Our 2011 Christmas Adventure

You can say I am a bit late with my Christmas blog, but I say, “WOO HOO!”  The blog is finally done and I am so thrilled to share it with you.  Our adventure started when we decided to spend Christmas with our family up north and began to map out our journey to New York City. In the past, we drove and looking back, it really wasn’t that much fun. Don’t get me wrong.  We love a good road trip, but if you can have someone else do the driving – Why not?  My husband had a brilliant idea to take the auto train and brilliant it was!  We had never taken the train before let alone an auto train.  Our SUV was packed with everything we would need for our vacation.  All we needed for the family suite was an overnight bag.  The children were allowed to explore the train and while we were at dinner, our cabin attendant turned our seats into beds.  I have to admit the train was going a little too fast for my sleeping comfort, but the children didn’t seem to mind and zonked out the minute their heads hit the pillow.  By morning, we had arrived right outside of Washington, D.C.

The hotel room was ready and we were able to get an early check in.  Once we got settled, it was time to explore.  The first stop was the Air and Space Museum which was only a block away.

We decided to walk around after the Air and Space Museum and came upon the sculpture gardens right outside of the National Archives and took a little rest.  I remember the last time we visited Washington, D.C., our son was the same age as our daughter is now.  Time sure flies when you’re having fun.  After our rest, we headed over to the Museum of National History.

We stayed in Washington, D.C. for only a couple of days, but you really need a good week to visit the many wonderful and educational museums.   Our second day was cut short due to rain so we decided to continue the adventure and head to Atlantic City where our uncle lives with his beautiful Golden, Yogi.  We had a blast!  From taking the children to the boardwalk to visiting the Historic Town of Smithville and to just hanging out with our uncle, our stay was definitely not long enough.

And of course, our visit was not complete until we made a trip to see Lucy the Elephant.

So long Atlantic City… Hello New York City!  Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that our Elf on the Shelf, Topher came along and kept a watchful eye on the kids during our adventure. After a few hours, we made it to the Big Apple. Let me first say that if you should decide to drive to New York, get a New York/New Jersey EZ Pass!!  Never again will we come from Florida and not have one.  Florida is the only state and I have no idea why where the EZ Pass is not accepted any where else.  We could have eliminated hours of waiting in toll lanes.  Driving in the city was never the issue, it was the toll lanes. Since we were driving back and forth from NYC to NJ (where our families live) we decided to stay in NYC the entire time.  For the next few days, our home was at the very hip and modern W Hotel Times Square.  I was surprised at how spacious our room was and the entire staff was very helpful and courteous.

My son is such a  good sport and big brother for letting his little sister put a bow in his hair during our American Girl luncheon.

A yummy treat before we head to our cousin’s house for the Christmas Eve Italian Seven Fish Feast.

I took this photo from our hotel room.  We had a sweet corner room view. Can you spot them?

We arrived at our cousin’s house for the feast and rather than it being seven fish, it was more like fourteen.  I have never seen so much food and dessert.  Everything was delicious and we were all stuffed!!

Christmas would not be complete if our children did not have a few presents to open from mommy and daddy.  My husband made it a point to pack a mini tree and  have the tree set up once we got to the W Hotel.  This made our room feel more festive.

Ice skating at Bryant Park on Christmas Day.  It was so nice to see everyone having such a good time.  Afterwards, we headed to our aunt and uncle’s house for the traditional Christmas dinner complete with raviolis, homemade red gravy and prime rib.  We were stuffed AGAIN!

The children were hooked on skating and got the hang of it very quickly.  We took them once more to Bryant Park before we started to head back home.  Our daughter started to take figure skating lessons a couple of months ago and is doing extremely well.

We also had to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant – Joe Shanghai’s one last time. These photos were taken just outside of the restaurant.  My son did a pretty good job with the one on the right.

After NYC, we started our adventure south towards Georgia.  Along the way, we drove through many quaint little towns and decided to spend one night at The Gristmill Inn located in Warm Springs, VA.  The bed and breakfast was very sweet, but it rained quite a bit so we didn’t get the chance to do much sight seeing.  After the Inn, we continued our drive and came upon the Humpback Bridge in Covington, VA. We also passed one of the largest paper manufacturing factories in the state. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs.

After much rain and backed-up highway traffic, we finally made it Dallas, GA to spend a couple of days with our aunt and uncle.  We were also lucky to have our other set of aunt and uncle visit as well.  Our daughter learned to play a new tune from her aunt and still plays it for me at home.

Our Christmas vacation was indeed one of the best adventures we have ever had.  Many things went according to plan and some did not.  You just learn to go with the flow and enjoy every minute of it.  We are so thankful to have spent time with our distant relatives but most importantly, we spent time with our children.  Although it took me awhile to get this blog completed, the children and I often went through the many photos taken and talked about our adventure.  I can still recall many childhood memories of vacations with my parents and just want the same for our children.

A Weekend at the Ranch

A few weeks before Christmas Break, our good friends, the L. Family invited us out to their ranch for a weekend of fun and of course relaxation.  Bringing our dogs was a must. Our Sheltie, Polly Anna lives for the outdoors.  She stayed right by the kids and made sure they didn’t stray too far.

Our daughter is quite the goof ball. On the other hand, our son is serious and could not wait to shoot his rifle.

