It's a Wonderful Life

Don't you get the sense tonight

That for now the world is right

And as another Christmas ends

My mind drifts and once again

I'm thinking like a six-year-old

Only 364 360days to go

 

It always comes and goes so fast, doesn't it?  I feel like we should still be in the thick of summertime and yet, here we are, another Christmas come and gone.

 

Things were very low-key for us this year.  Christmas Eve was the five of us (my stepdaughter was with her mother and her family) and enough food for twenty.  The kids each opened one present - their Christmas jammies - before bed.  We sprinkled reindeer food on the yard and tracked Santa on NORAD and left cookies and Coke Zero for the big guy.

 

I woke up at 5:30 on Christmas morning, made a Christmas tree out of cinnamon rolls, and waited, waited, waited for the kids to wake up.  I finally got Jaidan up at 7:00 and he quickly woke up every one else in the house.  Presents were opened and Kyan proved why Christmas was practically invented for four-year-olds with his proclamations of "THAT'S JUST WHAT I WANTED!" about every.single.thing he opened. 

 

Karis refused to open any of her presents.  The boys each got a pair of Razorback slippers and Karis seemed to think these were Stompeez.  This caused a few tears on her part and, "I wan' STOMPEEEEZ!," a fit that was finally resolved when her dream pet was opened for her.  Apparently any infomertial crap would suffice.  She was a happy girl, though, when she opened up her new puppy.  Not only has the dog gone everywhere with her but she's also been carting around the box it was packaged in.  That girl.  Good thing she's pretty . . .

 

Christmas at my grandmother's house was cancelled but she dropped by our presents on her way to North Carolina.  She and my Aunt Sue and Uncle Tom stayed for a few minutes while the kids tore into yet a few more presents.  Later in the morning we Skyped with my mom so she could see the kids opening their gifts from her.  We spent the remainder of the day playing with new toys, laying around, eating, and waiting for Storme and Cheyenne to drive in from Arkansas.

 

 

As is usually the case, some gifts were much more appreciated and played with than others.  Kyan had been asking for a Spiderman Stunt City for months - literally, months - and the thing has been played with a total of about twenty minutes since Tuesday morning.  On the other hand, everyone has enjoyed Jaidan's Batman Batcave and Kare Bear's Barbie car.  Santa also gifted us four different board games.  Our favorite?  Fibber.  Seriously.  Go buy this game.  Go buy it now.  You don't even need kids to enjoy it. 

 

We didn't have a white Christmas in Memphis.  We did, however, wake up to this the morning of the 26th:

 



 

My home state of Arkansas was hit with record snowfall.  My Facebook feed was full of pictures of yard sticks a foot deep in the snow.  We just got a small dusting, though, and you know what?  No complaints here!  It was plenty for the kids.  Kyan woke up saying, "now it's REALLY Christmas!" and Karis kept dragging me to the door and saying, "Wook, Mommy, SHNOW!"  Last year the kids got hats and gloves in their stockings and we didn't have any snowfall all winter.  This year I was so unprepared that they wore socks on their hands!  Mommy fail. 

 

All in all, we had a really great Christmas.  There were a few glitches in plans.  But, man, it was great to lay around on Christmas day.  It was wonderful spending a few days with Storme and Cheyenne.  And the best thing was the joy in my kids' eyes.  There's just something about Christmas morning with toys everywhere and wrapping paper all over the place that shows you just what a wonderful life it is.

 

 





What's Harder than Getting a Picture of a Two Year Old, a Four Year Old, and a Five Year Old?

Easy!

Getting a picture - trying to get a picture - of TWO two year olds, a four year old, and a five year old!

We tried a photo op with all of my mom's grandchildren.  TRIED being the key word.  The 2009/2010 Assholes weren't having it!

And the best one of the bunch . . .

Coast to Coast 2012: Wet 'n Wild

My kids went to DC.  Saw a TON of history in Virginia.  Traveled to three states they'd never stepped foot in before.  But, hands down, their absolute favorite part of the trip was the day we spent at Wet 'n Wild.

I was NOT excited about this part of the trip.  I mean, I was because they kids were excited.  But I was also afraid it was going to be . . . chaos.  Not very fun for me.  In the end, though, it made me wish that Memphis had something like it!  Karis spent most of her time hanging out with the grandmas and that freed me up to do stuff with the boys . . . who had an absolute blast!

The kids area was amazing!  Karis could play in it without someone having to be right on top of her the whole time.  They had swings for babies and slides that were the perfect size for the boys.

