Tip Up Town

Houghton Lake was cold, but super fun!  Lot's of Lego building, Uno, and cocktails.  Ayden almost made a trip to the emergency room when he jumped up on a bed and hit his head on the fan.  There was lots of blood, but no stitches were needed...however, there might be a scar.

Tip Up Town was mega GROOVY this year.  the Polar Plunge didn't disappoint and the pie eating contest was something I was hoping my kids would partake in...no such luck.  The ice slide entertained us for a while but the real fun was the swings and the little cars and motorcycles.  We cut our stay a little short on Sunday morning when we left for Allie's cheer competition in Birch Run, leaving Ayden to hitch a ride home with his buddy Carson.

Happy New Year 2020

We arrived home on New Year's Eve approximately around 5:00...within an hour, we showered, unpacked, and dressed for a New Year's Eve gathering at the Leese's house.  Kids in tow...we ate, drank and partied the night away.  So thankful for good friends to celebrate 2020!

On New Year's Day we wrote out our wish balloons.  Allie's goal for 2020 is to achieve her front and back tuck.  She's been working really hard on her tumbling at cheer...but needs to perfect her back handspring before moving on to tucks.

Ayden has his eye on a drum set he sees every week when we take Allie to music lessons.  I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that!

 

The sound of "2020" makes me think that this will be a year we will remember above all else.

Dolphins!

We saw DOLPHINS!  They were so playful and leaped out of the water numerous times when we sailed by.  We took a nice ride down to Sarasota...but unfortunately didn't see any dolphins down there.  Our dolphin excursion was a fun little morning trip.

Christmas Morning

Santa stopped in Florida to deliver our gifts this year.  He left a little something for all the adults and even Patches too!  Allie was super surprised to find the iPod Touch she's been asking for.  Ayden was so excited to have his very own tablet!  Both kiddos found some awesome dolphin things to help learn about the dolphins we are seeing in a few days, and a snorkel mask.  We spent part of Christmas day trying out the masks in Auntie's pool and enjoying lots of family time in the warm Florida weather.  A sunnier Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Early

We are headed to the warm Florida sun tomorrow, so Christmas Eve happened early.  Uncle Monte, Papa Ray, Barb, Nana and Papa all came over to celebrate.  Ham dinner, Christmas Rock cookies, and green punch were shared.

Ayden received a Lego Train set, monster Truck ornament, Disney gift cards, a bike helmet, a subscription for National Geographic for kids, and another Lego creator set.

Ayden guessed what many of his gifts were...he heard the Lego's in the box.

Allie received a ticket to Florida for cheer, paint for art classes she's taking, a Girl Scout ornament, a Disney gift card, skinny jeans , and  a new purse.

We gave the kids a trip to Animal Kingdom...matching family shirts and autograph books too!

  

Jingle & Belle

Allie and Ayden once again loved having Jingle and Belle visit this past month.  The brought little surprises along the way and made a few messes too.  Ayden's favorite was when they wrote funny Christmas songs on our toilet paper!  He was singing those songs for days!  This morning they left a little Disney surprise and a letter goodbye, for tomorrow we fly to Florida. They instructed us to give them a hug and leave them by our Give Back Sacks.  Santa is going to swing by our house in Michigan before visiting us in Florida...so we left him cookies.  We will miss you two little magical people.  Until next year.

Cookie Bake Day

Christmas seemed to come so fast this year with Todd being gone in Georgia for two weeks.  However, we managed to get some of our cutout cookies baked!  Those are some lovely little cookies for Christmas Eve!