Trip to Louisiana

We go to Louisiana every year and visit Greg's grandmothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. I started going in 99 before Gregory and I were married. Now that we have 3 kids the road trip is quite different than it used to be. We have decided that it's best to put the kids in pjs and leave around bedtime. The kids were great in the car and we managed the trip in 12 hours driving up the night of the 17th. We left on the 23rd and arrived home the morning of Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful trip. The kids enjoy their cousins, and the country. Tre loves going in the woods and they all love playing outside. Enjoy the pics!

And a few silly ones...

Louisiana

There are eleven cousins age 6 and under all together (including our kids). They all had a great time together and can't wait for another visit.

Amusement parks!

So over Thanksgiving we decided to take the kids to Disney so that we could spend time with cousins who were coming from LA. Greg and I also had 2 free tickets for doing some volunteer work. It was a great time! We left Frankie home cause we were doing MGM Hollywood studios and I just didn't think it would be worth it to bring her. She wasn't going to be able to do much and we figured the lines would be a mile long. We spent the time in long lines catching up with the family and the kids entertained eachother well. We spent the whole day there and then went out for pizza after.

A week later, Becky and I took the kids to SeaWorld where we also got in free thanks to Florida resident and teacher promotions! The kids all had a great time watching the shows. Frankie loved going on all the rides in the kiddie area and Tre must have ridden the shamu rollercoaster at least 8 times! During the Shamu show, the whales were jumping in the air and "waving"... showing off all their tricks and Joey said "I think those whales are fake." The little cynic. Ha! I love that kid!

I should be taking down Christmas decorations...

but instead I'll reminisce about Christmas ... bloggy style.

The kids are at the perfect age for Christmas. I love it! They were totally psyched. They all visited Santa and even Frankie sat on his lap and told him she wanted a ladybug pillow pet.

Christmas Eve I spent unpacking from our trip and cleaning and Greg and I were exhausted after driving all night. Tre and Joey were eager to go to sleep so that Santa could come but Frankie was up till 10 so we didn't get finished wrapping presents until about midnight. The kids woke up some time after 7 and Joey was hollering in the livingroom for Tre to come look. It's a good thing I got up when I did cause Joey had already opened half of her presents and made it known that she did not get a Barbie doll house from Santa (I warned her not to expect one since we already had another doll house). Her favorite gifts were probably the jewelerybox and the dress up clothes/princess costumes (despite the fact that she asked Santa for Barbies- she doesn't play with them all that much). She also likes her unicorn pillowpet from Santa.

Tre is enjoying his nerfgun and still wears his bathrobe frequently. It's actually quite fun to have nerf gun fights with him. I wish I could do it more often. Frankie likes her pillow pet and playfood a lot as well. She pretty much just plays with whatever Joey is though.

We had a great time with family Christmas morning and then visited more family that evening. It was a great holiday!

edited to add that I wrote this a while ago and just now published it. I am proud to say that all Christmas decorations are put away in the attic!