

 

We stayed at a friend's house which was nice after having so much closeness on the boat. 

 

One day we went out to Monroe to the Reptile museum which we'd never been to.

 

 

 

A snake that had gotten out was found and the kids got to see it up close.  Apparently it's rare that one gets out (!?)

 

When the family's kids got back the kids all played video games together and the parents watched movies and played board games.

 

We visited the Funko flagship store in Lynnwood.

 

We visited my mom's side of the family and ate and ate and ate.  It was good to see them.  We visited my Dad's side and had our annual White Elephant gift exchange. V had noted in her class when they shared favorite holiday traditions that this is the highlight of her holidays.

 

Paul tried on a wig my cousin got.

The kids worked on Shrinky Dinks my cousins put out.  H made Bob Ross painting a self-portrait under a rainbow.

 

We had a nice time hanging out with everyone.  And, yes, for probably the last year, the little kids are still small enough to qualify as carry ons.

 

The Seahawks usually have a cutout at the airport. This year was no exception.

 

Our tradition is to have a Starbucks drink at the airport and ride the underground terminal train while we wait.

 

My parents used to bring me to the airport when security was set up differently to see airplanes take off and ride the train.  It was cheap entertainment!

 

Then we headed home to open gifts and visit with my inlaws and have a few days to fight the jet lag before heading back to school.