Happy Merry Christmas To Me!

For Christmas this year, my mom gave me a card with a piece of pie on it.

Ok, I’ll explain. When I was a teen, our special mom/daughter thing to do was go to the local Village Inn and talk about boys over a piece of pie. When you have two sisters, any time you get alone with mom is a good thing! Then, I met THE boy, got married and moved out of state. It’s been almost 17 years since my last ‘piece of pie’ so to speak. Obviously mom and I see each other 2 or 3 times a year, but it’s usually a family event, not much one on one time. While it’s no longer necessary to talk about boys, time with mom is precious.

So, back to the card. Inside she wrote that she wanted to take me to Charleston for 3 days/2 nights! Wow! We just got back and we had a wonderful time! Read on if you’d like to hear more!(First of all, in order to make this possible, Dean had the kids by himself for 3 days! Thanks Dean!) Mom picked me up and we went right to lunch at Macaroni Grill. It was great winding down from the kids/life and getting ready to enjoy the next couple days. When we arrived, we checked in to the King Charles Inn on Meeting St. This is right in the middle of downtown with shopping all around so it was our plan to park the car and walk everywhere. After checking in, we went for a walk to see what was out there. Our hotel was only a couple blocks from the Old City Market. We went there but the vendors had already closed down so we went in search of dinner. We considered Bubba Gump’s just to say we did, but we weren’t enamored with the menu. We found Hyman’s Seafood Restaurant. This was a great old restaurant established in the 1800’s. You should see the awesome circular staircase! Also, as it turns out, lots of famous people eat there when in town. (they enter through a back door) The restaurant puts brass plaques on the tables where famous people sat. At my spot, sat David Lee Roth. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were at mom’s spot. Also at our table were the Beach Boys and Jasmine Guy. Cool. They also have a general store where I bought the kids a few things.

The next day we ate breakfast at Tropical Paradise. It felt like we were in the middle of an old Elvis beach movie! Then we walked back to the Market

and browsed all the vendors. I purchased a necklace there for Alyssa. Mom found a great deal, too. An item that goes with a collection of hers was 90% off! She got it for $6.00! After that, we walked down to The Charleston Battery Park and Rainbow Row taking lots of pictures along the way. By the time we got back we were ready for lunch at Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub. More shopping (with much indecision on my part) brought us to a store we’d visited 3 times already before making a decision to purchase my first Vera Bradley. After all that, all I bought was a wristlet and coin purse! Baby steps. I also wanted to go back to a stall in the Market where I saw Russian Nesting Dolls. I finally decided to buy one but the vendor had already packed up. *Sigh.* For dinner we ate at Bocci’s Italian Restaurant. Mom and I ordered the same thing which turned out to be a good idea since it had a LOT of garlic! I have eaten more than enough food to cancel out all calories burned by walking!

On our last day, we ate breakfast at the Market St. Deli then went back to the City Market to look for the Russian guy. He was still setting up, so we went and had a pastry to pass the time! Back at the Russian vendor’s table, I spent quite a while trying to decide which one I wanted. I chose the Wild Cats. I probably paid too much, but the guy was Russian and told a lot of fun stories. He was very interesting and fun to talk to, so it was worth it. We checked out of the hotel by 11am and drove home. We ended our trip with lunch at Olive Garden before picking up the kids from school. Back home, we gave them our gifts, then mom said goodbye. Best of all, we had a wonderful time of fellowship with each other. Thanks Mom! I love you!

Roan quote: Showing me his work of art: "Look mommy, its magnicifent!"

The Greatest Show on Earth!

Would you believe I've never been to the Circus? That lapse in childhood experiences has now been corrected! Last Saturday we took the kids to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was a lot of fun! They had all the traditional circus acts but set in a new show called 'Circus of Dreams'! Kai really liked the tigers. Alyssa loved the cats & dogs act. Roan's favorite was 'the whole thing' and I have to say mine was the motorcycle cage! It was amazing! They had SEVEN motorcycles going three different directions in one tiny ball! This picture only shows maybe 3 or four but they added more later. The acrobats were Dean's favorite. They were amazing, too. It was a bit pricey but definately worth it. At least the first time, I don't know if I'd go every year! It was cool though. We went an hour early for the pre-show where you get to go down on the floor and meet the performers and see some acts up close. They even brought out one of the elephants, a 'Zedonk' (zebra-donkey mix), and 2 Alpacas. (related to the llama, they got to pet these). Also, two clowns came up behind Kai and put a hand on his shoulder. He stood there for a minute until he realized it wasn't me. It scared the bejeebers out of him! (I don't think he's too fond of clowns! Me either actually, creepy!) But, they gave the kids red rubber noses to make up for it. Kai wouldn't let me take a picture of him with it on though! The show itself was longer than I expected. It was 2 hours long with an intermission half-way. So, with the pre-show, we were there for a good 3 hours. Again, I think it was worth the money. However, if you are planning to go, I would suggest you come well fed unless you plan on spending $6.00 on popcorn! Ridiculous!

Roan quote of the day: "Did you know the sky is made out of playdough? Alyssa and Kai told me that!" (They plead the 5th!)

Merry Belated Christmas!

And a Happy New Year! Boy it went by fast! We had a great time at home this Christmas. We really enjoy traveling to celebrate Christmas with extended family, but boy was it nice to be at our own home for Christmas this year. We also enjoyed going to Christmas Eve services at our church, something we usually miss. My mom recently wrote a booklet called 'How Hannukah Saved Christmas." So, this year, instead of the traditional Christmas Story that we normally read on Christmas Eve, we read mom's book. She did a great job and the kids enjoyed it. This year Dean made our christmas card online. If you did not receive it, then we don't have your email address!

I think movies were the theme this year. We watched 'Elf' with the kids on Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning they got 3 DVDs under the tree (The Pink Panther, National Treasure, and Pirates of the Carribean 2) that we watched with them throughout the week. Also on Christmas Day, we took them to see 'Night at the Museum' at the theatre. That was a fun movie. We really enjoyed it. For New Year's Eve we had friends over to play games and let the kids stay up to watch the ball drop on TV. We had a lot of fun, but I think we need some new games! Ours are getting stale. All in all we had a great holiday season, (although, one gift, it turns out, got accidentally thrown away! Hmph.)

Another activity that Dean did with the kids, is they dragged out ALL the legos we own. (including the ones Dean grew up with) They've been assembling them for a year and finally got them all out at the same time to play with. The room (200 sq. ft. bonus room) was FULL of legos. They loved it. I just want to make sure they all get put away.....

Here's a Roan quote to start the new year off: 'Mommy, if my brain gets wet, it will explode."

Happy New Year!