Huntsville AL

Although we love the Holidays around here they are very hectic. Since Alfred works in retail it's nothing for him to put in 60+ hours per week during the months of November and December; and since his birthday is January 9th we decided yet again to take a little family get away for his birthday so we could spend some time together. We chose Huntsville AL so we wouldn't have to spend much time driving and because we had heard such great things about the US Space and Science museum there. And everyone was right, this place is awesome! It has a giant rocket in the middle of the museum which Kingston thought was awesome!! The inside of the building tells the history of space travel and how Huntsville AL contributed to that. It has a ton of memorabilia and fun things to look at and do. There is a scientist that does experiments and a kids play area! You can get into a space ship and feel what take off would feel like. There's even a rock wall! It was really neat. Outside there are helicopters and even amusement park rides that are open in the summer. I really recommend this place to anyone with kids or without.

Of course Beckett got a little bored and decided to take a nap while we were there! So I guess it isn't the most fun place for an 8 month old :)!

A lot of our time was spent in the hotel! We decided on the Embassy Suites which was super nice! They had a really cool water feature in the lobby that Kingston loved playing on and throwing money into!

We spent a lot of time swimming since we have fish for children!

And a ton of time in the hot tub, hanging out!

Of course when we finished working up an appetite from our busy day playing we ordered Ruth's Chris room service and ate in bed!

Being on the 9th floor had the advantage of aweome views which Kingston took advantage of every chance he got by standing in the window!

All good things must come to an end so after 2 nights away and before the big snow hit we headed home where we ended our trip with some porch time playing with sparklers!! That's how every great vacation should end!

White Christmas

I love all things Christmas!! I love the lights, the music, the decorations, the time off work but my absolute favorite thing is the time I get to spend with my family making memories! This was the first Christmas that Kingston actually understood there was something different going on. He talked about Santa and Jesus' birthday and he knew something was different about this time of year. He doesn't totally get it yet but he was a blast!! He and I got really into tracking where Santa was and I took this opportunity to show him videos of other places around the world. I actually stayed up after he had went to bed and tracked Santa myself, I am like a kid this time of year :)! Of course we had to bake cookies for Santa and leave him a thank you letter so he would know we really appreciate all the hard work he puts in!

After the boys went to bed Alfred and I sat back and enjoyed a nice fire while enjoying the view of our stockings...

oh who am I kidding Alfred and I were up until 2AM helping "Santa" get his toys put together!! I hope we've learned our lesson about waiting until the last minute and thinking it will be easy because it wasn't!!! Of course it was absolutely worth it to see the looks on the boys faces the next morning!! And as an added bonus we woke up to this....

that's right a White Christmas. Being born and raised in the WV-Southern Ohio area I have seen many of these but they never loose their excitement. For the boys however, and yes I mean all the boys including my GA raised husband this was their first White Christmas! It really did make everything better!!

Of course the boys enjoyed their toys and we spent the better part of the morning upstairs in our PJ's reading letters from Santa, playing with toy cars walking around the bonus room with Beckett and his new toy and just enjoying being together!!

Finally after a wonderful Christmas dinner cooked by Alfred we ventured out to Yogi Bear Camp Ground to see an amazing display of Christmas lights set to music! We had such a good time, even if the roads were a little treacherous on the way home!

It was a great Christmas!! And the end of it all the boys were worn out beyond belief!!

I hope your family had a wonderful Christmas too!