Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve was peaceful. We continued our tradition of having our big meal that night so that we can relax and not cook on Christmas Day. Since we missed out on Thanksgiving dinner, or at least one that we make, we had it for Christmas. We made turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and rolls. Jack and Luke would only eat the turkey and rolls, which was very annoying. After dinner, the kids opened their pajamas and we made Santa's cookies.

Rolling out our traditional sugar cookies.

Just 4 hours to go!!!

This years decorations

By the time we wrapped everything up, it was past bedtime. There was so much excitement! Luke kept squealing and the older kids tried to negotiate an extra-early wake up. We finally decided they could come into our room at 6:30 and if anyone wasn't up by 7, we would wake them. The girls were up super early and the boys woke just before 7, so the plan worked well. In one funny moment, Thomas was wearing his pajamas from several years ago and I was wearing last years set. Just before going downstairs, we looked at each other in surprise. He had changed to match me and I had changed to match him! We agreed on last years set and I changed back (normally, we all get matching pajamas, but I waited too long this year and couldn't find something that had all our sizes, it was a struggle to find matching kids' pajamas).

We came downstairs, opened our stockings and took pictures. Then, we began gift-opening. We try not to spoil the kids, but we also really like Christmas. It is generally the only time of year they get presents. For their birthday, they usually choose a party or an outing (like Great Wolf Lodge) and we hold firm that the outing or party is their gift. We do occasionally buy them the random surprise, but I would much rather plan a trip or experience than buy toys (of which they have plenty). But, on Christmas, all bets are off! Still, we try not to go too crazy. This year, they each had about 10 presents from us, 2 from Santa, gift cards from their Grandpas and gifts from our favorite neighbor. Then, they each got each other presents.

Sweet

Silly

Speaking of which, we were super impressed with Jack. He started saving his allowance early and put a lot of thought into what he wanted to get people. He chose great, meaningful gifts.

I teased Jack that this was his best gift. He opened it to find socks and underwear (I don't think I counted that in his gift count)

We opened a few presents and broke for breakfast casserole. We were pretty leisurely with our unwrapping and didn't finish until about 11. Kara spent the rest of the day building Legos. Everyone else also ran off with their gifts. I worked on a puzzle I had received and played games with the kids.

All Luke wanted for Christmas was Pie Face. He was very cute about it. At one point Thomas handed him a gift that was large and oddly shaped. Luke exclaimed, "I think this is Pie Face!!!" Pie Face comes in a normal, small box, so he was very wrong, but it was cute and funny. Fortunately, Santa came through and we played several rounds of Pie Face.

Thomas made it through two rounds before he got creamed.

Luke got pie'd 2/3

Kara was 3/3

I was also 2/3

We also played Banagrams and Monopoly Cheaters Edition. Jack got Settlers of Catan, but we have not played that yet. I got a fun game, Spontuneous. We played that today and had a great time. I love playing games and am so glad (most of) the kids are old enough to be solid participants.

Luke's favorite gifts were Splatoon 2 and Pie Face
Anna's was her bike
Kara's was Heartlake Resort Legos
Jack's was Super Smash Brothers
Thomas' was a book from the 1800s about Mount Vernon
Mine was Thomas' "honey do" coupons. I can give him one large project each month for all of 2019. I'm already working on that list!

Everyone was happy and cooperative. Thankfully, no one compared gifts, which would definitely make me crazy.

Kings Dominion (Take 2), Six Flags & Mount Vernon

As I've probably mentioned we had season passes to both Six Flags and Kings Dominion this year. It was hard to divide our time between the two parks and I think it will be a while before we do that again. And, this year, for the first time ever, Kings Dominion hosted Winterfest. After Jack, Kara and I went, we really wanted to return with the whole family. However, we kept getting thwarted by bad weather. Finally, we decided to just leave work and school a bit early and go on a Tuesday. It turned out to be a great decision. The weather was cold, but beautiful. We got there right around park opening and rode a couple of rides. We had a Christmas dinner of ham or turkey and saw some shows. The shows weren't great, at least in our opinion. However, the lights were beautiful! The Eiffel Tower tree was just gorgeous and we had fun looking at all of the lights. It was a wonderful night to go, even though everyone was a bit tired the next morning.

