Surprise!!!!

We even got in a very short visit with Papi and Nanni.

The day before we were supposed to get on the plane Victoria woke up with a stuffy nose. So our flight to the States was not as pleasant as we had hoped.

Victoria loved jumping on Biz Nonna's bed.

Zia Sarah and Toria

Victoria loves her uncle Jon very much.

Greatest Christmas gift ever

How come no one told me it was going to be this cold here?

Enjoying some very cold air with her cousin Andrew

A trip to La Salette to see some Christmas lights

Zia Danielle showing Victoria how to use Facebook

Short visit with Aunt Jenny, Emily, Grandma and PopPop

On our way back home. We can do it. One more flight to go.

Surprise! Merry Christmas, we shouted as Biz Nonna opened the door. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness" she repeated over and over again as she closed the door on us.

The story really began about 3 or so weeks ago when Rob said he was making a trip to North Carolina to visit one of his Marines who was wounded in Afghanistan this past summer. He said you want to go? I tossed it around in my head reminiscing about the grueling 17 + hours it took us to get here in the first place. Reminding myself that we now have a toddler who loves to be on her feet moving around all the time. Okay lets do it. Are we crazy, never mind. It would be so nice to see family though. Ugh, but that oh so long plane ride. So all week long it went back and forth. Friday afternoon Rob came home from work and said too late I bought your ticket and we leave Monday for North Carolina. So our world wind tour begins. We decided to follow in Rob's mom, Elaine's footsteps and have no luggage to check in. We each had one carry on and the diaper bag for Victoria. 17 hours later we arrived in North Carolina. After a good nights sleep Victoria and I did some shopping while Rob visited with his Marine and came back to the hotel with food poisoning. After a not so good nights sleep Victoria and I decided to visit some friends and do some more shopping. That night Rob was feeling better so we packed up our things jumped in the car and drove 13 hours to Massachusetts. We tried to keep it a surprise so you can imagine the look on my grandmothers face when she opened the door to see us standing there. We spent 3 short days in Mass and were able to be there for a snow storm. We wished we could have visited with the rest of our family and friends who we miss so much but this was all time allowed for us. We knew you would all understand. After a quick stop for breakfast in NY saying goodbye to Aunt Jenny, Emily, Grandma and PopPop we drove back down to North Carolina so we could fly out the next day and be home for Christmas. It didn't go that smoothly of course. But we did make it home at Midnight on Christmas eve thanks to all the nice people that helped us get here.

From our family to yours. Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love,

Victoria, Rob and Andreana