A visit to the ranch would not be complete without a ride on their swamp buggy “Hog Wild.”  This beast can maneuver through the toughest terrain.

She felt like such a big girl taking daddy for a ride.  I am amazed as to how much she has matured and not afraid to try new things.  She now wants her very own ATV for her 6th birthday.

Our son is definitely a big boy shooting this rifle.  He is steady, in control and understands the importance of gun safety.

We are indeed blessed to live so close to the beach and yet drive minutes and experience nature like this. Many thanks L. Family!

For the Love of the Game

Summer time here in Florida is excruciatingly hot and humid and all we want to do is either stay indoors where the air conditioning makes you feel nice and cool or go for a refreshing swim in the pool.  Besides the fact that summer is too hot and my time was pretty much devoted to our kids, I decided to put my tennis playing on hold.  But not just your usual game of tennis.  I do cardio tennis and started this exercise routine more than a year ago to stay fit and tone.  Being only a mere 4’10” tall, I remember one of my dear friends say, “Haily is so tiny. How does she hit the ball over the net?”  I thought that was too funny.  I may be small, but I can hit some power shots on the court.  Now that school is in full session, I finally have some time devoted to taking care of me again. Although the first day of Fall was last week, here in the sunshine state, it still feels like summer.  But regardless, I needed to get back into my exercise routine.

Our workout routine starts with two laps around four tennis courts followed my some jumping jacks.  Depending on our moods and whether or not some of us are pressed for time, we will add Pilates before cardio tennis.  Occasionally, our coach will add a little cross fit in too.  For the most part, we like to jump right into our cardio tennis routine.

This ball basket is usually filled to the top, but on this special day, we were lucky enough to get two baskets.  Although the second basket was only filled half way and contained brand new balls, we knew this only meant more hitting and more running. Our coach continuously fed us balls while we worked on our forehand and backhand until the baskets were empty.  It was only 9:00 AM, but I felt like I was about ready to pass out.

Time to work on our volleys.  That’s our pro tennis coach, Amanda Fuller and let me tell you something, she does not like it when you are still.  Amanda is constantly motivating us to keep going. See how she is positioned in the middle?  Well, not a very good spot to be in because she becomes our human target.  Sometimes her yelling, I meant motivating gets the best out of us.  We’ve drawn blood before and I think I almost gave her a concussion at one point. We always forget to bring her  some sort of padding. Amanda is just tough.  She takes “a licking and keeps on ticking”.

It is amazing how much my playing has improved since I invested in a good racket.  I just love my new racket and the fact that it doesn’t fly out of my hands when hitting the ball like the old one did makes it even better.  I have more control and my hits have some serious power.

After each drill, we cool down by picking up the balls and loading them back into the baskets.  This is also a good time to down some refreshing water and wipe the sweat that has puddled on our faces.  These balls tubes are one of the best inventions.  They make picking up the balls so much more efficient.  There’s one my tennis partners and good friend, Krista picking up balls with Amanda.  Krista was my photographer during my action shots.  Many thanks to Krista.

This is one of the few moments you will see me with a hint of a smile during tennis.  I won’t lie.  It is a hard workout as I am striving to always hit the ball perfectly over the net and in bound.  The constant moving and running makes you feel like you are either going to vomit or pass out after each drill, but you know what?  No pain, no gain is our motto.  We long for the cooler weather and know it will be here one day.  Until then, we will just keep on doing what we’re doing and love every moment of it.

So Long Summer…

Our summer was packed with water activities.  Our son learned how to sail, we saw the last shuttle launch by boat, my husband received his scuba diving certification and then we were off to Key Largo.  I must say we have never spent this much time in or around water.

And when I thought we were done, we decided to spend the last week of our summer vacation on beautiful Holmes Beach.  Although the beaches are not too far from our home in town, we don’t spend enough time enjoying the soft white sand and warm water.  During our vacation, we hosted a low country boil and invited some of good friends out.  The boil turned out absolutely delicious with savory pieces of andouille sausage, tender clams, oysters, shrimp, fresh corn, carrots, potatoes and onions.

Skim and boogie boarding were a must and our son could not get enough. He would be on the skim board in the mornings and then the evenings until the sun went down.

Ahh… the days of being a child without a worry in the world.  Seeing our daughter on the skateboard brought me back to my childhood and memories of my parents taking me and my sister to the very same beach came back.  I have to admit, I had to jump on that skateboard and give it a try after some twenty years and almost bust my butt, but it was a blast.

The sunsets on the beach here are like no other and they were different each and every evening.  Summer is technically over with our third week of school around the corner. Our lives are once again busy with numerous after school activities.  Hopefully, we can find time on weekends where we can get away for a few hours, take our kids to the beach and just relax.

Keeping Up

Geesh!  It’s a lot of work starting up a new business.  I forgot how much work goes into developing an idea and then watch it take shape. I remember when we founded our company SignZoo eleven years ago, we didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, Blogs or any other form of social media except for our website.  After finishing my photography website, I realized a Blog was needed to keep up with the times and perhaps later a Facebook page.  The hard work is definitely worth it and I do like sharing my thoughts and current work.  There are lots of exciting things happening and I will be busy in the next couple of months but will do my best to keep you in the loop.