The boys both said their favorite thing was the wave pool.  I've always been a fan of the wave pool at places like this too . . . just notsomuch when I'm holding a four-year-old and a ginormous wave knocks us both down, skinning my leg from foot to butt.  :/

Even with my tumble(s) in the wave pool . . . and even with the fact that the place was crawling with 17-year-olds who knew not of such things as cellulite and stetch marks . . . it was a pretty great day!  Hey, Wet 'n Wild!  Come to Memphis!

Next up: Final trip wrap up!

Coast to Coast 2012: Onto North Carolina!

My cousin and his family live in North Carolina, about four hours from where my brother is, so we knew we had to make visiting with them a part of our trip.

I gotta tell ya'll.  I LOVE North Carolina!  The state was beautiful.  The weather was fab.u.lous.  You can buy wine in the grocery store.  The people were friendly (we decided that for Virginia to be considered a southern state, the people there sure do act like Yankees!  Not so for North Carolina) and I loved the way they talked!  I grew up in Arkansas and I've lived in Texas and Tennessee so you know I have me an axe-sent but the Carolinans have a different drawl.  I want to move there.  So far, however, my husband isn't on board.  Ass.

We had dinner at East Coast Wings in Greensboro.  I LOVE WINGS and these were good.  Even better than the wings?  Their ranch dressing!  It was so so so so so so so so good.  Like, I wish I could've taken home a bottle.  Or thirteen.

Kyan bonding with his cousin Katelyn -- I'm not 100% sure but I *think* this was the first time they met!

My cousin is the manager of a movie theater so we got free admission to Madagascar 3, much to the delight of one very excited five-year-old.  (The four-year-old was cool with it too).

Since going to a matinee runs at least $30 for our family - and that's before popcorn and drinks - a movie in the theater is a rare treat.  This just so happened to be Miss Kare Bear's first ever theater movie.

She lasted all of five minutes.  She wouldn't keep her glasses on and thought it would be more fun to try to climb under the chairs or run down the aisles than actually, you know, DO WHAT SHE WAS THERE FOR and watch the movie.  She and I hung out in the lobby for a while where she bonded with her cousin Austin (he's only one and was also not quite ready to experience the movie theater).

Next up: Wet 'n Wild!

Coast to Coast 2012: Aquia Church and Quantico

We had originally planned to go into DC again on Friday the 15th.  But our Thursday in the area completely wore us out.  There was just no way we could go back again -- especially with having to get up at the crack of dawn to make the train.  Ackkkk.  Wasn't happening.  Instead we set out for more exploring in Virginia. 

We started off at the Aquia Episcopal Church.  The church was established in 1654 and the building was beautiful!

Also, the sky?  SO BLUE!

There was a cemetery on the grounds with stones dating back to the 1700's.  I loved looking at their names on the tombstones.  I think my favorite was a man named Rowzee.  Definitely not a name you see every day!  And speakure.ing of the tombstones, it was kinda crazy how many of them we saw with something that would be considered morbid nowdays -- like a skull and crossbones and things of that nature.

After leaving the church - and grabbing lunch - it was on to Quantico and the National Marine Museum.  Not only was the museum free (score!) but they also had a playground on the premisis.  My sister-in-law took my nephew and both my boys to play while the rest of us checked out the museum.

Or tried to check out the museum.  A certain little girl wasn't feeling it and was, therefore, being an absolute turd.

From what I did get to see I can tell you that the displays were pretty realistic and some of them were quite graphic.  The Marines have an interesting history and, man, are they proud of it!  This museum is definitely one that will make you feel proud to be an American and leave you in awe of our Armed Forces.

After our quick walk through the museum, Alison, Karis, and I checked out the Semper Fidelis chapel before heading over to the playground to hang with the Boy Crew.



We wrapped up the day by getting stuck in traffic (on the highway!  We'd been told repeatedly to avoid I-95 and were behaving!) and then stopping for ice cream.  Karis alone polished off two kid cones from Coldstone.  Where ever did the child get her love of ice cream?

Next Up!: Arlington National Cemetery

Coast to Coast 2012: Day Three: DC Part Two

If we lived in DC, I swear to you, the kids and I would be at one of the Smithsonian museums at least once a week!  We loved the museums and definitely did not get to spend enough time in them.

Museum Numero Uno was the American Indian Museum.

I never would've really thought to go into this museum -- it's not one of the "big" ones I thought about when thinking about the Smithsonian, you know?  They happened to have a really cool kid's area though!  The boys liked it and Karis - man, she loved it.  Melt-to-the-down when it was time to leave.

The kids tried Indian Fry Bread for the first time at the museum.

How do you think Kyan felt about it?  ;)

Note: that Sprite cost more than the bread! 

We spent a little over an hour at the Air and Space Museum.  I don't know if there are words to express just how much Jaidan loved this one.  The next day, he asked if we could go back.  He loved seeing all the planes -- and being able to climb into planes and space shuttles and stuff.



