Christmas Recap and How to see an entire amusement park for the cost of a plate of nachos.

Christmas was a whirlwind of family gatherings, good friends, and travel.  Christmas is celebrated with my side of the family in Elkhart on Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning we wake up at my parent's house, the kids open their gifts from Santa, and we drive to Kokomo to celebrate Christmas with hubby's side.

Usually we drive back home Christmas night and then December 26th is spent playing with new toys, doing laundry and packing up for our yearly trip to Gainesville, Florida to see dear friends.  While we were in Kokomo on Christmas Day, the local news stations were forecasting a blizzard arriving that night and through the following day.  We left Kokomo by 7, arriving home in Noblesville by 8.  Toys were thrown into the living room, suitcases were dumped in the laundry room and then refilled with whatever remaining clothes were in the closets, and we were on the road, headed to Florida by 10:30.  As much as I would have loved to witness a good blizzard (I'm still bitter that we were out of the country for the blizzard of '78) I was not to be kept from my southern destination.

It was great seeing our dear friends.  Poor Blake was under the weather for the first several days with a fever and cough.  The boys were in heaven playing video games almost every waking hour.  We did force them outside a couple times a day.  We learned pretty quickly to add some specific instructions when we sent them out, since the first time we sent them outside, we found them on the porch playing Nintendo.

Blake was still under the weather.  Needless to say, he didn't catch the ball.

Alexis adored Trisha.  I think the feeling was mutual.

Lexi's newest word:  ipad.

We made a trip to Busch Gardens while we were there.  Luckily, Blake had just gotten over his nasty cold, but unfortunately Nick was coming down with an ear infection.  Luckily, with ibuprofen, Nick said he felt fine.  The whole reason I wanted to go to the Busch was for Alexis to see the Seasame Street characters and it was definitely the highlight of my day. 

Meeting Elmo and Big Bird

Rosita (the blue furry thing in the background) and the Count spent quite a bit of time loving on Lex. 

The whole day rocked.  And here I will insert my instructional excerpt on how to rock your Busch Gardens experience:

1.  Know someone who knows someone who finds you free tickets to the B.G.  My bestfriend's boyfriend's cousin's sister's neighbor knows this guy who saw this girl who works at Busch Gardens.  But seriously, I happened to mention our plans to visit Busch Garden's to a cousin who, it turns out, has a sister that works there.  How awesome is that!?!

2.  Make sure said contact works in a souvenir shop, so you get your purchases with her discount.

3. And make sure that the contact's boyfriend manages the photo shop so you can get all your pictures at a discount.

4.  Finally, if you can arrange to get someone in your party trapped at the top of the highest roller coaster for an entire hour, you can also get free meals.  Thank you Matt and Cam for your participation in this exercise.

Yep, that's their roller coaster car.  Stopped.  At that angle.  For an hour.

We left the park that night, out the cost of one discounted Christmas ornament, a soda, and a plate of nachos.

Blake and Daddy were off riding all the big scary rides and roller coasters.  All Nick and I need to be happy is fair food.

The following day, New Year's Eve, Nick woke up with both ears hurting.  Turns out it was a double ear infection.  Poor kid.  On a positive note, we got to take advantage of our last free trip to an urgent care center before our insurance plan changed on January 1.  I'm a glass-half-full kinda gal.

It was nice to get back home.  The kids don't have to be back to school until the 8th, so we can continue to relax and play Uno Attack and watch football all weekend.  Holiday Blessings to you all, and Go Colts!