Christmas 2012

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year with a great turn out of guests! Our pleasant surprise this year was Paul, Amy and Kelly who braved the drive all the way from Arizona. We had lots of help breaking in our new piano. Grammy played Christmas carols for us and here are Paul and Jen hamming it up. 

Despite his west coast address, Paul showed up in his Patriots attire! Go Pats!

Rachel and Aunt Jen relaxing on the couch

We had blizzard conditions on Christmas Eve. Paul and Amy even got stuck in the snow trying to get up our hill! The snow finally subsided enough for us to venture out to the Christmas Eve service. Then home for our traditional feast of appetizers! Rachel and Kelly managed to get in a game of War. 

Pete gets reminded of "Semagetep"

Rachel thought she heard Santa on Christmas Eve and she must have been right because he sure brought lots of toys to our house.

For New Year's Eve we had a visit from Lisa, Dave and Veronica who made the trek all the way from California. We put them to work shoveling snow for us in exchange for room and board :)

Carson loves to throw snowballs.

Dave and Veronica are avid skiers and finally gave us the impetus to get the kids on skis for the first time. Carson made it down the bunny hill once (holding onto Daddy's pole) and Rachel made it down twice. And they even want to go back again!

Late Fall 2012

Rachel turned 7 in October! We celebrated at Kangaroo Zoo, a fun indoor play place with lots of bounce houses and slides. She invited a bunch of her classmates and they had lots of fun bouncing around, then eating pizza and birthday cake. We even had a visit from the kangaroo :)

We had some beautiful fall days in late October which made for perfect hiking weather. We have discovered a park nearby which has a playground, picnic tables, and lots of hiking trails - a perfect place for a Sunday afternoon.

For Halloween Rachel was Cleopatra and Carson was Jango Fett, a Star Wars character. They had lots of fun helping with the pumpkins - they drew the face on their pumpkins and Mommy did the cutting.

We had an unusual snow storm in early November with over 2 feet of snow! Carson was a great help shoveling off the deck. The kids built a snow fort so they could throw snow balls at Daddy while he shoveled the driveway!

Grandad was here for Thanksgiving along with Uncle Pete and Aunt Jen. Grandad got to see the kids in their karate class and also played lots of war with Rachel (one of her favorite games). We even got out Twister and put Pete and Jen's yoga skills to the test.

Despite having finished in first place (in his age group) in the Turkey Trot 5k race Thanksgiving morning, Pete still had enough energy left to carve a turkey.

We also had a visit from a doe and a buck on Thanksgiving Day!

The week after Thanksgiving we went to see Santa at a local store. The kids had fun telling him what they want for Christmas.

We also rode the mechanical horse while at the store. Where else can you ride a horse for ten cents??

Disney Cruise 2012

Recently we flew to Galveston, Texas, climbed aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship and set sail to the Caribbean! What a wonderful week we had. The weather was perfect - sunny and in the 90's for our ports of call. We certainly created some lasting memories.

In the airport waiting for our bus to the ship.

Bon Voyage party!

The view from our balcony!

The first night at sea was formal night for dining so we got all fancied up! The Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals are courtesy of Grandma, who accompanied us on the cruise along with her cousin Carolyn. It was fun to have dinner with them every night and they were good sports about putting up with two crazy kids at their table.

The first morning of the cruise we went to the character breakfast where we got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofie, Chip and Dale! They came around to each table for a visit while we ate, so no lines to wait in - great thinking Disney :) Our waiter made special hats for each of us out of napkins and things. We liked Daddy's the best - is that a viking hat??

Our first port of call was Grand Cayman, what a beautiful place! We decided to visit their Turtle Farm where we saw lots of turtles big and small. They even have a hatchery where they keep eggs to increase their chances for survival. They have small pools set up where kids can wade right with the turtles and even pick them up.

Time to head back to the ship.

The 3D movie theater on the ship played Disney movies all day. 

Pirate night was lots of fun. We all donned our pirate bandanas and joined in the festivities. The highlight of Carson's trip was meeting Jack Sparrow and getting a picture with him.

Next stop: Costa Maya, Mexico. It was so hot we spent the day swimming in some great pools. We stopped at a Jade Museum on the way back to the boat and not only learned about jade but also learned a little about the Mayan calendar. Feeling better that the world will not end this December, instead we will be starting a new epic.

Found these souvenir masks in Costa Maya, great for dress up!

Next stop: Cozumel, Mexico - a beautiful island.

We took a taxi to see the San Gervasio ruins in Cozumel and learned quite a bit about the ancient Mayan culture. 

We saw iguanas like this one all over Cozumel and even in Grand Cayman.

After visiting the ruins we asked our taxi driver to take us to the beach. He must have liked us because he took us to a gorgeous beach which was nearly empty, with restaurant and bar service right from the hammocks! We were lucky enough to see a few tropical fish in the water (and no sting rays).

One of the best parts of the cruise was the food. We ate like kings every night - three course meals followed by delicious desserts. And they had a great kids menu so Rachel and Carson were happy too. Fortunately there was a fitness gym and running track on board the ship so John and I were able to burn some of those calories.

Rachel on the balcony outside our room.

The kids with Antara, our wonderful dinner server for the week.