The neatest thing we saw at the Air and Space Museum?  In my opinion, hands down, the Wright Brother's plane.  For the boys, though, it was the space ships.

My personal favorite of all the museums was the National Museum of American History.  I am a pop culture junkie and this was a treasure trove of all kinds of pop culture!

Among the more interesting things we saw: Innauguration gowns (including Michelle Obama's which is pictured above -- the line was a little long to get into the First Ladies exhibit but it was SO WORTH IT!), the china selected by all the first ladies over the years, a Lou Gehrig signed baseball, Babe Ruth signed baseball, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Ali's gloves, a camcorder used to shoot footage of 9/11, Archie Bunker's chair, the flag Francis Scott Key based the national anthem on.  It was such an amazing museum!  I could have literally spent the ENTIRE day there.

My only *sad face* from the day is that we didn't get to make it to the Natural History museum so my boys could check out the dinosaurs.  Correction: my brother and his nephew totally made it to the museum and saw the "roars" but I was too busy paying $8 for ice cream from a vendor to even realize they'd headed over there.  There is probably some sort of lesson in that and it involves, like, calories and high fructose corn syrup.  Sigh.  The fat kid never wins.  :/

Next up: Aquia Church and Quantico!

Coast to Coast 2012: DC Part One

When I was a freshman in college, I got an idea in my head.  I knew (or thought I knew) that I wanted to go to law school anyway.  (I was so going to live out a John Grisham novel.  Preferably one notsomuch with the mob following me but more like The Street Lawyer or The Rainmaker.  Gosh.  I just went off on a total tangent about John Grisham books then deleted it.  I really do adore him).  Anyway.  I decided I was going to do one more year at Baylor and then transfer to Georgetown and maybe, possibly, sometime not too long after that snag me an internship with someone involved in the government. Mind you, this was when all the Clinton/ Lewinsky brouhaha was going on - a time when I actually had a dark-haird waitress at Chili's on Halloween dressed in a beret and wearing knee pads - and saying internship was a lot like uttering a dirty word.  But I've always enjoyed politics and it's something I really wanted to do. And, besides, I didn't own any blue Gap dresses anyway . . .

Then.  A boy entered the picture and I forgot all about that dream of Georgetown and a Capitol Hill internship.  Being in DC a couple weeks ago (it was my very first visit, by the way, I didn't go back the summer after sixth or seventh grade when it seemed like erryone was going) made me realize: that city would've swallowed me whole!  If I'd gone when I was just 20-years-old, never having really been anywhere, HOLY SHEE-ITE, you guys!  It's busy and it's loud and the traffic is like OMG and there's just  so much.

We started our day in DC bright and early by catching the commuter train in Fredericksburg.  It was the first time for most (maybe all?) of us to take any sort of train like that.  I'm sheltered, ya'll, or maybe just a country girl.  My only other experience with any sort of train was The El in Chicago.  Oh, and the trains at the zoo.  Those totally count, right?

We ended up only spending one day in DC and it was JAM PACKED and FULL.  I'm exhausted now, just thinking about it.  Rather than being all, "first we did this and then we did this and then we did that" I'll give you an entry full of buildings and monuments and another entry full of museums. 

Our train brought us to Union Station and as soon as we walked out we saw the Freedom Bell and the Columbus Memorial (along with several street people who glared at us as we took pictures.  Street people?  You live in DC.  You are sitting on a memorial.  You should be used to people taking pictures.  Kthanks).

Then it was on to Capitol Hill!

Hahahahaha.  Picture Fail!  I'm the only one looking and you can't even SEE most of the capitol!

The DC tours are so expensive!  Especially if you have children with you.  We ended up just walking everywhere we wanted to go.  Which would've been a better idea if, you know, I had thought to bring a stroller for the four-year-old.  Karis was totally content to chill in her stroller (okay, for the most part) but Kyan pretty much lost his shit about halfway through the day.  He was DONE with walking.  Not fun.

Who knew the Washington Monument leaned a little?  ;)

I absolutely LOVE this picture!

The Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial -- I pretty much love how this picture turned out!  I wish the pics showed up as vibrantly on my computer as they do on my iPad.

There was construction going on at the National Mall and we were not able to walk over to the Lincoln Memorial and the monuments close to it (we could have but we'd have had to go way out of the way).  We saw (from a distance) the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and White House but weren't close enough to snap any decent pictures.

We passed the Grant Memorial on the way back to the train station.

Gotta love this one with the capitol in the background!

