2008 Christmas roadtrip - part 2

Christmas has come and gone and we're back home again. Even though it was A LOT of driving we were so fortunate to be able to spend time with both of our families. Josh had such a good time with all of his cousins.

It ended up taking us close to 9 hours (with stops and bad weather) to get from Scott's parents' house in Ohio to my parents' house in Utica, NY. Josh did quite well, slept for about half of the drive, and watched DVDs for a good part of his awake time.

Josh finally got to see real snow and play in it with Daddy (since we haven't had much in Ohio). He didn't like rolling around in it, or going on the sled - all he wanted to do was eat it! After his nap on Christmas eve's day we took Josh to see Grammy June since she was unable to join us for dinner then went to Cioci Joan's for Wigilia (Polish Christmas). The food was all so delicious and it was great to see most of my extended family. The time flew and after opening presents it was time to go home and go to sleep so Santa could come.

Josh had so much fun opening presents on Christmas day and he proudly put baby Jesus in the manger in Grandma's nativity all by himself.

After stopping by to see Zia Joelle and Zio Beppe, and Grammy June again, we headed to Cioci Paula's house in Syracuse for Christmas day dinner and more presents! Having small children around again really makes Christmas so much more fun. It was great staying at Paula & Patrick's for a couple days because Josh and his cousin Aidan are only 3 weeks apart in age so they had a great time playing together with all of Aidan's toys and the new toys they both got for Christmas. Friday was a lazy day, playing outside in the snow and inside with the toys. Grandma and Grandpa drove out to see us one more time and help us eat all the yummy leftover food.

We got on the road around 10 am yesterday for our 5.5 hour drive back to Cleveland. Since we weren't in any rush we stopped in Buffalo for lunch and went to Duff's for wings (chicken fingers for me). It was soooooooooooooooooo awesome to have REAL buffalo wings & fingers. (I highly recommend anyone stopping in Buffalo to get wings to go to Duff's instead of Anchor Bar - trust me on this one!)

We finally made it home around 6pm last night and immediately started unpacking and doing laundry. No rest for the weary, we're headed back out on the road tomorrow afternoon. If anyone hasn't heard (or read) yet, we're moving to Pittsburgh! Scott was offered a larger territory and we jumped at the opportunity. I haven't had any luck finding a job here in Cleveland (and I hate the house we're renting) so moving out of here was the best Christmas present for me. Josh gets to go to Nana & Papa's again for a few days while Scott & I go to Pitt to find a place to live and celebrate New Year's Eve with friends.