West Virginia Ski Trip

We met up with Brian's dad, Barb, and Brandon after New Year's.  We had originally planned to visit Winterplace to ski, but as our arrival date got closer we noticed that the weather forecast was unfavorable for skiing in that location.  So, on the day that we were suppose to arrive, we changed our whole plan... within a 30 minute time span... while having lunch at Chick-fil-a.  We ended up spending three nights in Elkins, West Virginia and skiing in that area.  Our first day of skiing was spent at Canaan Valley Ski Resort.  This was a nice resort, and I really liked it here.  We all wanted to take lessons again because we had only skied once before and needed a refresher.  The kids were rocking it in their lesson.  I think they could have gotten by without one.  Brian and I did much better at the lesson this time than we did last year.  Brandon is a really good skier, but even he took a lesson.  Since he is more advanced, he ended up being the only one in his class and essentially got a private lesson for a very reasonable rate.   By the end of the first day, the kids and Brian were going down the green slopes.  I stuck to the training area, but was happy with the improvements that I had made. 

 On our second day of skiing, we headed over to Snowshoe.  This is a really large ski resort.  It was so big that we had to take a bus to get from one area of the resort to another.  I had every intention of trying the longer greens on this day, but the snow had frozen overnight and was like a sheet of ice,.  So, I wimped out.  I spent most of the day on the easy green slope.  My big accomplishment was that I learned how to get off the ski lift without falling.  Brian, Brandon, and the kids skied the longer greens- and they even did a blue.  The kids did really, really well.  They were skiing all over the place.  I'm so very glad that Brandon was with us.  It made me feel better to know that the kids were on the slopes with someone who skis well. It is likely that we will try to go skiing again next year.  Everyone really likes it.

After our long days on the slopes, we came back to the hotel and hung out with Poppy and Nana. They didn't ski with us, but we all got together in the evenings to go out to dinner. Even though Elkins is a small town, they had some really good places to eat. 

On our way back home, we stopped at the New River Gorge Visitor's Center.  I was worried that we wouldn't be able to get in due to the shutdown, but the gates were open.  Of course, the Visitor's Center itself was closed, but we were still able to hike to the scenic overlook. 

We are so happy that we got to visit with family, and we had a great trip.

Six Flags Over Georgia

We visited Six Flags Over Georgia to pick up our 2019 season passes.  If you'll recall, we were pass holders in 2018.  We definitely got our mileage out of those (4 visits in 4 different parks) and decided to renew.  Even though the park in Georgia is our home park, we didn't have a proper visit to it last year because it was too cold to stay when we picked up our passes.  It was much warmer this year, so we made a day of it.  Highlights of our visit include riding the new Twisted Cyclone, riding our first Euro-fighter coaster, and seeing all of the lovely Christmas decorations.  Also noteworthy was that Brian and the kids got stuck on the Batman coaster because a fire alarm malfunctioned.  That was nerve-wracking for sure. Overall, we had a great day and are looking forward to visiting more Six Flags parks in 2019.

Six Flags 2019 stats:
Number of visits- 1
Number of parks visited- 1

Celebrating Mel

 We took Granny Mel to Jekyll to celebrate her birthday.  We had a great day touring Indian Mound Cottage, taking a driving tour of the island, and eating at Driftwood Bistro.  We also stopped by the historic district in the evening to see the Christmas lights.  It was a great day spent celebrating a great lady.

Christmas 2018

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Brian's new job allows him more time off at Christmas, and so he was able to enjoy all of the seasonal activities with us this year.  It was so nice to have him at home.  Of course, we attended all of the holiday church services.  We were there for the lighting of every advent candle, and we attended the evening service on Christmas Eve.  As a matter of fact, Olivia and Owen had a special part in the adult choir's Christmas cantata.  My heart always swells with pride when I see my kids being active in the ministries of the church, and I was especially proud of them on this night.

We had our Christmas at my parents' house on Christmas Eve eve.  We tried to get a picture of all the kids in front of the tree, but not all were cooperative.  The kids were happy to have their cousins around.  It's sweet how the older cousins all look after the younger ones.  We had such a good time and received so many nice things.

 Santa came to our house this year and brought many nice things for the kids.  The kids' big gift was a field for their robot.  It was a little bigger than I thought it would be.  We're going to have to find a place for it.  Later in the morning, we opened our family gifts.  The kids received new television sets for their rooms from Brian and I.

 We had lunch at Granny Buie's house.  It was a house full, but it was great.  After lunch we rode out to see Bailey's new house.  It was a great (and exhausting) day.

Christmas Lights

We attended the Lewis family's light show on the weekend before Christmas.  The lights were as amazing as ever.  I'm always amazed at the obvious effort that the Lewis family puts into their display- and they offer this to the public for free.  This year's trip was special because all of my sisters and their kids went to see the lights together.  The kids loved spending this time together.  We took lots of pics.  Here are some of my favorites.

Holly Jolly Jekyll

There are tons of activities to be found on Jekyll during the Holly Jolly Jekyll season.  We spent last Saturday checking them all out.  We arrived around lunch and ate at the Wharf in the historic district.  Near the restaurant was the "ice skating" rink that has been erected for the season.  The kids had high hopes, but it was a bit disappointing.  Obviously, there was no ice.  We were basically walking around on sheets of plastic.  It did not feel like actual skating.  Still, the kids gave it their best try and spent a good 20 to 30 minutes or so ice skating plastic walking.

 We spent some time walking around the historic district.  We stopped to make a Christmas ornament and to get ice cream.

Once it got dark, it was time for the golf cart parade.  This was really cool.  The participants went all out on those golf carts. The kids' favorite was the gingerbread house golf cart.  They voted for this one to receive the people's choice award.  I liked the golf cart that was decorated to look like the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

 The parade ended on the front lawn of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.  There was a DJ set up and some games and contests were planned.  One of those contests was an ugly sweater contest.  When the DJ announced that this contest would be taking place following the parade, the kids begged to go back to the car so that they could get my beautiful Christmas sweater out to enter in the contest.  So, we ran to the car following the parade, got my sweater, and Owen entered the contest.  He got third place and was really excited about it.

 And, of course, we had to check out the lights in the historic district before we left for the evening  They were beautiful and were the perfect way to close out the day.