Trip to MN

Last weekend, we took a road trip to MN to visit with McGrandma and McGrandpa and to meet Cousin Lilly for the first time.  Lil Max did really well in the car (the DVD player *might* have played a small role in that), and the trip seemed to go by faster than normal.  It helped, of course, that there was no inclement weather to drive in (we always seem to travel on the worst days...so we were happy to have a precipitation-free and sunny day)!

When we got to the McGrandparents house, we celebrated Christmas right away.  Lil Max was ALL about the presents! 

Here he opens a present with McGrandma.  McGrandma was still recovering from her foot surgery, and we had to remind lil Max to not step on her foot.  He tried his best.  McGrandma did a really great job keeping up with him too!!

Opening presents was really tiring, so McGrandpa and lil Max laid down for a quick snooze...

But soon, the excitement of sitting in an empty box was too much to bear, and naptime was over.

Max sure knows how to 'cheese' it for the camera...

The next day, Uncle Fran, Aunt Denyce and Cousin Lilly came over to celebrate even MORE Christmas!!  Lil Max had a lot of fun hanging out with them, meeting his new little cousin and giving her kisses and showing Aunt "NECE" his blankie, amongst other toys.  I'm a little disappointed that this is the ONLY photo we have of Uncle Fran...and that we didn't get a single shot of cousin Lilly or Aunt Denyce.  Lilly is just a precious little peanut...her stats when she was born were really close to lil Max's, and she's still on pretty much the same growth curve as he was -- which means she'll also likely be a little peanut of a girl!  She's got the cutest little ears and her smile is so sweet it lights up her little face.  We look forward to seeing her again and seeing how much she changes!!!

A McLaughlin family photo the morning of our departure.  Max got a fun bouncy ball from his McGrandparents that he loves playing with.  I'm teaching him to sit on it like I sit on my yoga ball so we can work on our 'core' exersizes together...haha just kidding...

Another McLaughlin family photo.  All four of us!  :)

And, just because.  No one can resist this amount of cuteness.  Even when said cuteness is being naughty....