Christmas 2011

This post really is about 2 things: the annual Alaska Airlines Kids Christmas Party, and Christmas. As usual, "Santa" and "Mrs. Claus" didn't disappoint, and made their usual enterance into the party in a Boeing 737. Koda was excited to tell Santa what he wanted, Brady had plenty of curiousity mixed with excitement mixed with aprehensiveness, and Kylee truely wanted nothing to do with the dude. The kids had a blast playing in the bouncy houses, eating pizza, decorating cookies, and the like.

Now....on to the "real' Christmas:

This year, Koda had to be in Kodiak for Christmas AND we took a trip up to Santa's House/Chena Hot Springs before he left, so Santa came about a week early to our house, and he definitely didn't dissappoint! The "big" presents consisted of an electric blue mustang (hot wheels), and a play kitchen. Granted, the kitchen didn't interest Koda *much*, but he really, really loved the mustang, even if he can't hardly get in it. In all honesty, both presents were pretty much for Brady and Kylee, but Koda ended up with a few more "larger" presents than they did :)

Caveat: we finally got the car out last month and they love taking it for a spin around the driveway! While Koda can technically drive it, he really is too big for it. He is literally eating his knees, as they don't fit under the dash! But, he loves it none-the-less***

Kylee got plenty of little girlie things: dresses, other clothes, hair accessories, shoes, books, baby dolls, etc. I seriously LOVE having a little girl! After all the boy stuff the past 7 years, it's nice to be able to shop for frilly, cutsey stuff!

Both Brady and Koda also got a menagerie of things, including books, clothing, legos galore, and a geotrax "Cars 2" set, which really is Brady's favorite!

With all the hustle and bustle around the holidays, sometimes it gets stressful. BUT....when I really sit down a think about it, those are my favorite times of the year. I love to shop, and the holidays give me excuses to shop for the kids :)

Mommy and Kylee chillin' at the party

Letting Santa know their wishes :)

Santa and Mrs. Claus in their traditional enterance!

Ky having fun at the party!

Christmas at Scott and Heather's

Ky opening her presents from Auntie and Uncle

Brady was so excited about his remote controlled car!

Brady showing off his Toy Story Lego Train set

Ky and one of her twin dollies. A total girl through and through.

The boys with their new Mustang Convertable!

Kylee and Brady's kitchen set

Our 3 little goobers on Christmas morning!

Pictures from Chena Hot Springs

Ky and Gma

Daddy and his little girlie

Getting ready to hit the pool the first day!

She had such a blast....despite her unimpressed facial expression here.

Tyler and Alan

My little waterbug

Lizzie and Luke

The "other" Skinners :)

Us in the outdoor pool.....at around 15-ish degrees!

Enjoying the pool

My parents.

That's how REAL Alaskans get from our room to the springs!

Best buddies for life

Gma and her boys

Wouldn't be complete without rolling the kids in the snow!

At the outdoor rock pool....George, my Dad, Scott and I had a pretty awesome snowball fight!

My little "rudolph" nosed lady!

The best of buddies!

Whirlwind trip North

Before Christmas, the "Oberg" brood took a quick trip up to Fairbanks, North Pole, and Chena. My parents, Scott, Heather and the boys, and our family all went up for a weekend of fun! We drove up because we knew we'd stay a little longer than everyone else to spend a couple days with Lizzie, Alan, and their boys. They flew in first thing Saturday morning, we went to breakfast, then drove out to see Santa's House in North Pole. Unfortunately, Santa took a day off (seriously though, what kind of Santa AT THE NORTH POLE takes a day off the Saturday before Christmas?!), but the kids got to check out his house, the gift shop, and his reindeer. Right next door to Santa's House was a kid's ice park, complete with igloos, slides, sculptures, "ice bowls", etc. The kiddos had a BLAST there! Koda felt sick about halfway through, though and ended up spending part of the afternoon with his head laying on a table in the "warmup" room. Poor thing! The adults had fun on the slides and the maze as well. BUT....probably the best time we had was spinning the boys around in the ice bowls until they walked loopy! Too fun! We had lunch at Pagoda, which is basically THE BEST asian food in the state, as well as about the ONLY good place in North Pole! I pretty much make George take me every trip up North.

After gorging ourselves, we drove to Chena Hot Springs, where we all checked into our hotel rooms, got dressed in our swimsuits, and hit the pool! The indoor pool is like lukewarm bathwater, and the kids (with the exception of a sick Koda man) loved it. They were also allowed in the outdoor hot tub, which was fun for the adults as well, as we could pelt them with snow :) My mom, George, and Scott took turns terrorizing the boys by snatching them out of the hot tub and rolling them in snow before they could escape and jump back in the hot tub! Kids weren't allowed in the outdoor rock pool, which really was a bummer. The natural rock pool really is the best feature of Chena. My dad, Scott, George, and I had one heck of a snowball fight in it (we pretended we didn't notice the "this is a place for relaxation, please be quiet" sign....there was nobody else in the pool-oit was fair game!). The water, in some places, was literally TOO hot. Anyone who knows me, knows that I like my baths so hot I look like a lobster when I get out, so.....suffice it to say that the springs where the water comes INTO the pool is really, really hot! We had a decent dinner at the restaurant there, and then got the kids to bed before we put a few bedside stands together to play cards. We woke up, had breakfast, and hopped back into the pool for just a couple hours before we had to pack up our rooms and check out.

My parents, Scott, Heather, and the boys (including Koda-he had to head down to Kodiak for Christmas this year) flew out that afternoon. We stayed a couple extra days and hung out with Lizzie, Alan, and the boys before driving back home.

Ky and I-through a block of ice!

All the boys at the enterance of the Ice Park

George and Brady racing Koda down the ice slide

Probably the hilite of the trip for the adults-Brady LOVED spinning, and we LOVED watching him try to walk afterwards!

At Santa's House.

We teased my dad that he was training for his retirement job as an elf. It beats being a WalMart greeter.

Ky chillin' in the ice bowl

Not so sure about Santa.

***So after experiencing some technical difficulties, I will add a post of pictures taken at Chena Hot Springs later. My computer hates me right now.