Other Stuff That Happened in December

Besides trips and holidays, we were busy with daily life, visiting with family and friends.

Of course, we were super busy getting ready for Christmas! The girls were in the Christmas play at church (Chloe was Mary and Megan was an angel). We made lots of cookies and visited Santa. 

Our annual visit to Santa at the Somerset Collection in Troy!

Christmas Day! After the girls opened their presents, we had Nathan's family over for brunch and an early dinner.  

Nathan and his mom took a Christmas baking class and made a yule log. Aren't the little mushrooms so cute? 

The next day we had the "official" Christmas gathering for Nathan's family when everyone could attend. Lots of eating and presents!  Look at the cute orange tree I made for the top of the fruit salad :)

Oops! I guess we started eating before I got around to taking photos.  Not pictured: crispy waffles that were super yummy. We tried a savory version with stuffing that was also pretty tasty. 

The girls had a really nice Christmas! Their favorites were some of the Star Wars toys they got (clearly purchased by Dad or the grandparents!). 

 

After all of the festivities, it was time for our annual "Lets get a cold the week after Christmas" event. This year the winners were Megan and Mommy. Daddy was a distant second and Chloe did not even place because she dodged the germs enough to stay well. 

Lots of extra rest and liquids later, 2015 came to a close in a very undramatic fashion. Walking tacos for our New Year's Eve dinner and getting to bed well before the ball drops. Let's hope we can all start 2016 healthy, well-rested, and ready for whatever is in store for us!

F-L-O-R-I-D-A

December is such a busy time of year but it's always so nice to hop on a plane to head down to Florida for a week.  In past years it's been a little chilly (well, Florida chilly) so we haven't been able to do much with the beach or pool, but this year the weather was wonderful and we had great weather all week! We were going non-stop and had so much fun! 

Traveling with the kids is so easy now. Since the girls are old enough for their own tickets, we get four seats across, one of us sits with the girls on one side and the other sits on the aisle. We grabbed some Burger King breakfast sandwiches and boarded!

Once we landed we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes for a quick meal. Chloe had The Smallest Ice Cream Cone Ever for her dessert. They had these super mini cones...so cute. 

After a long day of traveling, we were ready to head to grandpa and grandma's house. Grandma read the girls stories out of their Sabbath School lessons before bed.

 The next day was Sunday and the weather was warm but cloudy. We decided to check out some of the recreation areas around their house. We saw Father Christmas in one of the lobbies, then checked out the new outdoor gym along a walking trail. What a cool idea! I wish we had these at playgrounds for parents :) Our last stop was a wildlife preserve. 

 

 We worked up an appetite so off we went to the Ice Cream Doctor for lunch!

Yum-o!

Afterward we made a side trip to say hi to Bubba the alligator. He's getting pretty old but we always hope he's still there when we go by the airboat spot where he lives.

That night when we got back to the house we were in a baking mood so we made a batch of homemade pop-tarts. I'd found a recipe for them on Pinterest. My dad and I both love brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts (a tie for me with frosted cherry!) so I thought it would be fun to make them during our visit.  

Monday was going to be a nice, sunny day so we made plans to visit a beach on the gulf. Back in early 2008 when Nathan and I were engaged we had visited this beach in Tarpon Springs with my dad and Chris (who were also engaged at the time). We hadn't been back since so it was a lot of fun to head back there..now married 7 years and toting our 2 kids! We spent a few hours at the beach and then headed into town to eat lunch and check out the sponge docks.

 Tuesday and Wednesday were our big days at Disney. We got up bright and early to head down to Orlando. We made a breakfast for the road and make it to Disney World right when the doors opened. 

What a long day! We stayed at Disney World until about 4:00 and then headed to our hotel to check in. Once all settled in, dad and Chris took the girls over to Hollywood Studios for a few hours while Nathan and I took a boat over to Disney Springs for dinner and shopping. 

The next day (Disney, Day 2) we had a character breakfast at the Yacht Club and then spent the afternoon at Epcot. We were so tired by that night!

After all of these busy days, we definitely needed some low-key days to recover! We ate a quick breakfast on Thursday, then Nathan and I hopped in the golf cart and headed over to the town square. We saw a movie at this cute little theater and grabbed lunch next door. It was such a beautiful day!

 While we were on our date, grandpa and grandma took the girls to a local rec center to teach them bocce ball. I guess it went pretty well :)  The girls saw the pool and wanted to swim so we loaded up the golf cart and off we went!

We got cleaned up and headed out for dinner. Had pizza and calzones then took a walk around the little town square. A band was playing and lots of people were dancing. We let the girls hang out a bit and get some energy out before heading back for the night. 

All of a sudden it was our last day in Florida. The girls really wanted to go back to the pool and since it was sunny and 80 degrees, it was hard to say no. After chowing down on biscuits and gravy, to the pool we went. 

A few hours in the pool really worked up an appetite so we got changed and headed out to get some Mexican food. After that, we ran over to the Ice Cream Doctor to say good bye to the family (and eat a little ice cream). That night some cousins came over to decorate Christmas cookies. 

The week went by so quickly! We really had so much fun with all our activities. Can't wait to head back down there to see family again and soak up some warmth!