Christmas Visit to Wild Adventures

 Here it is the end of 2016, and we still haven't used our "Bring-a-Friend" tickets to Wild Adventures.  To rectify this, we took a trip today with some friends of ours.  I could not believe how busy the park was.  I guess a lot of other people had the same idea that we had.  We usually only get passes every other year, but we've decided to go ahead and renew for next year because: (1) Owen's 3rd grade field trip will be going here and this will save us money on the tickets, (2) three of the concerts for next summer have been announced and there is one that I would definitely like to see, and (3) they are adding a new section to the water park and it looks like something that we would be interested in.  So, it's so long to Wild Adventures until the Spring- and then another year of fun.  Whoo-hoo!

Day Trip to Jekyll

While the guys stayed home to watch football, the kids and I took Nana on a tour of Jekyll Island.  Our first stop was the Sea Turtle Center.  We were able to see some of the turtles receiving care and we even had one of the workers talk to us for about ten minutes about some of the patients and other common issues they see at the center.  It was very interesting, and Barb especially seemed to enjoy it.

 After leaving the Sea Turtle Center, we drove around the historic district and had lunch in the grand dining room at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

 Of course no trip to Jekyll would be complete without a stop at  Driftwood Beach.  It was so foggy on this side of the island that we could hardly see anything.  I was disappointed because I really wanted Barb to see how neat the beach was.  I figured that pictures wouldn't turn out well due to the fog, so I only took a few.  As it turns out, the fog made the pictures look eerie and interesting.  I wish I had taken more.

The kids were insistent that we let them go down to the beach.  So, this was our last stop.  I knew what was going to happen, and sure enough one of the kids (Owen) came back soaked.

El Castillo de San Marcos

 The Sanders family was planning to stay a visit for a few days following Christmas, so we decided to take them around and show them the sites.  Our first stop was one of my favorite cities, St. Augustine.  We ended up getting a late start and the city was the most crowded that I'd ever seen it, so we only ended up having enough time to visit the El Castillo de San Marcos (the fort) and to do a little eating and shopping on St. George St.  We drove all around the city looking for a parking spot, so I guess you could say that we also got a driving tour.

Christmas with the Sanders

 As I mentioned in the previous post, we hosted the Sanders' for Christmas this year.  This is the first Christmas that we've had the opportunity to spend with Brian's family, so it was really special.  The kids woke us up on Christmas morning so that we could see all of the wonderful gifts that Santa had delivered.  They received several new clothing items and a programmable robot.  Since Christmas fell on Sunday, we got dressed and attended the Sunday morning service.  Afterward, we returned to the house to prepare the lunch.  Since I knew there would be a short turn-around time between church and lunch, I ordered part of the meal from Walls and cooked the other half.  I thought it turned out pretty well.  

 After lunch we opened gifts.  We all received so many wonderful things.  I "went rogue" on a couple of gifts this year, but they were all well received.

 One of the "rogue" gifts was a bicycle for Brian.  He didn't ask for this, but he likes to ride the bike around the neighborhood with the kids so now he will be riding in style and comfort.

 The kids both received laptops from their daddy and I.  They have been using my laptop a lot this year to do various projects for school, so now they have a place of their own where they can do and store their work.

We spent the whole day at the house eating, chatting, and playing basketball.  It was a great day.

Christmas Eve at Gigi and Papa's

 As per usual, we went to Gigi and Papa's following the Christmas Eve candlelight service at the church.  Brian's dad and Barb had arrived by that time so they, along with Melanie, joined us at my parent's house.  There was a delicious meal of spaghetti and BBQ.  We had a wonderful time eating and talking.

This was the first time that James has been home for Christmas, so that made the evening extra special.  James is never lacking for attention.

 Julianna was very excited to get Moana dress up clothes.

 All of the kids received personalized mugs from Aunt Cassie and Uncle Nick.

 Olivia has already worn her UK shirt twice.

 Brian and I got monogrammed fishing shirts for all of the girls.

 Sam was excited to receive the annual bag of rice from his sisters.  This year it was brown rice- we're really mixing it up.

 All of the kids were interested in Aunt Hannah's Santa Tracker app.  It was late by the time that we finished opening gifts, so we went home shortly thereafter to get ready for Santa's visit.

Swamp Lights with Granny Mel

This year we had the pleasure of hosting Brian's whole family for Christmas at our house.  Granny Mel was the first to arrive in town, so we decided to take a trip out to the swamp park to see the lights.  It's been six or seven years since the kids and I had been to see the lights at in the swamp, and they have added a lot since we were last there.  We took a train ride through the woods which were lighted for the season.  They also had a Santa Claus and live musician on the grounds for visitors to enjoy.  Many of the exhibits were open.  Of course, we had to get the requisite picture with "Ole Roy" the stuffed gator.  We had a nice time at the park.  This was a great way to kick off the Christmas weekend.

New Ornaments

We continue our tradition of getting a Christmas ornament as a souvenir whenever we travel and then adding these ornaments to our tree at Christmas time.  It's always so much fun to break out our travel ornaments and remember the good times that we've had as a family.  Ornaments added this year include some from Knobel's Amusement Resort, Mount Vernon, Chincoteague Island, Silver Dollar City (Branson), King Island Amusement Park, St. Louis, and the Georgia Aquarium.  The tree is so full of the kids' ornaments that Brian and I don't even take ours out of the box anymore.

Church Christmas Activities

Christmas is always such a busy time, and many of our annual activities are tied in to our church.  One of the first things that we did in this Christmas season was to help decorate the sanctuary.  I helped with the hanging of the greens, and the kids assisted with the Chrismon tree.  The whole church looked so beautiful.

The kids' Blast program has a monthly service project.  During the month of December, they collected canned food items to donate to the food bank.  They stacked the collected products so that they made the shape of a Christmas Tree. 

One of the most time-consuming activities was preparing for the annual children's Christmas program.  Each year the children sing various Christmas carols.  After singing these carols for several years, I can say that my kids know all of the standards well.  Both kids had a solo this year.  Olivia did a verse of "I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas" and Owen had a verse of "We Three Kings".  All of the kids did well.

 As usual, Santa made an appearance following the program.  I don't think that we have many "Santa" years left.  After we left the church this year, the kids said, "Mama, I think Santa was Mr. Bill".  It was.

In other church Christmas news, I attended my small group Christmas party.  I usually don't attend Christmas parties, but this was fun.  We drove over to Saint Simon's and had dinner at Crabdaddy's .  A great time was had by all.

 In other Christmas party news, the kids were invited to the annual Christmas party given by their Blast teacher.  It was great fun and included watching Christmas classics on an outdoor movie screen and a snowball fight (with fake snowballs, obviously).  Things got real when the moms took on the kids.  It was an epic battle.

We love our church family, and were happy to be able to participate in so many events with them during the holiday season.