Christmas vacation part 2

For 3 nights of the trip I believe we had 10 adults and 17 kids sleeping under the same roof--13 of the kids are 6 and under! It was a madhouse and completely nuts, but it was also completely awesome. It was especially fun to put the kids to bed and stay up late playing games just with the adults. That is something I always look forward to!

Some of the activities that we planned (and executed) were a family hike, a trip shooting in the desert, a train ride around a park (think like a zoo-train), a few park trips, canoeing, a birthday party/NYE bash for our sister-in-law, a Jerusalem dinner/nativity, and our traditional Italian Christmas dinner (raviolis!) with my dad's extended family...and I'm sure there was more. We also had a lot of hanging-around-the-house time (which was great for this tired pregnant mama!). I didn't get many pictures of these activities, but I know my mom sure did!

(not everyone on the hike was represented here)

Oh and the shooting in the desert activity? Yeah, that's one we probably won't do again soon. It ended with a brother-in-law being hit with a *tiny* piece of shrapnel (ricochet?) which resulted in an emergency surgery because of where it was located (in his neck near the carotid artery). It's amazing how it wasn't a big deal and yet it was a huge deal all at the same time. Anyways, it's not my story to tell (plus, I could never do it justice), but we are just truly glad that he's okay!