Atlanta part 2

 A lot of pictures in this post

 

On the 23rd, we let the kids decorate cookies for Santa.  We let them start out frosting them too, but they both were bored frosting, so mom and I finished frosting while they sprinkled the goodies on.

 

 

I set out our last appearance for Santa's helper, Blitz.  I decided to bit him farewell with Frozen, since he's going back to the North Pole and all.

 

The kids were excited because they were able to hold him and say their goodbyes

 

We then got ready for the day and headed out to the duck pond and path.

 

These two.  Love them and how much they love each other.  Most of the time.

 

Then we stopped at the store and bought a gingerbread house.  I didn't think we'd get to this tradition this year since we were on vacation, but we got it done and had a good time doing it!

 

We also let the kids open one present that night.  Xander picked a good one so we also played that.  Fun!

 

Sterling was in heaven. She's totally obsessed with Anna and Elsa right now.

 

Christmas Day and Santa came!

 

Sterling was SO excited that she got Anna and Elsa panties from Santa!  She was dancing and hugging them and saying thank you, Santa!  Too cute to see the excitement over the little things.

 

Xander received a bunch of Jake and the Neverland Pirates stuff. 

 



 

Love my dads happiness here.  He said: "really, did you guys really get us tickets?!"  We got my parents Atlanta Braves tickets.  Like, up front and personal tickets.  They are going to have a ball.  Pun intended:).  My parents like getting out, so we knew this would be the perfect give to give them.  Experiences are better than any gift!

 

Oh my goodness!

 

Papa helping Sterling set up her castle.  She sat and played with this for hours!  It was a big hit.

 

Mom.  Oh, my mom.  Poor thing was sicker than sick.  She slept A LOT this day and still didn't feel any better. 

 

See these two.  Always together having fun.

 

We spent a lot of time playing and putting toys together all day.  What a fun and memorable Christmas.  Thanks mom and dad for having my wild bunch on such a special holiday.

 



December Vacation Atlanta

Continuing on.

 

After our Melbourne trip came to an end, we were up early Saturday (20th) to head up to Atlanta to spend almost a week with my parents.  I'm going to break the Atlanta portion into two posts otherwise it would just be long and lengthy.

 

We arrived around 5 pm and my mom had dinner ready for us.  We then unloaded the van of ALL our stuff so we could put the back seats down and rearrange the vehicle so we could all fit in one vehicle.  My dad was on his way home from a work trip, so around 8, we loaded back up in the van to go get him.  We were so excited to see him too.

 

On Sunday we headed up to Babyland (Cabbage Patch World) after lunch.  It was a fun visit, but short because Sterling was having an off day and was such a mess. It was rather embarrassing. 

 

 

On Monday we had plans to go to Stone Mountain and go tubing in a giant family size tube.  How fun, right!?!  When we woke up, the rain had moved in so we decided it wouldn't be so much fun doing that in the rain.  So, we came up with another activity, the Aquarium.  You can never go wrong taking the kids to an aquarium.  The Atlanta aquarium was awesome.  They had a dolphin show and I thought that was the coolest part...because I hadn't seen one before.  We stayed all day and it was fun.

 

Before we left, we took advantage of a photo op

 

 

Xander loves the touch aquarium!

 

 

                     

 

Coca Cola World was next door, so we took pictures by their ornaments. 

 

When we got home that night, Xander had a special package waiting for him. He forgot his little puppy at our friends house when we were visiting in NC so they mailed it to us.  He was one happy little boy!

 

And we ended the night by the fire.

December Vacation Melbourne

The next leg of our trip took us to Melbourne, FL to visit Nick's dad.  

We just hung out, went shopping, and let the kids play the first day.

The second day we headed over to Tampa to take the kids to Busch Gardens.  We were able to get into the park for free through the Waves of Honor program.

While we were in Tampa, we headed over to the mall to see the frozen castle and characters.  Come to find out it was a Santa Frozen display.  Since we just saw Santa at Busch Gardens, we bribed the kids to leave, and it worked.

Sterling loved the rides and Xander loved the characters.

On the 19th, this handsome man turned 34!  His dad gifted us a spa package for this day.  This was our first time going to a spa so we had a lot of anxiety built up of what to expect.  In the end, we went with the flow of everything and enjoyed ourselves.  Opa kept the kids all day and spoiled them by taking them to the duck pond, park, a barbecue with his friends, and shopping.

That evening we all headed to Carraba's for dinner.   

Another fun stop along our vacation journey.