Christmas Update - Christmas 2.0

Christmas 2.0 began with our trip to Canada in which we headed off to the teeming metropolis of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. We were scheduled to leave Thursday, Christmas Eve when we found out on Wednesday that there was a huge storm going through the Midwest beginning that night and continuing through Saturday which was expected to be as bad as the blizzard of 1991 (isn't it a bad sign when they have a specific storm that it is going to compare against that is all the way back in 1991???). Even worse than the upcoming storm was the realization that if we were stranded in Minneapolis (which was becoming more likely with the fact that there were already flights being delayed and cancelled) was that we would have NO chance of actually arriving in Saskatoon that Thursday as there was only one flight to Saskatoon that day. Thinking through the ramifications, we realized that we wouldn't actually make it to the farm until Saturday if we missed the Thursday's flight as there was only ONE flight on Friday to the farm, which was super late and we'd be forced to spend the night in Saskatoon before ending our trip.

This all culminated in our scramble to re-book our tickets and fly out Wednesday night with the thought that at least we'd be in Minneapolis when that single flight took off the next day. Our flight Wednesday ended up being delayed, so we didn't arrive to Minneapolis until midnight (thanks for nothing) but luckily we had reserved a hotel ahead of time once we knew the flight was going to be delayed. However, traipsing through the airport with 5 pieces of luggage and 2 screaming children at midnight was NOT our idea of a fun trip! Zachary had managed to sleep most of the flight as we were in the bulkhead so he could stretch out on the floor but poor Kaleb didn't fare as well trying to sleep in our arms (poor kid). We managed to arrive at the Hampton Inn where Amy begged for something to feed the ravenous child (aka Zachary, the bottomless pit) where they informed her that they had nothing except junk food for sale! (What is up with that??) but they were gracious enough to allow her a box of Cheerios from the complimentary breakfast bar which was very acceptable to the bottomless pit.

The sleep that night was low in quality, and low in quantity. All four of us in one room does not equal sleep. We turned on the fan when we went to bed so that we'd at least have some white noise to try and muffle the sound of all of us in the room, but didn't notice that the switch on the heat control was on "Off." This meant that as the blizzard raged on and the night passed, it got colder and colder in the room. Zachary woke up around 2:30A and began to fuss and count his numbers, so Amy crawled in bed with him to try and keep him quiet - which meant that he then slept with some part of his body slung over hers all night long (at one point, he was perpendicular to her, with his feet on her neck and chest!! Prayers were answered when he didn't actually kick her in the face!) With desperation to keep the child asleep and not wake up Kaleb, Amy lay there all night (awake mind you) praying "Please God, if I get up to turn on the heat, I'll wake up Zachary and then all of us will be awake - please let Karis wake up and go turn on the heat, I'm freezing here!!" No such luck. In the morning, Karis casually mentioned that he was freezing all night as well!!! Dude - GET UP! Ah well.

We arrived safe and sound in Prince Albert where we spent a really fun 6 days with Karis' parents, his brother Kent, wife Lorie and their kids Emily, Connor and Kaylie, and brother Korey and his wife Rachel. All five cousins had a blast running around the house - up and down the long hallway roaring like lions! Good thing the house is big! We had Christmas 2.0 up there - and part of the presents was a remote control train set that was a huge hit the rest of our time there.

Zachary and Kaleb both loved going outside each day - the weather was about -15 Celsius, which actually wasn't terrible once they were all bundled up. Karis would pull Zachary around on the sled doing power slides which made Zachary laugh uproariously. Kaleb isn't too steady on his feet yet, and bundled up like a marshmallow made it even worse, so he was carried a lot of the time. We actually went downhill sledding as well, which Zachary adored, and Kaleb would giggle after each run. So, all in all, the snow was a big hit!

  

Another really fun event during our trip was going to the 5 pin bowling alley. They had bumpers for the kids, so they had a grand time seeing how many pins they could knock down. Kaleb just wanted to throw his ball and then chase it down the lane, so we had to hold on to him tightly.  There were also kiddy rides and blow-up bounce houses there in the bowling alley to play on afterwards, so Zachary thought that he was in 7th heaven.

Kaleb manages to escape his parents and makes a run for it down the lane

All in all, Christmas 2.0 was a great success - we had so much fun visiting with everyone and letting the cousins play together. The kids were mostly well behaved (not entirely, but close enough), the weather was bearable, and Amy was able to read 3 books - what could be better? With that, we were off to Christmas 3.0!

Doing puzzles was one of the daily highlights

The Zbaraschuk clan