A Very Electronic Christmas

This year's MVP(present) award goes to Nana and Pop.  They got each of the kids the same thing.  Here they all are (missing a few cousins), about ready to open it.  It was deceptively small, but, watch out!  It packed a punch!

I love looking at the pictures.  You call tell which children "get it"...

...and which ones are just like "Hey!  Another present!"

Kari, for instance, totally understood that she was holding her very own Amazon Fire Tablet.  Nana and Pop really spoiled them this year.

Taylor also seemed quite pleased.  I love his smile!

And just like that, the rest of the evening, and several hours during the following week, were spent setting up tablets, profiles, games and settings.

And, I'm not gonna lie, the adults had their own share of fun with the tablets.

In fact, it was a very electronic Christmas!

At one point in the stay, after we had been busy all day long, the kids were finally in bed.  I looked around and noticed all the grown ups had their heads buried in some form of electronics.  I guess we were all exhausted from peopleing that day :)

Of course, it provided may a quiet hour for the kids as well.  Early morning wake ups, nap time, and bed time :)

The drive home was pretty quiet as well :)

Christmas Eve 2015

We spent most of the week before Christmas in NOVA with M&S.  We were wishy washy about when we wanted to leave their house and drive south to Nana and Pops.  We ended up staying all day (Dec 23) and around dinner time, Auntie S asked for a few ideas.  She wanted to make over their downstairs playroom.  Not to brag, but hubby's mind words kinda like those cartoon/computers.  When he looks at a room/house/plan, his mind goes through multiple possibilities like those clear overlay things in the old anatomy books.  I rarely come up with something he hasn't already thought of, and usually dismissed for some reason.  So, when we went downstairs and started discussing, it wasn't very long before they came up with a decent plan.  And then, because, why not, we ended up staying up until almost 4 in the morning transforming the room.  It looked adorable!  And I hear that the girls love to play down there.  

So, in the morning of Christmas Eve, we drove the 2.5 hours south to Nana and Pop's house.  A quick trip to the grocery store, and I was all stocked up with supplies to make the traditional german pancakes.  Most of the rest of the day was fairly laid back.  We were excited to see hubby's Aunt and Uncle (so, the kids great and and uncle) who were in town for the holidays as well.

Following tradition (from hubby's side), and before the kids went to bed, we made sure to get them all excited and hyper.  We opened all the family presents from each other.  

Kelsey got a kids cash register.  She has played with one down at Pa's house that must be 2-3 decades old at this point.  Her new may not be quite as well constructed, but it sure makes her smile :)

Kari, who I usually refer to as my "Tom Boy" surprised us by asking for a pair of dangly, birthstone earrings.  

Dylan had been carrying around a set similar to this that he got out of a happy meal.  So, I think he was pretty happy to see this set.

And this is my little Katniss.  She has enjoyed shooting a recurve bow and arrow around the house, but wanted one of her own that had "wheels".  So, for Christmas, she got her own.  And, its pink!

The traditional pajamas were also opened.

And, while we were waiting for teeth to be brushed, and potties to be had...

...there may or may not have been some playing involved.

When in Rome! :)

Wrastlin', Extended Family Version

What is a family vacation without a little wrastling involved?

There's nothing like climbing...

 ...and rolling on each other to make a family feel closer together.

And no experience would be complete without an injury or two.

Never fear.  Once the tears are spent, it is back to the grindstone rather quickly.

If you look closely, you'll notice not only our 4 children involved....

...but cousins Karley...

...and Kelly got in on the action as well.

And much fun was had by all.

And they got about 10 minutes of energy out.

Besides, I am not sure that daddy doesn't have as much fun as the kids.

And mommy?

Mommy usually just takes pictures :)

Festival of Lights and the Temple

In the middle of the day, when we finally arrived, the Washington DC, LDS Temple looked like this:

After our session, we went back to the zoo and looked at the lights.  By then, it was dinner time.  Aunt S googled around a bit and found a pizza place nearby.  It was cheap and delicious.  Either the kids really liked it, or they were famished by their adventures around the zoo.  But they finished all the pizza (I thought we would be taking some home for leftovers).