We liked seeing all the costumed characters walking around

Including the gingerbread boy and girl

I loved the view of the lighted trees behind the outdoor stage. Sooo pretty!

We had to lie on the ground to get the full effect of the Eiffel Tower

Here's what it looked like (the lights changed color and pattern, it was very cool)

There were lots of other Christmas things we wanted to do. Like Flat Iron Farms and Ann Marie Gardens. However, the weather this year was extremely rainy. It prevented us from doing a lot of the things we planned on. But, fortunately, not everything. Friday, December 21st was an early dismissal. When I got home from work, I wanted us to go to Six Flags. I was ready to celebrate the first night of 11 days off from work and school. But, the forecast wasn't great (surprise surprise!) and Jack didn't want to go. Thomas was happy to stay home with him. Luke was still at preschool, so I opted to just take Anna and Kara. I am sure Luke would have wanted to go, but honestly, it is so much easier to go without him; he really just wants to ride rides and is impatient when we want to see shows and enjoy lights. But, don't feel too bad for them. Thomas took the boys out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and they had a fun night together.

But, not as fun as us girls! The forecast kept the crowds away and we walked on every ride we were interested in. Some rides we just stayed on and rode over and over. Kara tried the drop tower for the first time and she loved it! She and Anna actually rode it three times in a row. I went on once and that was enough for me! We saw the stunt show, which was really cute. We watched the tree lighting ceremony, also cute and saw the show in the main theater (meh). We got smores and ate by the firepit and had another Christmas dinner. It was a very fun night, although we missed the boys.

Kara wanted proof that she rode the drop tower.

Saturday night we went to the movies and saw Ralph Breaks the Internet. It was a cute movie. To continue the fun, on Sunday we went to Mount Vernon. We love to visit at Christmas time. We toured the mansion, although they only had the highlights tour. It is about 15 minutes instead of the usual 25, which was disappointing. So, we have to go back. Luke wasn't interested in the tour, but he was well-behaved and it is nice to see that he is growing more mature (relatively speaking of course). We did have to promise him that we would play on the Ha Ha wall after the tour, which we did. After that, we visited the Washington tomb and had lunch. Then, we did our new favorite thing in the Education Center--Be Washington. There are 4 movies/scenarios. You have to watch, hear the crisis, listen to advisors and then decide which course of action to take. After you are done, you see how your decision compared to others in the room and then everyone who has ever participated. And, of course, you learn what Washington did. We had done 3 of the 4, so on this visit, we finally did the last one. It was the Genet Affair, where (in very simple terms) we had to decide whether to support a treaty with France and join a fight against Great Britain or maintain a position of neutrality.

It was a very fun day. I love Mount Vernon. It might be my favorite place to visit of all the DC area attractions. I am never disappointed!

Can you find Aladdin the Christmas camel?

Kara and Anna loved this doll house when they were younger. Anna was still happy to play with Luke.

I grabbed this picture online of what the Be Washington room looks like.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme to get donuts for Christmas Eve breakfast. They had tons of fun Christmas themed choices.

So, while we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we did manage to squeeze in lots of fun. Oh, one thing I forgot--Thomas took the kids to Sotterley for their members event one Thursday night. They really loved the Sotterley camp this summer and still talk about it often. If they offer it again, we will definitely enroll them.

Cruise Wrap Up

The last two days passed much like the first two. Although, there was one day/night that the weather was pretty rough. They had to postpone shows and even though we were the 11th deck, there was salt spray on our balcony.

Speaking of shows, we saw several onboard. There were three main productions: The Gift, Spectra's Cabaret, and We Will Rock You. I enjoyed them all to varying degrees. The Gift was weird and hard to follow, none of us had any idea what was going on (except Marta, who explained it all to the rest of us once it was over). But, it had some really cool visuals. Spectra's Cabaret was also bizarre, there was no plot (that we are aware of) but had great dancing. I liked We Will Rock You, but Thomas was not a fan. Perhaps I was just relieved that there was a story I could follow! All of the performers were very talented. Truly top-notch and the production was very, very good. But, the shows themselves were just odd.

With the opening set of The Gift

Waiting for Spectra's Cabaret

We Will Rock You

Jack was the only kid who saw all three. He loved We Will Rock You, thought The Gift was good and Spectra's Cabaret was just okay.

