Christmas In Hill Country

Y'all know I use this blog as a "scrapbook" of sorts, so I just want to do a quick synopsis of our quick trip to San Antonio!

Thurs AM :  Up early (normal time for Jeff and I) to us and the kiddos dressed and out of the door.  We hit the road at 6:15 and were pulling into a parking spot by The Riverwalk around 2:00.  I am OCD about getting to our destination :)

Thurs PM:  We really got to enjoy a good bit for the amount of time we had.  We hit up the Riverwalk boat tour, the Mirror Maze (complete with a laser course--P LOVED THIS!) and of course  The Alamo.  We topped off the day with a family meal at a Mexican place right on the beautiful river lit up at Christmas.  Of note were the "Mexican Donuts..."...lol.....the culinary highlight of the trip!!  Nana and Pop had a little snag with their nav system getting to the hotel but we all arrived safely at Hyatt Hill Country that night.

Friday AM:  I thought Nana and KK would LOVE a massage at the Spa so I did that as part of their Christmas...oh, ok I got myself one too :)  Maybe the best massage I've ever had. After our massages we hit the steam room and juice bar at the beautiful spa.  GREAT morning.  We had planned on taking a family bike riding trip but the weather was bad so we had to make a new plan.  This is HARD for me to do.  I can admit that.  But can I say a lazy day around the resort was JUST what my boys and I needed.  Jeff and I took turns working out while Preston and John Cole were entertained by what the hotel had to offer.  THEY EVEN HAD A JUMPY! Can NOT say enough about how family friendly this place was. The employees even acted like they were genuinely interested in what the boys had to SAY to them. I was impressed.  ANYWHOO, we had lunch then headed up for naps.

Friday PM:  We left the hotel pretty early to have time for dinner before "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" at the GORGEOUS Majestic Theater.  John Cole is getting his two year molars, and dinner was quite interesting to say the least, but after we got into the show he did great!  I think we all (except the Singhs who were on a date :) really enjoyed "The Grinch."  Think someone tried to burglarize my car parked in a public lot because the passenger door handle was broken AFTER we got back to the car Friday night...but thankfully they weren't successful.....

Saturday AM:  WE SLEPT IN!  This never, ever, ever happens at home.  I woke up feeling refreshed.  I was quite surprised, thought, that Sea World didn't open until noon so we had some time to kill.  Once again Hill Country rose to the occasion.  It was pretty chilly out but nice in the sun so they had the heated pools and the surfing instruction station open.  We stumbled upon it on our walk after breakfast and Preston was DYING to do it so we let him. I was SO PROUD of him--he really did great.  The picture I have on here just about kills me because he looks so big with his little muscles gripping the bodyboard.  P says this was his favorite part of the trip.  I wish I could have done it :)  Sooooo, after drying off we headed literally across the street to Sea World.  We really enjoyed our time there.  I wasn't super stressed about seeing EVERYTHING because I knew it was impossible in 4 1/2 hours so we picked what we really wanted to see.  John Cole LOVED the "Mo-Mo" (Elmo) show and says that was his favorite part of the trip.  I loved the dolphin show but was MOST impressed with exhibition of the new baby whale who was just 3 weeks old.  Tears people.  It was the sweetest thing.

Saturday PM:  Really, really regret not getting a family picture all dressed up Saturday night.  Sorry everyone.  And it was my parents' 39th anniversary and their pic didn't turn out.  BUMMER.  BUT, I can just write about our night ::)  We had a great family dinner at a Mexican (shocker!) place near our hotel.  The food was good and the margaritas were GREAT!  Next, we headed to the AT &T Center to watch the Trans Siberian Orchestra play.  It wasn't really what any of us were expecting, I think, but I did enjoy the music.

Sunday AM:  WE SLEPT IN AGAIN!  Now, we were paying for it tonight on the way home as John Cole was DONE with the car.  DONE I tell you.  But we made it home safely and truly refreshed.

THANKS AGAIN Nana and Pop for the trip!!!

Quiet Family Christmas

What a great Christmas Day!  Am I the only one that finds dressing my kids in anything other than their pjs is just too tedious on a day like today?  We had breakfast/brunch, then opened gifts, then went to look at the new house, then had "lupper" and after playing outside with the boys our guests went home.  We are all packing up for our first annual (I HOPE!) family Christmas trip to San Antonio.  I truly hope you and yours had a GREAT Christmas...and that we all had time to reflect on the true reason for the season.  More after the trip.....

Christmas Eve 2013

Oh Nana and Pop how we missed you but we had a great Christmas Eve.  (Normally, we all attend Trinity's Children's/Candlelight Christmas Eve Service then have dinner and open presents on Christmas Eve, but since Nana and Pop are letting their antibiotic work we had a great family meal tonight with just the Singhs and Parkers and will do "Christmas" in the morning!)  KK and Kunkle were such wonderful hosts tonight.  We all enjoyed our steaks from the Tech Farm...esp John Cole!  I want to add I was very proud of Preston for being "OK" with the delay of present opening and he was great at the church service this afternoon.  Remembering the true reason for the season on this cold winters night. Can you imagine giving birth in a stable tonight? All the more reason to give thanks.  Merry Christmas everyone!  

Christmas with The Parkers

It has become something of a tradition for us to have dinner with Grandfather, Gran-Gran and the extended Parker family the weekend before Christmas.  We always look forward to a a FEW servings of Jeff's Great Aunt Myrtis' "Jambalaya" and spending time together.  You can definitely tell The boys very much enjoyed their gifts.  Thanks for a great night Grandfather and Gran-Gran!

Miss Reno's Christmas Party 2013

Don't know why I ever get nervous but of course the Christmas party this morning was a pretty big success!  We had breakfast foods, did some Christmas crafts and enjoyed our visit from "Glitter" and "Shimmer" the elves all the way from the North Pole!  They read the kids some books and even took their last minute requests to Santa. Preston asked for a "trein" and "a bel from the rinder" on his list.  Hmmm.....and to all a good night  :)

Breakfast with Santa 2013

We are so grateful to be part of the community of Squire Creek.  Really, it is just a blessing.  The LENGTHS they go to that make things like "Breakfast with Santa" happen are incredible.  The kids have a ball. They see all of their friends, or as Preston put it "everyone I KNOW was there :)" Getting a good picture of the two of them is pretty  much impossible, but I think we got some good candid shots. Preston added something to his Christmas list today on Santa's lap: an ant farm.  Hmmmmm, so I guess Santa still has some shopping to do?!?

Merry Merry!

CES Book Character Day

I'm just going to be brutally honest:  I put ZERO effort into Book Character day.  We have had some MAJOR issues going on with the house the past week or so and with Christmas activities and a little extra work and being a little under the weather I just was not up to the task of a super awesome costume.  As you can see we recycled from Halloween...which was fine with Preston.  Pictured is his sweet classmate Audrey Kate who won the whole school with her Pippi Longstocking.  I will know to step it up next year :).....

Jolly Ol' St. Nick

Thought we would do a trial run with Santa at CTB and GUESS WHAT?? John Cole was ALL ABOUT going up to "Ho Ho" and Preston was so into it he brought a toy catalog to give Santa some illustrations.  Said catalog is also very well marked with "Preston" and "JC" on the respective pages.  (Preston took it upon himself to pick out some things for John Cole--he is such a sweet boy!)

Hope you are having a great Christmas season.  We are BUSY...but I wouldn't have it any other way :)