After we were full, we headed to see the lights.  While M&S and family ate with us, they weren't excited at the prospect of being gone for several more hours.  So, they drove by the lights, and then headed home.  Again, this was one of the reasons I was super excited about being up in VA for the holidays, so there was nothing stopping me from getting everyone out of the car and spending all the time I wanted looking at lights and basking in the glow.

This is where understanding my camera would come in handy.  I played around with the few settings I know and understand.  No flash setting.  Slightly longer shutter setting.  This one is more yellow.

Still no flash.  Slightly shorter shutter speed.  This one is more blue.

With flash.  You can see more individual details, but less from farther away.

Families are Forever!

Especially mine. :)

Love this one!  Love that all the lights leading to and right by the temple are white.  

We probably spent an hour outside, walking around the temple and looking at all the colored lights closer to the visitors center.  When we finally went inside we were able to walk through and look at the nativity scenes.  They brought in creches from different countries.  I really liked how each country/group of people put their own spin on it, and made it relevant to their culture.  I took a bazillion pictures.  Some because I thought they were made of neat materials.  Some because they were cute.  Others were beautiful.  And some reminded me of specific people.  Enjoy :)

The other part we really enjoyed was looking at the model of the temple.  If you don't know, my husband originally went to school to study architecture (though he finished by getting a degree in construction management).  For almost the whole first year we were married, he was drawing plans and making models.  Having just been inside the temple that day, we were surprised by how accurate the model was, down to the decorations.  It was really great to be able to talk about it with the kids, and point out specific things we remembered from that day.  

Before we left, I asked the kids to go stand in front of their favorite color and let me take a picture.

It was almost a 2 hour drive back to M&S's house, and amazingly the kids were all awake when we arrived, even after a full day of zoo adventures and no naps, and arriving after 10.  It was a good day :)

Zoo, Redux

Because we had two weeks to stay up in Virginia, we wanted to use some of that to sit and visit, but also to go out and have adventures!  Because M&S live in NOVA (Northern Virginia), we have a few places that we wanted to visit.  Last time, we spent several days in DC, visiting the museums and things.  This year one of the things I wanted to make sure to do was to visit the Washington, DC temple.  Firstly, it is where hubby and I got married.  Secondly, they have a great celebration of lights and nativities in the visitors center that I wanted the kids to see.  Our local temple isn't as big. so it isn't able to do those things.  They do that out in Utah too, but....  we haven't ever been there for the Christmas season.  

I wanted to go inside the temple and do a session (for my non LDS peeps: a 2 hours worship service), but the kids can't come with us.  Yet.  So we brainstormed with my SIL and came up with a way to have fun.  She and her family would go to the zoo while hubby and I went.  Then, we would all go see the lights afterwards.  We didn't plan as well as we could have.  Hubby and I didn't get to see much of the zoo.  Only about 30 minutes.  But we did get to see a few things.  

We stopped by the lion enclosure.  While we were there, we got to hear the lions "speaking" to each other.  It was surprisingly loud!

 And, apparently, we are creatures of habit.  This picture is from the same trip.  3 years ago! :)

Weirdly, Kari is still wearing the same coat.

We also spent a good amount of time at the seal/sea lion enclosure.

The kids loved to watch them swim back and forth!

 Again: 3 years ago.  Notice any difference? :) 

 Daddy sat down for a bit, and Kelsey climbed right on his lap.

He told her a few things about what they were seeing.  

Wait a minute!!!  This looks awfully familiar :)

Who knew that the zoo is full of things that are extinct also? 

Dylan!  Don't get eaten!

Also, FYI, though Dylan's coat looks similar, it isn't exactly the same...  

At this point in the day, hubby and I left to go to the temple.  We left our 4 children in the capable hands of this cute family.  And, they didn't hate us when we got back either!

FYI: GPS said the zoo and the temple were 8 miles apart.  But it took us about 30-40 minutes to get there due to traffic and stop lights.  And on the way back, the one way lanes and changing traffic patterns were killer!

 We got back to the zoo just before dark.  We took a small train ride to see some of the cool zoo lights.

And, again, like last time, we ended the day with a turn on the carousel.

If you have the time and a hankerin', feel free to go back and look at the previous trip here, here, and here and see just how cute my kiddies are and how much they have changed :)