The last night, Anna, Jack and I went to dinner at the Windjammer. Jack had wanted to try it all week, so at the last moment, I gave in. We walked around on the deck before dinner and it was quite a contrast from our time in the Caribbean. The water was sloshing around in the pools and it was cold and windy. Dinner in the Windjammer was good, they had many selections that weren't available at lunch. From there, we went to the family friendly comedy show. It was hilarious! We laughed and laughed. I was sorry the others missed it, but Kara wanted to go to the main dining room and say goodbye to Jose. So, we were a family divided. We also didn't think Luke would be able to sit through it. He was pretty worn out by this point. His voice was coming and going and he was clearly just tired. Thomas was very sick and we were afraid Luke might come down with it as well. As I've mentioned, Thomas got sick on Day 3 and was sick for the remainder of the cruise. In fact, he is just now (a full month later) almost fully recovered from whatever it is he had. It was very unfortunate. But, none of the rest of us caught whatever it was.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent family vacation. There were some definite frustrations. In fact, I swore I was never going to plan another family vacation. Some people, who shall go unnamed, had bad, ungrateful, attitudes at times. But, there were still more positives than negatives.

Everyone's favorite moment was the snorkeling in Nassau. I don't think I can convey how amazing it was. Since we all agreed on Nassau, I moved on to making everyone choose their favorite thing on the ship. Thomas' favorite shipboard moment was dinner in the main dining room. There were 12 of us each night and he really appreciated being with people we know well who had no expectations for him to talk. He was able to sit and enjoy the conversation and the excellent food and service. I especially enjoyed watching the girls do the trapeze, the comedy show and the karaoke competition (it was fun to cheer for Trevor and there was one guy who I swear was a plant--no one can be that obliviously bad!). Luke had no trouble coming up with his favorite thing, playing Ping Pong of course! For Anna, it was doing the stuff in the Seaplex and performing in the talent show with Kara. Kara's favorites were the rock climbing, skydiving, and doing the show with Anna. Jack said everything in the Seaplex.

It was super amazing to share the experience with Marta and Frank, who are family we've chosen. And, being there with the Wills was also wonderful. Kayce and I got to enjoy a very peaceful champagne brunch and kitchen tour that I wouldn't have otherwise done. It really is the perfect vacation to do with people. We all had our own space and time with just our immediate family, but we also got to spend plenty of time together. I would love to do it all again!

Frank, Marta and us. We chose the right stranger to take this picture! I love the staircase framing.

Ice and Other December Fun

We went to Ice at Gaylord a few years ago. It was a fun experience and we decided that we would try and go every few years, especially if there was a theme we liked. This year's theme was Peanuts! It seemed like a good time to return. And to make it even better, they had it on Groupon in November, so I picked a day and bought tickets for Friday, December 7th.

It was an early dismissal day and Thomas was off from work, but I still had to go in. When I got home, we had everyone load up with all their cold-weather gear. They were all very excited. The Gaylord is a beautiful hotel. It was well-decorated for Christmas. They had a very cool gingerbread display of famous buildings from around the world and lots and lots of Christmas trees.

Some of the gingerbread

We got there around 4:30 and it wasn't too crowded. The Ice sculptures were amazing! They had fewer displays than the last time we went, but they were really well done and we loved walking around. The kids all did the ice slide and that was definitely Luke's favorite part. Unfortunately, my phone (camera) did not like the cold and after a couple of minutes inside it shut down.

The only thing I didn't like was after we left they fed us into an area where they have more expensive activities to sell, like ice-skating and cookie decorating. We had spent $150 for the Ice tickets (and that was with the Groupon!), so it bugged me how overpriced everything was. Fortunately, the kids were all too tall for the carousel and train and the older kids understood that we didn't want to do the indoor ice skating, but Luke was pretty upset.

We debated eating at the Cadillac Ranch, but decided to find something a little easier/quicker. McDonald's it was! And, the McDonald's near National Harbor was really nice. The workers were friendly and helpful and the restaurant was clean. No one had any complaints. I was happy to have breakfast for dinner.

A nice employee brought out all of these smiley. They loved them!

