The New Nordine's: Christmas - Northern California edition

Ok, our California Christmas. What a special time this was for our family. We had been wanting for sometime to get out there because we have so many family members & friends there. Finally, the opportunity arose for us to go this past Christmas. We wanted to pack in as much as we could, see as many people as we could, and I think for the most part we did just that.

Our journey started in Northern California. Up in the Napa Valley area. My grandma, Uncle, Aunt, and two cousins live up there. The last time we saw my grandma was 4 years ago. She turns 90 this year and is an amazing woman. Klara Jane's middle name was named after her so it was especially special for them to meet. We also got to experience with them their tradition of having a Swedish smorgasbord, which they have every Christmas. I have heard about it for years, but it was my first time experiencing it.

We had a rough start getting there, and I'm going to recapture it here just so I can remember it. We flew from Cincinnati to Houston. No problems. The girls were good (well KJ was a bit squirmy and didn't sleep a wink), and all went well. We got to Houston knowing we had a 3 hour layover. It was our dinner time so we decided to sit down at a restaurant and take our time. After, we even got some donuts as a special treat (see below).:) Then we got to our gate and only to hear them announce, our flight would be delayed until 12:20 a.m. (it was about 6:00 p.m. at that point). The flight didn't have a crew and a new crew wouldn't arrive until then. The girls were starting to get tired. Everyone there was flustered. We quickly went to a Customer Service station. Long story short. There were absolutely no other flights that had seats on them, not that night or the next day. So we asked if there was a hotel at the airport we could at least go let the girls sleep in for a few hours. There was and the airline would pay for it. So we took the girls to the hotel, we had to go out of the secured area and take this little train that went right to the hotel lobby. The girls slept. Lee and I stayed awake for fear we would miss going back to the airport. We left around 10:45 to get back into the airport and go through security again. Unknown to us, the airport closed at 11:00. We were the very last family they let through security before closing. I'm not really sure what we would have done if we had missed going back in. We finally got on the plane, and took the 3+ hour flight to Sacramento. At that time it was now 3:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. for us). We were exhausted. We were originally supposed to get picked up, but decided to find a hotel close to the airport with a shuttle and try to get a few hours of sleep in. We were worried the girls would not sleep seeing they had slept at the hotel in Houston and in the plane (Lee and I of course didn't), but thankfully they slept for several hours. Lee said, "It's not everyday day you go to bed at one hotel and wake up in a completely different one." So...all in all, we made it and the California adventure began...

Highlights: Jelly Belly factory tour, Swedish smorgasbord, Playing Monopoly Deal with my cousin, Trampoline place, Hanging out with family and just talking, watching Isabel patiently try to become friends with my Aunt's cat, going to the park, hanging out with family (oh I already said that. Needed to be said again):)