As always, our first stop was San Diego where we attempted to adjust back into land-life and the hordes of people who seem to always attach themselves to it. Our efforts were somewhat unsuccessful and we spent most of our time hanging out at John's to avoid the masses - our biggest outing being a trip to the butcher's to buy a nice roast for Thanksgiving dinner which, although not your usual turkey day fare, was delicious.
Las Vegas was our second port of call where we stopped in on Chris, Stacia, and the girls. Alyssa's ten months old now and is all over the place. She's a curious and adventurous baby who doesn't like to sit still for a minute. She hasn't started to walk on her own yet, but is constantly pulling herself up on furniture (and Grandpa's legs) to explore every nook and cranny she can find. McKayla, on the other hand, is more cerebral now that she's in kindergarten and her favourite game has gone from Jump on Grandpa to a five year-old's version of Pictionary.
Chris is doing well and it was a huge relief for us to see him so close to 100% after all he's been through this year. The bone chips from his crushed vertebrae that the surgeon placed in the cage in his back have knitted together making his spine stronger than ever and earning him a release from future doctor visits. He'll still need to visit his cardiologist for the next five years to keep an eye on his aoerta, but that's only precautionary. Stacia's good and has managed to hang in there through all of the year's ups and downs and is undoubtedly looking forward to a less stressful 2010 - as are we all!
The final stop on our eastward journey was Kansas where we spent the bulk of our time and the remainder of the year. The weeks leading up to Christmas were packed with outings to the mall to fill our stockings, evenings in Sharon and Eric's garage emptying the Kegerator, and family gatherings full of laughter and memories from a simpler time.
Sharon scored four tickets to a Chiefs' game and invited us to join her and Eric on a road trip to Kansas City to watch them play the Cleveland Browns - David's first trip to Arrowhead. Like most games this season, they lost, but we still had fun and walked away with hoarse voices from cheering...and booing.
The entire family was in town for Christmas this year, something that won't likely happen again for several years, and we made the most of our short time together which culminated with the mother-of-all garage parties on Christmas (another first for David). It was an amazing night full of singing, dancing, laughter, and memories that will last for years to come - a small taste of what life would be like if we saw each other every day before reality set in and everyone was on their way home again leaving us siblings to a quiet new year.