Then, it was on to our next activity--Homestead Gardens near Annapolis. Some of Thomas' coworkers had recommended it, so we decided to try it out. It was really cool! It is a garden shop, but really big and with lots of fun Christmas stuff. They had a massive train exhibit and lots of other interesting things to look at, including a really great Christmas village with a complete scene from Christmas Vacation! Apparently, they also have animals, but not after dark, so next year we will have to go up in the daylight. It was dog pictures with Santa night, so there were tons of people with dogs, which made me miss Gus. My favorite thing was an area manned by the Rotary Club with trees decorated by local charities. They sold tickets for $1 and you put your ticket into a box by your favorite tree (or charity). We bought everyone a ticket and let them choose their favorite. It was really cute and it was nice to have the chance to talk with the kids about some of the different organizations. It was also a good reminder to me that we need to do more service.

Christmas Vacation!

Saturday, we watched Christmas Vacation. Then, I took Kara and Jack to Winterfest at Kings Dominion. It was super fun, but VERY crowded and cold. We considered ourselves scouts for the  family and tried to plan out what to do when the whole family goes back (hopefully on Friday, but the weather is not looking promising). The decorations were beautiful and we had a nice Christmas dinner. However, the shows did not compare to what they have at Busch Gardens Christmastown. Regardless, it was nice and I am really excited to go back.

Sunday, we watched more Christmas movies, including a new one on Netflix that was really cute--The Christmas Chronicles. It was a nice day to be home, with the snow falling outside. The kids went out and played. Thomas installed our new Nest thermostats (purchased on Cyber Monday). He had already installed our new Nest doorbell camera, which is super cool. I made cookies. It was a great, Christmas-filled weekend!

Halloween: Pacman Family & Skeleton

I'm taking a break from cruise posts to write this very untimely blog about Halloween. I LOVED our costumes this year. I am always trying to think of a good family costume. Most years the kids have specific ideas about what they want to dress as. A couple of years ago, we all went as Star Wars characters. But, to date, that was our only theme.

We (yes, it's a "we," if we can get the kids to go as a cohesive unit, Thomas and I will join in) often start with something in mind. But, then someone backs out and the whole thing falls apart. This year, Jack wasn't interested in a family costume, because he really wanted to be Link (from Zelda). However, when I showed him what the Link costumes looked like, he changed his mind. The girls had some vague ideas, but were undecided. I decided to seize the opportunity! I had seen a Pacman costume for sale on one of the yardsale sites and it sparked my creative juices. I didn't want that particular costume, but Pacman? Now that's a theme! There are two Pacmans and 4 ghosts. And, in our family, there are 2 adults and 4 kids? Coincidence or kismet??? Luke was our only holdout. But, he's 4 and still a bit malleable. He thought he wanted to be a dragon, but once I showed him a picture of the Pacman ghosts, he quickly got on board.

I found a nice YouTube tutorial and bought all our materials. Thomas and I cut everything out and then the kids did the painting. Not only would we be united on Halloween, it was a family crafting/bonding experience!

One downside, the "washable" paint wasn't really washable. Luke's new coat and paints will forever bear the blue marks of Inky.

It was not all roses and sunshines. But, fortunately, I am writing this in December, where the good is remembered and the frustrations forgotten. Overall, they were easy to make, but it was a little more time consuming than I anticipated. Our time is so limited lately, but we managed to squeak it out in time for Halloween.

Thomas downloaded the Pacman music and we played it as we walked around the neighborhood. It was by far our most complimented costume. Just about everyone we encountered had something nice to say, which was not our purpose, but was still nice. Actually, I should say just about every adult we encountered. I think there were a good number of kids who had no idea what we were.

Pacman and the Missus along with Pinky, Inky, Blinky and Clyde.

Looks like someone ate a pellet! Better run!

With Jack and Anna entering middle school next year, I think our days in a family costume are numbered, so I was very thankful to have this year.

Our other fun Halloween moment this year, which I had forgotten until I went to grab the Pacman pictures for this blog, was our new decoration--Mr. Skeleton. We saw him at B.J.s and thought he would make a good addition to the Wilson family. Our Halloween decorations are getting a little scarier as the kids get older. Not too scary...yet! Well, probably not ever, we want our house to be a bit spooky, but we don't want little kids afraid to knock on the door. Slightly apprehensive? That's the sweet spot!

