Holiday Break...and a MUCH needed break at that. (Warning...tons of pictures)

So Boxing Day night we headed home, quickly brought in all the gifts and luggage from Christmas, threw some laundry into the wash, repacked our bags and went to bed. Early the next morning we got up, repacked the car and were on the road again for our trip to Edmonton with Russ, Beth, Eli & Celeste.

We stopped in Lloydminster for a quick bite to eat. They had an old style train table thing that I use to LOVE to sit on when I was a kid and was excited to see Nathan and Eli sitting on it now!
(This picture cracks me up, seriously, could they be making better faces?!?)

On the road again!!! :)

On a few of the trips the Shutra's took there are pictures of Wayne's Dad giving this EXACT same look, so Wayne felt he needed to carry on the tradition..hehe.

Finally in Edmonton, waiting for Daddy to check into our room...it took a long time and then he told me he had to quickly check the beds for bedbugs....he is such a FREAK!!!!

At WEM... Nathan felt that he was a big boy and needed to sit at his own table. We were only a few feet away but he thought he was pretty cool!!!

The big pirate ship!!!

The first day we were there we just relaxed, did a little shopping and an early bedtime. The second day we were there we spent the day swimming at the WEM wavepool. It was SOOO much fun (I did not even bring my camera but now wish I had). All of the kids (minus Celeste and Beth, who were shopping) had a blast. They loved the newish play area and the wavepool. All 3 of the boys LOVED the waves but Rylan especially loved them. When the waves would hit him he would squeel in delight, and if the waves went over his head he would catch his breath, laugh and then say "More". A nice man gave us one of his tubes (they were leaving) and then went to go get their other one, and then while he was gone another man gave us another tube as well. All 3 boys were able to have their own tube and really enjoyed it.
After tons of swimming and a yummy supper, we took the kids back to the hotel room and put them to bed. (It was FABULOUS because we had adjoining rooms so the kids could just roam free between the rooms and we could visit during naptimes).
That night Wayne and Russell went to an Oiler's game and Beth and I were going to have a girl's night but she wimped out...hehe...actually she had a bad headache and I sent her to bed.

On the 3rd day we did some serious shopping in the morning (I think) and then Beth and I put the babies down for a nap and Wayne, Russell, Nathan and Eli went to WEM rides and had some fun. Eli was a little too short to go on most of the rides, but Nathan was able to go on all of the kids ones and even this "new" rollercoaster. This is the cart they were in, we just could not see them. Russ & Wayne said the Rollercoaster was actually pretty quick and fun (I think Nathan was JUST tall enough to go on this one). Nathan said it was SCARY, but he wants to go on it TONS more times.

Beth & her cuties waiting for the big boys to have their turn.

This one is out of place but this is where Rylan slept...I was taking a picture of his bed and he quickly layed down and posed...hehe..silly little guy.

We headed home on the fourth day, threw all our stuff into the house and rushed into the Blades game. My sister Karalee, her husband Dennis and her girl's Iliegh and Keyla all came down and Dad took us all to the game. Man I miss these guys!!! Hint Hint

This was a pretty common sight...they were ALL sooooo excited to see eachother that there was a lot of tickling and giggling going on.

Dennis, Karalee & my precious little Keyla (who BTW, LOVES her Auntie Jackie!!! Well at least my Cleanup song.)

New Year's Eve we had dinner at Mom & Dad's played cards and just had a nice time and then Wayne and I took the boys home and had a quiet evening alone while playing the new SMB for Wii.

New Year's Day we went back over to Mom & Dad's and had another yummy lunch and played more cards/games. The kids played NON-STOP and really well together. Nathan was sooo happy to have his BEST friend Iliegh back and the two of them just picked up where they had left off almost 18 months ago.

Here's the "big" kids having a little break from playing. Cuddled up in Grandma and Grandpa's HUGE bed!!

Playing cards...my Mom & Karalee needed to be put in a time out for being bad RIGHT before I took this picture...you are BOTH lucky I didn't catch it.

"Baby" girls playing so nicely together.

Dennis enjoying some computer time.

It was such a GREAT Holiday and so nice to be with my family. We were able to just unwind, relax, have fun and de-stress and it was THE PERFECT ending to a busy 2010 Christmas!!!