Oh What Fun!!

Dashing through the snow, in a mini van full of kids, over the ND plains we go, puking all the way......ha, ha, ha - NOT! Christmas was almost cancelled this year thanks to a lovely stomach virus. Sound familiar? Didn't that happen last year at this time? Yes, you would be correct. Except this time, we captured the enchanting virus the night before we were due to drive 7 hours to ND - it started with Taylor vomitting, then diahrea (I will spare you the details). After she slept all day, she woke up and seemed much better so we loaded up the varmints at 5:30pm and arrived in Bismarck at 1am on Monday. Monday night it seemed like we were in the clear, until Grandma Clark had a wonderful party with guests and Lindsey got hit right after we ate (vomit has the amazing ability to clear a house full of guests real fast). About 2 hours later, Dylan had to join in the fun. We were up all night "spitting in buckets" and visiting the toilet for the other end. Lindsey got over her bout within 24-36 hours but Dylan was not so lucky and ended up being sick for 3 days and almost got to visit the ER on Christmas. Unfortunately, the kiddos missed out on visiting Santa at the mall due to the illness, Lindsey and Dylan missed out on Christmas Eve church service and the Clark family traditional fondue dinner and Christmas celebration. To make matters worse, Grandma Clark caught the lovely virus and was up all night and the next day trying to recover, just in time for their winter trip to Texas. Talk about a disaster!

On a positive note, LTD bounced back to health and really did enjoy the magic of the season. They were SO excited that Santa ate their cookies and drank their milk they left out at Grandma & Papas houses. We were also blessed with a surprise visit from Uncle Bruce (my brother) and cousins Dexter and Eli, who drove all the way from Arkansas!! The massive amount of snow was a big hit too and they had fun on sleigh rides, snowball fights, and a visit to Papa's Polar Patch for family winter fun activities. They really loved sharing time with all their Papas and Grandmas, their Uncle Bruce and their cousins. It was hard to say goodbye to everybody without tears. Thank you to our families & friends for making the season so full of warm memories. Please check out our Kodak Gallery link in the right hand column for LOTS of photos (Nov & Dec 2008).

So we are back in MN and ready to start our year out with love, happiness, joy, thankfulness, gratitude and hope for a promising year full of surprises. Speaking of surprises.......you must stay tuned for the next post to learn all about our new name: Camp Mullet. Much too late to get into the drama right now. Happy New Year to all!!