Escaping VA.... for Christmas!

 

After being home with the kids for roughly 10 months, and battling Covid (me and Tim) and shingles (just me--Yay!), I was ready to escape the walls of my house for a new location.  Tim and I quickly agreed to book a house for Christmas break because we just had to get away and a rental house seemed like a safer option than a hotel.  And let's be honest, a beach in OBX in the dead of winter is about as socially distanced as you can get!  

We ended up going with a giant house in the Seven Sisters loop in Nags Head in the hopes that Garrett and Caroline would be able to join us.  In the end, they ended up working extra hours at their jobs and couldn't make it out.  So we had a 5 bedroom, 6 bathroom house to the 4 of us!  It was great to spread out on three levels and have lots of quiet time.  No one lets me spread out in my own home EVER.  I don't seem to be able to get 5 feet away from kids without them tracking me down.  Some of it is pandemic related (we've just spent SO MUCH TIME together) and some is just their age.  

With our week's vacation, we were able to visit the beach across the street several times, look for shells (no tourists = lots of shells on the beach), visit Jockey's Ridge, watch kite boarders in the sound at Jockey's Ridge, visit Pea Island, and order our favorite pizza from Nags Head Pizza Co.  

What a fun week to just relax and be away from the drudgery of the "same old thing" at home.... this might just become a yearly tradition!

Light Show and Cookie Time!

 

We made our yearly pilgrimage to the Meadows Event State Park for the Illuminations Light Show!  This show has only gotten better and more extravagant every year!  We've learned to go on a weeknight and to be there about half an hour before it opens.  If we try to go after it's already running for the night, we end up in a long line down the highway and wait for hours.  No fun!  This year, we were about the 30th car in line and were there by 5 PM.  

The Elves had "asked" the kids to bring them along for the light show, so Emily grabbed them in their travel tubes (so they wouldn't touch them accidentally and lose the magic).  Emily's baby doll had to go along as well.  Is there anyone in KG we didn't bring along?? Geesh.  But the lights were great, even though we didn't have the option to go into the Santa House this year and do our pic with the Big Guy.

The next day, Emily asked if she and Jason could make Christmas cookies and I was all for it!  This is the first year I just helped with the dough and then stood back as the magic of decorating began!  

Elf on the Shelf... Brings a Friend!

 

We got into the Elf on the Shelf game late!  My kids never seemed to really care that other kids had some elf that showed up and created chaos so I didn't push it.  Why set myself up for having to move this stinking Elf every night if I didn't have to?? Then the kids started asking why an Elf doesn't come to our house.... and Lily Sparkles showed up, in all her glory, last December 2019.  

This year, she brought along a friend!  The kids named him Jake.  Day 1 started with Lily bringing the new guy, along with cozy pajamas!  And it only got more spectacular from there!  Admittedly, working from home because of Covid made the Elf business much easier.  I had time to plan out things for the "Elves" to do and could stay up later to arrange their little setups.  Enjoy our amazing run with Lily Sparkles and Jake because I am positive that next year will not be this amazing!