Note: I saw more monuments than I have pictures of because my crappy little camera just wouldn't/ couldn't zoom enough to get decent photos.  (There's a smudge on the lens and whenever I zoom my pics end up with a pink glare on them).  ANYway.  Just yesterday Eddie called me and told me he'd been able to pick out a 15-year-anniversary present from his job.  Wanna guess what he picked out?  A new camera!  And it's a point-and-shoot but it has some super duper zoom lens.  Ahhhhh!  What I wouldn't have given to have had that in my hands a couple weeks ago!  As it is, we have to wait for it to be delivered and won't have it for our California trip either.  I would pout but, hey, regardless I'm STILL getting a new camera!

Next up: Museums!

Coast to Coast 2012: Fredericksburg Day 2 and Maryland

I have, over the past few months, taught my boys bits and pieces of American history.  I try to keep things age appropriate but sometimes, like with the assinations of presidents, it can be hard.  We sort of glossed over the whole someone killed him part of Abe Lincoln's history when we talked about him.  Which is probably why my boys had a lot of questions when I took pictures of the spot where John Wilkes Booth was shot.

(this is literally just a marker on the side of the highway -- nothing there but the sign)

I gave them a watered down history which, apparently, was slightly lost in translation.  Kyan told his Aunt Jessica and I the story and it went a little like this:

"Abraham Lincoln was bald and he did not wear a hat.  He got on a boat and went to an island and then John Wilky Boots - he was a bad guy - he SHOT him!  And John Wilky Boots wore a hat and boots.  The end."

Kids!

Our first BIG stop of our Wednesday in the Fredericksburg area was George Washington's birthplace.

The house is no longer standing (they have a concrete outline of it) but many of the buildings have been recreated and are filled with antiques.  It was a really beautiful place and the kids had a lot of fun exploring and checking things out.

Doesn't Kyan just totally look like he's having The Best Time Ever?

They had a flower garden (where they encourage you to pick the flowers!) and chickens on the land.  The outer buildings were filled with old fashioned farm equipment and other neat things.

Also on the property is a small replica of the Washington Monument.

Kyan was convinced this was the actual "Washington yo-mama-ment" and was so excited to see it!

Karis, of course, was wayyyy too young to get anything out of all the history we were taking in but she did have fun (and looked precious) picking flowers in front of the monument.

After we left the main part of the property, we headed to the family burial site.  Am I the only one who feels a little . . . odd . . . walking around a place like that?  I mean, I'm not spooked or anything like that.  It just feels like, I'm not sure how to put it into words, how would I feel if a bunch of tourists with fanny packs and sporting spandex were taking pictures of where my ancestors were buried?

For the record, I was totes not in spandex nor was I sporting a fanny pack.

Washington's parents and grandparents were all buried on the land.

BTW: The Washington birthplace is FREE and that includes a guided tour if you're so interested (we opted out).

After we left Washington's birthplace, we headed to Stratford Hall which happens to be the birthplace of Robert E. Lee.

My dad was a HUGE history buff and an even bigger Civil War (or, as he liked to refer to it, the War of Northern Aggression) buff and I'm pretty sure Robert E. Lee was the third person (right behind Jesus and his grandpa) that Dad sought out when he passed those pearly gates.  WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET HIM TO LEAVE THIS PLACE.  I joked around that we had gone to his mothership but, seriously, the man would have spent hours - HOURS!  DAYS!  WEEKS! - at Stratford Hall.  We did the tour and when the guide showed us the room Robert E. Lee had slept in as a child, she mentioned that there were his "guardian angels" in the fireplace and that she had grown men ask to see them and then break down in tears.  Yeah.  My dad?  Woulda been one of those men.  Fact.

Guided tour and a huge house are two things that didn't go well with small children.  The kids and I eventually left the tour and walked around the - beautiful - grounds.  Pictures weren't allowed inside the mansion, something that was really a shame as there were gorgeous antiques.  And cradles!  Oh man, I love the old fashioned cradles and bassinettes.  I just wanted one picture but nooooo.



After leaving Stratford Hall, we decided to take the 35 mile or so drive across the stateline to Maryland.  I wanted to eat some Maryland crabs!  If you read this blog on the regular then you done arrrrdy know I had food on my mind.

We headed to Captain Billy's Crab House right on the Potomac and it was . . .

. . . the biggest freakin' DISAPPOINTMENT.

Ugh.  Do not ever eat at that place!  I ordered crab stuffed mushrooms (a favorite of mine!) and hush puppies. The hush puppies were good but the mushrooms were AWFUL.  Gross, gross, and YUCK.

When researching the restaurant, I thought if nothing else it would be a nice place to eat because it sat right on the Potomac.

The restaurant didn't have any outdoor seating at the time we were there, though, and you know what?  The Potomac - at least this part of the Potomac - looks pretty much just like the Mississippi.  Icky and brown.

Oh, Maryland, you disappointed me so!

Next up - DC, Baybay!