Christmas On the Road

 We left Christmas afternoon to head west and visit the family.

 The kids are always game when we only drive half way the first day.  They love staying in a hotel so they can go swimming....

 and get a Dr. Pepper out of the vending machine.  It was almost as exciting as opening Christmas presents.

 It is a difficult challenge to find dinner to go with your Dr. Pepper on Christmas night.  We ended up at a gas station Subway and I was fairly sure it would be our last meal ever.  Pretty sketchy.

 But, we survived and made our way to the usual first stop...Skyline!

 We got to visit with the new cousins - Jasmine to the left and Jeffrey to the right.

 Chase stayed on the kitchen counter for most of the visit!

 Taylor was almost as happy to see them as they were to see her!

 The kids got more Christmas gifts.

 Julie took me on a tour of the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati.  This was the tree decorated in memory of Grandma Hoeh - covered in angels.

 Dave did a lot of this.

 Taylor's favorite toy.

 Baby Madden was a good sport!

 Watching the Bengals game with a wild and rowdy crowd!

 More lounging.

 Chase showing off the Bengal gear with his good buddy, Nate.

 On to the next stop for, more Christmas presents!

We seriously looked a buying a new car while we were out there and one of the reasons we couldn't was because all of our loot wouldn't have fit in it for the ride home!!!

 Playing games with the cousins.

 Out to lunch with Logan and Lucas.

All the cousins, minus Olivia, gathered for dinner!

 Must ride the carousel at the mall...kind of like the Dr. Pepper, just something you do.

 Wild times.

 And must build-a-bear.  Chase tried to act for a moment like he was too cool for this.

Didn't take long for him to go along with it.

 After all that present opening and eating, it was back on the road to the hotel.  Nothing beats 2 nights at the hotel on a road trip.  This time the choice was Pepsi....

and more swimming!  It was a good trip!