Christmas 2013 - Intermission

Christmas day we arrived back in Rock Hill early in the evening. We had told the kids we would open our Christmas presents from them when we got home, so as soon as we could unload the truck we started a

video hangout. The kids found Gary an out-of-production model of the Cutty Sark  to build when he finishes the Constitution. It is the original 1959 edition and they found it on eBay. Who keeps this stuff that long????

I got a Sodastream home soda maker, something I had looked at for a couple of years.  Basically it is a machine for carbonating water, then you add syrups of the flavors you want. There are dozens of flavors for it. I found a cola flavor to replace my daily Pepsi with about ½ the calories. Gary likes root beer and Country Time lemonade with Dasani Strawberry Kiwi flavor added. The Ocean Spray Cranberry juice is pretty good, too.  When the CO₂ cartridge runs out you can exchange it at Target or Wal-Mart for about $15. We are really enjoying it.

Boxing Day (26 Dec) Gary started back to work for the rest of the week and Kira and I started getting ready for the next trip.  I hadn't finished all of my Christmas shopping and we were supposed to go to Athens Saturday for my family’s Christmas.  However as the day progressed, I felt worse.  I had managed to bring home a stomach virus thanks to Nathan. He loved his Nani so much he wanted to make sure she took part of him home with her.  J After Gary got home from work, he and Kira went to see the movie Frozen (Gary for the 3^rd time, Kira for the first.) They really enjoyed that.

Friday through Sunday (27-29 Dec) was not so much fun for me. I spent much of that time on the couch pretty much out of commission with the stomach bug. Gary and Kira spent the whole time drinking my sodas (with my reluctant permission). We had planned on going to Athens to visit with Bambudder and PawPaw, but we didn’t want to take the virus to them, so we didn’t go. Martha was going to be there so I was pretty bummed out that we didn’t make it. Gary and Kira were able to go to Sacrament meeting on Sunday though.

Gary still had to work on Monday and Tuesday morning and Kira and I spent the time getting packed up and getting ready to go to Vegas. Tuesday morning, Kira and I packed up and took the dogs and Demon to the kennel, got the car packed up and were ready to go. Gary got home a little early and we were off to Charlotte Douglas airport for our next adventure to Las Vegas and Cedar City. Gary and I were a lot more excited about going than Kira was, for whom the trip was the first step to heading back to work in Vegas.