First Christmas - Wisconsin

Peyton had a wonderful christmas up in Wisconsin. He was a little cold, but had a great time seeing family members he hasn't seen since August.

When we arrived on Sunday it was -10 degrees with an even colder windchill. (I quickly remembered why I live in the desert!) We had company coming to my parents house, so we needed to get moving quickly. Peyton didn't like his snow suit very much, it was a bit restricting, but he was a trooper and didn't crab too much. We got to see my grandma, aunt, cousins and their children.

Here is a picture of Peyton with his third cousin Grace. You would never guess that they are not even blood related since it is my step-cousin.

On Monday we drove to Fond du lac to see Ryan's grandparents. They were very happy to see us, but were especially thrilled to see Peyton. Their faces lit up when they got to hold him and see him babbling and laughing. They are still talking about him 3 weeks later.

No, he isn't getting a hair cut (you have to have hair first), we just wanted to put the cape on him for the picture.

Uncle Cory brought Rock Band to play and Peyton got a kick out of all the instruments.

Not only did we get to experience the freezing cold, we got to experience the snow. There was so much snow, that the bank at the end of my parents driveway was as tall as Ryan. Although it was very pretty, Peyton didn't like it very much. He was cold and wanted to go in after about 10 minutes. What an Arizona boy!

We had Christmas Eve with my mom's family. Everyone loved seeing Peyton and couldn't believe how big he had gotten. It was great to see everyone. Unfortunately, the next time he's up there will be for Thanksgiving.

Santa did show up for Peyton at my parents house, but he only brought one gift. Partially because Peyton has entirely too many toys as it is, but truely, because we had to cram everything into a suitcase to get it home. It was just easier if he only got one thing...everyone else made up for the lack of Santa gifts, and he was none the wiser. Truthfully, I could have saved Santa a few bucks and given Peyton some wrapping paper.

On one of the last days, we got together with some of my High-school friends. Of the three, I haven't seen two of them in over 8 years. A little crazy. Two of them have little girls...all within a few months of Peyton. It was very cute to see them interact with each other. It is unfortunate that they will not be able to have play dates without a plane ticket. Hopefully when I am back in the area we can get together again.

Overall, it was a great week. Peyton was wonderfully behaved and had a great time too. It will be very interesting to see him next year...what a change it will be.