Olivia and her Annie movie!

Braeden and his new scooter!

Our holiday break was wonderful. My mom had flown in the 12th to spend time with us and then drive with me down to FL. We left the day after school was out, Dec 21. We were able to drive it in one shot. The kids did GREAT in the car!!! Girlie had a little trouble with sleeping, but since she was never in the car much before coming to live with me and sleeping in a car seat can't be much fun anyway, I think that that wasn't too bad. My mom helped drive parts during the day and I took the night shift. I was prepared to stop at a hotel or a rest stop to sleep, but didn't need it. I felt great and we drove all the way through. It took about 21 hours total with stops.

Our time in FL was great. We went to church and Red Lobster, as is tradition, on Christmas Eve. They looked so cute all dressed up! I will post a 24 hour pic of the group. The next morning brought more gifts and we had lots of fun opening and sharing these. Later in the day Grandma and I took Braeden and Olivia to see The Water Horse which was cute.

The rest of our time in FL was spent shopping clearance racks (lots of good 1/2 price stocking stuffers for next year!), one trip to the beach, seeing The Doodlebops in concert which Girlie talks about constantly - she LOVED it, spending a free (except Braeden's ticket) day at Busch Gardens where Olivia rode her first coaster with a loop!, a lovely flat tire - but luckily it wasn't on one of the drives there or back, and mom seeing two other movies on her own. (I love movies!) We drove back the morning of January 4. On the way back I did stop for two hours to sleep, but otherwise we made it all the way again. We were so blessed with wonderful weather for the drives both ways which was great.

Busch Gardens...


The lovely flat we got on the way to the beach...

We had been to the beach once and the next days before leaving the temp was supposed to be in the 40s. The first trip to the beach, my camera batteries were dead! So no pics of Girlie and her first time there! :( Bummer!!! She was hysterical, wanted NO part of walking on the sand, even with shoes on. I'd pick her up to set her on the sand to walk with me and her knees were pulled up so her feet were by her bottom, it was too funny! She did manage to sit on the towel and play in the sand. :)

Grandma then flew back on Sunday and we started back to school/work on Monday. Whew, where did the time go??? It was a wonderful, blessed holiday!!!