Christmas 2012 Wrap-up

We had a wonderful, crazy busy holiday season.  If I had been on top of things and wrote this a month ago, I may have remembered more details.  But here's the short and sweet version. Taylor loved Santa this year.  All she asked him for was Dora movies and green beans.  Boy did he deliver!  That and more :)  Ava still didn't really understand Christmas/Santa/anything to do with it, but had fun opening her gifts anyways.  The girls were spoiled as per usual.  We had such a great time experiencing the magic of the season through their eyes.  I know each year is going to get better and better!  Taylor loved the Christmas countdown chain we made and made sure to rip off a chain every morning!

American Legion lunch

Once again, I am soooo far behind!  Ugh.  'Tis the season!  We had our annual American Legion Christmas lunch in early December.  The girls really enjoyed it, as per usual.  Santa was a hit this year and the kids were much more calm :)  

Vacation to St. Joe's, MI

>>>Please don't judge - I had this in my drafts for almost 6 months without adding the pictures in...oops>>>  

We decided to take a short family vacation this summer with the girls.  We took a 4 day trip over to the west side of the state - St. Joe's, MI.  We wanted something not too far away, not too expensive and with lots of family fun to be had!  St. Joe's was the perfect place!  We found a really inexpensive Hampton Inn in Stevensville (ironic!) that had a great continental breakfast in the morning which worked out great for us!

We left on a Sunday morning and came back on Thursday afternoon (July 22 - 26).  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to get over there and we made it both ways without much incident :)  

The hotel was great - we did lots of swimming and Taylor loved it!  Our room had a king size bed and a pull out sleeper sofa.  The sleeping arrangements didn't go quite as planned....we ended up playing musical beds, taking turns sleeping with one of the girls in each of the beds. Oh well - it's vacation, right?!

There was lots to do in the area for kids.  We went to a children's hands on museum one day, tried to have a beach day (Taylor is still not a fan of the sand) and spent lots of time at the carousel :)  

It was so great to spend 4 wonderful days as a family.  I definitely didn't realize how much patience I would need, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world!