So, this year, we bought Mr, Skeleton. He has red, glowing eyes, and a sinister smile. We would stick him on the porch and bring him in at night. Somehow, we began putting him other places in the house. One night, I stuck him on the couch, thinking he could "surprise" the kids when they came downstairs the next morning. Of course, I was the first one down and it was still completely dark out. He definitely scared someone! Just not the intended audience. But, I got what I deserved. He did also scare Luke, which I felt bad about. However, it was light out and we told him there was something scary in the office, so he even went in being fully warned. And, the funniest part was when he went outside later and as we were coming back in, I reminded him about the skeleton and it still startled him! Worst parent ever???

Mr. Skeleton wound up in people's beds, closets, etc. Everyone (except maybe Luke, so we took it easy on him) loved having Mr. Skeleton come visit. I feel like he is the opposite of the sweet Elf on the Shelf tradition. Perhaps there is a market? I just need a catchy name and a mass marketing strategy. He watches the kids and if they aren't good in October, he isn't going to bother with some North Pole report, no, he will steal all their candy---AND THEIR SOULS! I can just see the commercials now.

You better watch out could take on a whole new meaning!

A fully dressed Mr. Skeleton, carefully placed by Thomas to rifle through my dresser.

Who wouldn't love to see this face in the middle of the night?

Thanksgiving on the Beach

Day 6 was Thanksgiving Day. On the agenda was our last port visit--CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island. They are still building the dock, so it is a tendering port. Fortunately, we got there early enough that we didn't have to get tendering tickets, which we've heard is the norm for the larger ships. Kayce got off the ship with the first tender around 730 to save us a space on South Beach. We all tried unsuccessfully to reserve cabanas, so the shore excursion people told us the next best thing was to get there early and get some of the public chairs in the same area. Kayce volunteered to take one for the team. The rest of us met for breakfast at 8 and then headed over.

We were there before 9 and the beach had not gotten crowded yet. We found Kayce and got ourselves situated on the beautiful beach. Many of these photos were taken from Kayce and Trevor, since we all know I am not the best at capturing moments.

Kayce took this picture of the almost empty beach

We were prepared to have the best Thanksgiving ever! The water was beautiful and warm and it was a wonderful day. We rented some beach mats and took turns floating around. The girls and I made a pile of beautiful shells, we buried each other in the sand and enjoyed the fact that we were hanging on a beautiful beach in November. No getting up early and cooking for us!

Living the life!

Lukey

Kara wanted a mermaid tale :)

We got lunch around noon. Thomas was feeling pretty run down and Luke was tired, so they went back to the ship.

Two cute boys.

The Anthem, taken from the tender

The rest of us stayed for a few more hours. After lunch, it was low tide and we could walk out for at least 200 yards without the water getting more than knee-high. We all ventured out and saw lots of sealife--fish, stingrays, starfish and many huge conch. I went and hung out with the boys while they built a sand castle in the shallow water. Kayce stayed out with the girls looking at sea life. It was really nice that we could tag team and share responsibility for all the kids. 

Another Wills photo, since I apparently took 0 showing the actual beach! They also took all the sealife pictures.

So happy to call this lady my friend!

Kara, Anna and I were ready to go by 3, but Jack was still going strong, so he stayed behind with the Wills. We got back to the ship, showered and took the girls up to the rock-climbing wall. While there, we saw Jack and the Wills come in on the tender from above. They didn't spot us, but it was fun. After rock climbing and ice cream, I played ping pong with Luke while the others went back to the room.

CocoCay and the pier in progress

Unfortunately, the Wills had another bad experience. Poor Ben got his hand caught in the elevator. According to Jack, there was a ton of blood and it was really scary. Kayce took him to medical and I went and found Trevor so I could watch Kolten while Trevor joined Kayce and Ben. They did x-rays and nothing was broken, but his hand was super tore up. We didn't think they were going to be able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, but fortunately, they made it. Poor Ben had been given pain medicine and had his hand bandaged, but he was a trooper.

Kolten and Jack playing War on our balcony

Thanksgiving dinner was good. Not as good a homemade meal, but we didn't have to cook or clean, and someone was there to make sure our water glasses were full, so that was pretty awesome. They had turkey and ham and the traditional Thanksgiving fixins, including pumpkin and pecan pie.