I honestly cannot believe that 2008 is gone. The year flew by and I am watching my children really grow before my eyes. I always felt that the early days (newborn days) went on forever but now that everyone is getting older it seems that time is flying. My husband, Jeff, and I decided that for Christmas this year we wanted to spend as much quality time with the children as possible. Jeff and I both took almost three weeks off of work to be with the the children and with our extended family. I am so happy we did because some of the memories and the moments will forever be a part of our hearts!
I wanted to share a bit of our holiday craziness with you before we all get back to the grind.
The first week of vacation we took the children and our wonderful au pair and we headed down to Orlando. We actually planned not to do Disney but at the last minute decided…. why not? The weather was fabulous and the first day we went swimming at the resort. Each child had a new pair of swim goggles that they were more than excited to wear!
The following days in Orlando were spent swimming, shopping, one day at Animal Kingdom, one day at Magic Kingdom, and one day at Sea World (which I have to insert here and say was the best park of all three!). The first day at Disney I did not take my camera but instead let the park photographers do their magic. Here we all are at the very very end of the day. We are even more exhausted then we look if you can even believe that!
Animal Kingdom was really fun and they also had lots of the Disney characters. Shipley and Eliza both wanted nothing to do with any of them but Slaton was a little interested. Slaton and Eliza were standing alone in this bushy area when up walked these guys:
I thought Eliza might freak over them approaching her but she totally held her cool. Believe it or not, Eliza is my most scared and my most brave child. I know that makes little sense but she is amazing like that. When presented with a new situation, she is very shy, nervous and clingy. However, given about 20 minutes to warm up, she is the star of the show. I guess by this time she was finding her comfort zone!
We arrived home only a couple of days before Christmas so Jeff and I had to step it up into overdrive to pull it all off. We were so lucky to have our very sweet (and beautiful) cousin Kate (my ONLY first cousin!) here in Atlanta visiting her Dad for Christmas.
We spent Christmas day at my families house celebrating and enjoying all the children!
On the 26th we headed down to Jeff’s families home to celebrate Christmas with them. It is always a treat to head down there where time goes slowly and conversations center on horses, family, and food. A visit to their home is typically the only place I ever take a nap. I really love it. While there we celebrated Eliza’s birthday with a cake and a song! Lucky for Eliza, this year we celebrated her birthday twice with both families. No “friend” party this year so I was over compensating. 
Jeff and I shared a quiet, wonderful New Years and headed our to Snow Mountain the next morning. We actually had to go buy the children warm enough clothing the night before since we did not want the day to focus on how cold everyone could possibly be! We were dressed just perfect for the windy, cold, snowy day.
The children really enjoyed the small sledding area.
While we waited an hour for the big guys to sled down the big hill…. Shipley, Eliza, Wawa, my mom and I made this!
I have had lots of folks ask about Snow Mountain and our experience there. I believe that this is the first year Stone Mountain has offered this and they will have some major tweaking to do as they go. While we certainly had fun…. there were some down sides.
-No soft snow to make “angels” in.
-It was impossible to find buckets and shovels to build your snowman with. They tried to provide these but there were not many and they were in high demand. I would suggest taking your own.
-The wait to sled down the mountain was an hour. That is worse then any ride we waited on at Disney. That is way too long for one ride.
-The food in the snow area (there is just one little place to get snacks INSIDE THAT AREA) is very, very expensive and it was GROSS. Seriously guys… we got seven hot dogs and I am here to tell you they were NOT edible!
-The little children sledding area was chaotic. There were no formal lines and little ones were getting constantly hit by sleds rushing down the hill before they had time to exit. It was really too crazy. It takes one parent at the top and one at the bottom for this to be safe.
On the plus side… the tickets included both the tram and the train. We took advantage of riding on both of those and I think it was a highlight of the day.
Was it worth $25 per person? I think so… we stayed about 6 hours and made it worth it. We did eat a meal at Miss Katie’s and the food was great! It was a perfect place to warm up and sit still for a bit!
If you are still with me….. well, I am not sure why… but we are almost at the end….
Finally, we spent the last few days in Chattanooga, TN. I am not kidding you when I tell you it is the PERFECT city to take the family and get away to for the weekend. We could have stayed three or four more days and had plenty to do. The Creative Discovery Museum was incredible and we had a blast walking through Ruby Falls! We stayed downtown at the Residence Inn where they have suites for families. We really have to have that much space when we travel now and this hotel worked out beautifully.
Well, sadly, that brings us to the end of our journey! I am feeling refreshed and excited about all the new things coming up in 2009! I have had LOTS and LOTS of newborn clients booking over the past week so please look forward to seeing lots of wee ones featured here in the next few weeks!
Happy 2009 to all of you! May God bless you all with happiness, peace, and good health!
