Myrtle Beach Road Trip

Jason has had to spend several weekends away from home recently, leaving the boys and I on our own. With the weather being so cold and nasty, we were getting bored and tired of being cooped up inside. So, after a little research, I decided that we would head to Myrtle Beach for an overnight road trip. While my view of Myrtle Beach hasn't changed, it was the perfect time to go (it was cheap and dead) and awesome for the boys.
I was able to get a room at the Breakers for super-cheap. When we checked in, we were told that we had our choice of any floor (there were 21 to choose from). I let the boys choose, and we were the only people staying on the 16th floor!

They were so excited to be somewhere new... I really think we could stay in a hotel down the street from our house and it would be just as exciting for them as staying in Myrtle Beach! It was kind of an "anything goes" kind of trip, and I was a little extra-indulgent. Milkshakes with dinner at Planet Hollywood? Sure!

Night swimming way past bedtime? Awesome!

Eight pancakes with butter, extra syrup, and powdered sugar? Perfect!You want to take pictures with funny statues? Can't wait to see the pictures!
Besides just getting out of the house, I had only two plans for the trip... swimming and a visit to the aquarium. Thankfully, we were able to do both. The hotel had a large indoor pool complex with two hot tubs (I think sitting in the hot tub was the first time I have been warm since October!), a large heated pool, and a lazy river. They swam for hours and loved every minute of it!After checking out, I was conned into a trip to the Build-A-Bear Workshop... how they remembered it was there was beyond me. As I said, I indulged a bit more than usual, and we are now the proud owners of Furry the Dog and Michael the Woolly Mammoth.

After a crazy lunch at Margaritaville (I would pass on this one next time), we finally made it to the aquarium. We all loved this aquarium... so much to see and do. The sting ray touch tank and the people-mover through the aquarium tunnel were definitely the highlights.
This sting ray jumped up out of the water at Jackson... I have no idea how I was lucky enough to get the picture, but it was crazy. The poor guy was finished with the sting rays after that!

We had such a great time. We had some much-needed time away from home, and our time was much better quality than some of the other weekends we had spent without Jason. I loved our special adventure and their excitement for everything we did. I am actually looking forward to doing it again. Next time, though, I will probably stay for two nights and hopefully con some friends into going with us!!

Finally

Finally a post about the month of December... Christmas, events, etc. It was a super-busy month and there are lots of pictures... bear with me!

Christmas Tree 2010

Decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I love pulling out all of our ornaments and revisiting past Christmases. So many of our ornaments are from my childhood or have been given to my children by friends. I love being able to share those stories with my children, and I love the excitement that they show over "their" ornaments. My Christmas trees would never win any awards for beauty, but in my book, they are amazing, just for the love and joy in each and every ornament hanging on it.

Family Traditions

One thing I have loved about having my own family at Christmas time is creating our own little family traditions. There are certain events each year that that make it seem like Christmas to me.The first ones that come each year are the boys' school Christmas pageant. This was the sixth (and last that I will see as a parent to a Little School student!) Little School Christmas Pageant. Harris was in the choir and had a speaking part. His line? One of my favorites:

His name will be Jesus, and He will be great!

We missed poor Jackson's this year due to the tummy bug. He was so excited for us to see it... we were all so disappointed to miss it. We did, however, got to celebrate Jackson's 8th birthday with a Mario sleepover with 5 of his classmates... wow, did we ever learn a lot about 8 year-old boys that night!
Another favorite is our BUGS Christmas party, a cookie baking/decorating party.
In previous years we have done an ornament exchange. This year we changed it up and did a Secret Santa. My boys were excited to keep their secrets and pick out just the right gift. All of the kids were so excited to see who had their name and what they got. Loved the flying paper and squeals of delight!
Each year we get the group together in age-descending order for a picture. The organizing of the picture is almost as comical as the actual group shots!I adore this group of children and feel like they are all family. I have been so blessed to watch them grow from babies to little people with my boys, and I so look forward to what is in store for each and every one of them. I know they will be forever friends to Jackson and Harris.
We also love the Lights at the James Island County Park. We have gone the past couple of years with Aunt Amy, Uncle Scott, Lindsy, Kaila, and Connor. The carosel, train ride, and visit with Santa are much anticipated events at this house.
Sweet Miss Betty stops by each year with super-fun gifts for the boys. She is awesome, too for staying to help with assembly!The St. Philip's Christmas Pageant on Christmas Eve was next... Jackson was a shepherd and Harris was a king.Finally (unfortunately no pictures) is the Bailey Family Christmas Party after the Christmas Pageant at church. Jason and I love spending Christmas Eve with close friends in such a festive home. The boys, however, are always eager to get home... they know that Mrs. Clause has been to our house while we were away, leaving clean Christmas pj's for the special night.

Chistmas

Just a few pictures of our Christmas...

Yes, a Red Rider BB Gun.

Such a happy day with the sweetest family. I love the happiness that Christmas brings.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!