Family Pics- ALL the family!

Let me preface this with a little explanation. My family has never been together, all of us I mean, like this. This was our very first "reunion". At weddings, graduations, holidays in the past there have been a few folks from each family present- but we were always missing several members. But this time we had my dad AND mom, all 3 sisters, all 3 of the husbands and every grandchild. We knew this was rare and we weren't going to let it go undocumented. So when friends of the Miller's asked Andy to help take their family's Christmas picture, we asked them to help us out.

So here they are... my beautiful family!

Porter could not be kept awake, but we weren't going to let that stop us!

PoPo and grandkids Oma and grandkids

All the grandkids (and 2 fussy boys!)

I love my family. Their ins and outs. Their silliness and craziness. Their good and bad. Their easy and difficult. That's what family is, after all. Love without bounds. And this is mine.

Sorry, my mistake

So, if you're looking for Christmas Eve- please scroll down. I messed up and through some creative editing and blogging, my Christmas Eve post ended up down there somewhere. I didn't forget it, I didn't skip it or leave it out. I just misplaced it. So look for it. Enjoy it. And then continue on from there. Our trip just isn't our trip without it!

Merry Christmas !

Yes, this is Christmas 2008. For those of you who faithfully check out the Jensen blog, you have been anxiously awaiting for the rest of our vacation news. So I'm back to it. Thanks for being so patient! I just put Porter down for his nap and hope to get to 2009 at least today. Wish me luck- and check back soon! I have a bunch of new stuff to blog about, too!

Again, in attendance for Christmas - just to get everyone up to speed -

The Miller's: Tom, Elizabeth, Andy(just shy of 19) and Josh(15 1/2)
The Jensen's (that's us): Larry, Cassie, Payton(15 1/2), Riley(13), Sydney(11 1/2), Maisyn(8 yr), and Porter (22 mo)
The Bresnahan's: Brian, Terri, Abby(4) and Paxon (2+)
The Brown's: Oma/Mom/Sharon
The Aung-Myint's: PoPo/Dad/Robert, Joe (practically 20) and Nigel(14 1/2)

The day started out sluggish, as Christmas morning should. Everyone gathered in the living room around the tree when the little ones started to realized what the day was! I'm pretty sure that they all remembered quickly who came to visit the night before (see Christmas Eve post) - and hoped he left something good under the tree for them! No one was disappointed this year! Happy faces all around! The girls even got together and planned an anniversary gift for Larry and me- they pooled some of their own vacation money to buy us a gift card to Applebee's- and they made us a cute card on the computer with their cousin, Josh. So sweet! All the cousins, including Joe and Nigel, had a little gift exchange amongst themselves. The $10 limit was strictly enforced and we had to laugh when Joe and Nigel both got the same "20 questions" game in different colors! All left happy with ipods to Hulk hands, Mickey Mouse to flapper dresses, summer sausage to a new keyboard. Merry Christmas!

We had a yummy breakfast, very casual, and got ready slowly. We had the opportunity to head to the dock and get some all-family pics done. (Yes- the lake, the dock, the sand, all outside on CHRISTMAS DAY! Yeah for Florida!) Then there was music, games, Rock Band, yummy food, laughs, foosball, movies and more to round out the night-

A very merry Christmas, indeed!

My dad arrived.

We didn't see him until morning, but my dad, Robert, had arrived in the middle of the night with his two sons. They had left a day early and drove all day from Texas while we were at Animal Kingdom. We tried our best to wait up for them, but realized they were off on their arrival time- about 4 hours off! So we went to bed and woke up to our little reunion. I haven't seen my father since Terri and Brian's wedding 6 years prior, or was it 5? In any case- it was a long time. The last time he had seen my kids was July of 1998. Yeah- too long. Payton was almost 4, Riley was 2 1/2, and Sydney was a little over 1. My dad had not even met Maisyn or Porter until this vacation. So this was quite a special reunion all around. My dad's boys, Joe and Nigel, came as well. His wife was in Burma visiting with her family for the holidays and so we thought it was a perfect time to get them out. Joe turned 19 on 1/4/09 and joined the Air Force last fall and was on a leave for Christmas- he's now stationed at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. That's where my dad was stationed for a few years while a was a kid, 3rd and 4th grade actually. Nigel is 14 1/2, one year younger than Payton to the month. The girls don't call him uncle, they act more like cousins. But anyway, it was wonderful to see my dad and we tried to fill every waking moment with activities, conversations, memories, pictures, and lots of relaxation. When Elizabeth tried to get Dad to head to bed since he had driven all night long the day before, he said, "I will have plenty of time for sleep when I get home." I agreed.
This is Larry and my dad trying to figure out the Miller's pool vacuum system.
They took a while to get it working.

Porter in the swim goggles. The water was a wee bit too cold for him to actually get in!

We were loving the warm sunshine; probably the only people in swimsuit in December in the neighborhood!

Porter just wanted someone to sit with him while he stood ankle deep on the step.

We had Christmas together to look forward to. Good food and family, what more could we ask for?

Superbowl Sunday

Our family started a tradition of watching the Superbowl game together a few years back. I believe it was when Seattle was in it when the girls finally showed an interest. But they all have their food requests- the fattier, the better! So we have a buffet of yummy game food and sit down together for the game. Usually the girls make it through a quarter or two and then head off to play or watch a movie on their own. This time was a little different. We have church until 4, so we missed the kickoff and all the pre-game stuff. By the time Larry arrived home and we were all set up with the food, the first quarter was almost over I think. But we made it through the entire game. We were full of junk food and disappointed with the caliber of commercials this year, but we made it through together. Porter even woke up from his nap to share in the plethora of unhealthy choices. This is my little guy getting into the spirit of the game. Shirt off - check. Drink close - check. Bowl full of doritos - check. Eyes glued to the tv - check. Aaaahhh... success!