November and December 2017

November (the 2nd part):

Visit from Nana

Nana stopped at our house on the way down to her place in the Keys and stayed with us for a week at Thanksgiving. The weather was nice and the kids enjoyed spending some time outside with Nana.

Thanksgiving

Carol cooked a great meal for Thanksgiving.

Devil’s Millhopper

On one of the days that Nana was in town, we went over to Devil’s Millhopper for a hike. We didn’t know it until we got there, but the park had experienced some damage due to hurricane Irma, so the steps down to the sinkhole were closed off, pending repairs. Even with that area being closed, we enjoyed our walk.

December:

Ice Cream Sundaes

One evening while Carol and Grant were away at a concert, Jenna and I made ourselves some ice cream sundaes. Jenna was very excited.

Jenna’s School Program

Jenna participated in her school’s Christmas program and did a great job!

The video is courtesy of Stepping Stones Preschool.

Second Business Trip

In early December, I went back to San Diego for a company meeting. It was a quick trip with travel on Wednesday, the meeting on Thursday, and travel home on Friday. They held the meeting at a very nice hotel and somehow I ended up in a suite. If ever I end up taking Carol and the kids along on a trip, it is definitely a hotel that would be great for the family.

Visit from Matty

During the week of Jenna’s birthday, a stuffed monkey named Matty came home with Jenna from Preschool. Matty stayed with us and part of Jenna’s homework was to have us document the adventures that she had with Matty in a journal that other classmates had used for their birthday week with Matty. So we wrote about his adventures and documented them with photos, and got to read about all the other adventures Matty had. It was a cute assignment.

Big Girl Bed and Preparing for Christmas

In preparation for Jenna’s birthday and for Christmas, we made a trip to a bed store and then stopped at a Christmas tree tent. The man who sold us the Christmas tree seemed to find it amusing that we asked him to shove the tree in the trunk since the roof of the car was already taken by the bed. The kids didn’t mind being jammed in the backseat of the car with the stroller that normally resides in the trunk.

And then, of course, we had to decorate the tree. Grant was a huge help with that this year.

Grant’s School Program

Grant performed with his classmates in this year’s 4th and 5th grade holiday program, “December in Our Town”. I stayed home with Jenna, so Carol recorded the program for me to watch later.

Jenna’s Birthday

Jenna turned 5 on December 14th. Since her birthday was in the middle of the week, we spread the celebration out over the weekend. We took the obligatory “cake face” photos. Along with presents, Jenna got her big girl bed. She’s doing great in it. We also went roller skating and she did pretty well on carpet for her first time skating, on the roller rink, not so much.

Visit from Gramma and Pa

Gramma and Pa came into town for Christmas. The kids were excited to have them and Grant was able to convince Gramma to hold his hamster, Seymour. This is significant because I had small pets like that and I was never able to get her to even touch them. She even admitted to liking Seymour!

Jenna enjoyed having picnics and pretending to be a doctor with Gramma and Pa. She was sure to give them checkups everyday with her toy stethoscope. She would listen to their hearts and then ask them to take a deep breath. And typically that was followed up with giving them their shots. Gramma and Pa left here well vaccinated.

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a great Christmas Eve service at Trinity United Methodist and then drove around town for a bit looking at Christmas lights.

Christmas

Christmas morning finally arrived and Santa had come over night! There were way too many presents to open.

Christmas Cookies

The holiday tradition of making and decorating Christmas cookies continued this year.

Cedar Key Day Trip

It was a bit cool, but we took Mom and Dad over to Cedar Key so that they could say that they’d seen both coasts of Florida (we took them to a beach on the Ocean side years ago). Cedar Key is a cute little fishing town on the Gulf of Mexico, with a nice little downtown area and a small beach with a playground and shelters. We had a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon playing on the beach.