Away For Christmas

I know the song goes "I'll be home for Christmas", but we went on a trip and had a blast.  We went to visit my family in Ohio and then on to visit Jake's sister and her family in Detroit.  True to form I did not take enough pictures, but we did get a few good ones.

The highlights of the trip include:
Our Haake Family Christmas Eve Bash
We of course celebrated with traditional German food: sauerbraten(pickled roast) and Klose (steamed rolls).  German food is so delicious.  The played games, drank wassail, and enjoyed family time.
Opening stockings and presents
It is always fun to see people enjoying gifts you got them.  Pace is still a little too young to really understand gifts and opening them, but it was better than last year.  And boy does he get spoiled.  Jake and I were pretty spoiled ourselves.

Opening his stocking

Pace got his foot stuck in Petey's

He got pudding in his stocking

Shooting bows and arrows for the first time
Lets just say our aim is better with Jake's gun.  But it was still really fun.

Hiking in Cuyahoga National Park
We went to the ledges.  It was Jake and Pace's first visit there.  And it was a beautiful day, perfect for hiking.  Beth took Penny most of the loop around.  I guess she had about enough of us, lol.

Yes, slot canyons exist in Ohio

We went with my my aunt, uncle and cousins.

Going to Amish country 
We went and got the very best broasted chicken.  Then stocked up on spices at the Ashery.

Hibachi Dinner with my Family
Thanks Ben and Beth for this fun experience again.  It is always so fun to go with everyone.  We also learned that Pace loves Lo Mein.  He does not, however, love the flame show put on by the chef, too scary.  He did love seeing the spatula tricks (of course since a spatula is one of his favorite toys).

Seeing Wicked
I got Jake tickets to see Wicked in Detroit for his birthday, so we headed up there after our visit in Ohio.  The show was amazing.  We both loved it.  It was my first broadway production.  I'm so glad we got to go.  And what a fun show to go see!  Both funny and adventurous, we enjoyed all of it.  Thanks Katie and Seth for watching Pace.

Eating Detroit Pizza and Playing games with the Allings (and of course meeting our nephew Marc)
While in Detroit you must eat like the locals, right?  So that's what we did.  It was my first time having a BLT pizza, yum!  But it is really the crust that is the best, cheesy and deep dish.  And of course (true to form) we played games.

Baby Marc

Penny made herself at home (enjoying the time the boys were not chasing her)

Seeing Tommy and Pace Interact
They're not the best at sharing and communicating yet.  But these two play off of each other.  They were copying each others actions and were really enjoying being together.  Luckily I caught a little on video (two videos, because I just couldn't get enough, it was so cute).  Next time we visit we'll both have two boys about the same age.