Christmas and Iowa 2018

Josephine's first Christmas and trip back to Iowa!

Adam is standing on a couch to get Ashton high enough to place the star! 

SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTAAAAAAAAAAA

Ashton listing off his Christmas wishes.  

1-T-Rex dinosaur with long legs

2-Alligator

3-Flying dinosaur

The cool play area by Alaska airlines in the Anchorage airport.  It's small but kept Ashton and the other children busy while waiting for our plane!

We got off the plane and headed to see friends right away, since this was the only time we'd get to see them during our visit.  Adam had lunch with his highschool/college buddy, Denny.  I got to show off Josie to my college roomie, Jenny and her family!  

We chatted with Adam's parents for awhile, then headed to Traer.

We were blessed with some nice weather and got to spend some time outside!  Bapa with baby bear Josie!

I have a lot of fun memories playing in the hay, I was happy to see Ashton enjoyed it too!

Proud of my boy, helping Bapa with chores.  Here he is deciding where to place the hay

I got to take Ashton for a spin in the cornfield on Derby!

Ashton went on a squirrel hunt with his cousins Kane and Heidi and his uncles.  This picture was of me showing Ashton a seed pod.

Kane got a squirrel and Ashton tried it for dinner, he liked it!  This was the first time he has witnessed the full process in person, from Kane taking the shot, picking up the squirrel, cleaning it, cooking it, and eating it.  Everyone enjoyed the hunt and were proud. Ashton was very excited and told everyone about it!

However, tromping through the trees is tiring!

Naptime on daddy's head!

Uncle Adam meeting Josie in person!  

Uncle Brandon rocked her to sleep one night!

Jos liked chatting with Aunty Deanna.  The loudest we've ever heard her was with Deanna!

Bapa with his 7th grandaughter!

My aunt Julie made this owl blanket for Josie! <3 p="">

Ashton spending more time with his buddy/cousin Kane outside, throwing things in the creek!  This day we also started picking up cobs of corn that had been left behind with some of the cousins and my cousin's boy, Braxton, who was spending the day with us.  We decided to take the kernels off and filled a 5gallon bucket+!  Was a fun task/challenge for the kids.

Meanwhile, Nana had Josie inside and tried packing her around in the Ergo!

Instead of buying presents this year, the Kucera kids voted to have an experience together for Christmas instead of things.  They chose to go to a hotel with a pool for a night.  We got two rooms attached. The pool was cold, but the kids still had fun.  We took the Wii for a Mario tournament, the adults played cards, and we ordered Casey's pizzas! Yum!  My parents took Josie for the night so that Adam, Ash, and I could put our full attention into spending time with the kids.  Brandon and Deanna also stayed, even though they had to work the next day!  It was a blast and everyone wants to do it again next year!

We also spent a night at Brandon and Deanna's for some more cousin shananigans!  Brandon had smoked a brisket all day and the sandwiches were so delicious!

We love our bapa and nana!

Aunt Deanna took Ashton out to their chicken trailer and he found an egg!  How fun!

Saying goodbye to our Kucera family

Some highlights of our time in Traer not pictured, but included...

-Spending time with high school friends and their families

-Seeing our extended Kucera family and cousins at the Kucera Christmas

-Riding horses, helping with chores, and collecting corn from the field to give as treats

-Squirrel hunting with cousins and uncles

-Nana and Bapa's cooking, Ashton eating at the kids' table with his cousins

-Playing outside, Ashton loved throwing things into the creek to see if they'd sink or float

-Ashton wrestling with Kane and Braxton

-Uncle Brandon teaching Ashton how to use a remote control car

-Graham cracker house competition.....and then watching them eat it in a timed competition!

-Playing games and cards

-Nieces/nephew playing video games with Adam

-Meeting Sydney's new pet chameleon, Rango

On to Des Moines for time with the Harris family!

We did our annual bowling event!  The kids are always a hoot to watch.  We usually go to Bass Pro, but they were full for the night.  So we went to the Merle Hay lanes and out of like 24 lanes, we ended up on the same one that Jeanette had competed on in high school for the state championship! Pretty ironic!

Watching the Hawks play and win!

Auntie Jessi- the amazing woman, mama, doctor, with the touch!

Adam playing with nephew Cooper!

Cooper and Ash gaining up on GG

The Stout kids, getting a good look at Jos' rolls! lol

Papa reads a lot of books!  He watches Cooper and Susie each day, Cooper loves books just as much as Ashton!  Josie got a turn!

Auntie Jessi

Unca

Auntie Kati.... one night there was a pig pile of all the kids on top of Kati! ha!

Uncle Scott

GG

Papa

Reading with Grandma Grandma!

Josie wants to try Ashton's graham cracker house!

He's pretty proud.  Daddy ate it!

Smiles for Grandma Grandma!

Someone likes Unca!

Papa and his AK grandkids!

Kati designed these and partnered with a friend to have them made for us! The comfiest!

Dino fighting!

Squeezes from his aunties!

Lovin on GG

Highlights of our visit in Des Moines were....
-playing in the backyard with cousins and uncles
-going for neighborhood walks
-playing at the park with cousins
-playing downstairs at GG and Papa's house with all their great toys
-learning new games like Toss the Chicken and Sharkbite
-going bowling
-decorating graham cracker houses

It was a bittersweet visit as this is the last time we will spend time at Kevin and Jeanette's house, they will be selling it next summer and officially moving to their lake house on Table Rock Lake.  Also, Jessi, Grant, and their kiddos will be moving to her residency location next summer.  We aren't sure when we will see them next, or where!

As a Christmas gift, we got all of the cousins either bear or wolf slippers, in hopes they would have fun wearing them (since the boys are usually running around growling anyway) and so that we could get a picture of them all together with them on.  We also brought supplies for fun experiences.... graham cracker houses, special AK hot cocoa, and a new AK animal "Go Fish" game called "Go Poop".  Fortunately/unfortunately we were too busy doing other fun stuff that we never got around to taking a picture or some of the activities.  We did however get a picture of them all together, wahoo!

Spent some time with our AK family and exchanged gifts too- Erin, Shawn, and girls. Ashton was "super Ashton" and saving Princess Ellie from bad guy Shawn!  Ellie came up with this pretty cool fort!

Smiles and giggles for Auntie Erin!


We had a great Christmas and time with our families and friends.  It's so frustrating.....we look forward to the trip for such a long time and then the two weeks goes by so, so fast!  This trip we noticed that Ashton is remembering more about Iowa, his grandparents' house, and his cousins.  For example, he told me the bunny that he chased was gone, after discussing more, I figured out that he was talking about the rabbit he had chased into the cornfield with Breanna during our summer trip.  Also, once we got out to the barn he asked to go see the water, meaning the creek, which he had recalled since you can't even see it from the barn.  He knew exactly what "downstairs" at Papa and GG's meant too! We are looking forward to the day that we can send him to visit for part of the summer!

PS - I just, finally completed other blog entries. I added an entry for June, September, and November too. Check them out. (general update, Josie's birth, Earthquake)