Merry Christmas Eve

Uncle Isaac, Auntie Erin, and Baby Seth have arrived, the luminaries are lit (and not rained out!), and the presents are appearing under the tree. :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Short Sleeves

It was a nice day for the playground!

Duck Pond Lights

It was a beautiful evening to go out to see Christmas lights. We went to the duck pond near the hospital, which has a huge display (and actual ducks). The boys really liked it, especially since they got to see several inflatable snowmen. Mattie was also pleased that he was allowed to touch some of the displays. :)

Florida

We made it down to Florida late last night. The boys were great on the trip (the long stop at the Playland probably helped!) But somewhat unfortunately, they woke up when we arrived, so these first couple pictures were taken around midnight! So, their sleep schedule is a bit off, but that's okay since we're on vacation time. :)

Today, Matthew and James both enjoyed playing with the hose.  They wanted to go in the pool (especially James), but it's really cold -- dipping their feet in in probably helped change their mind.  I think James remembers playing with a bottle in the pool last time he was here, because he keeps talking about it.

Matthew has also spent a fair amount of quality time playing with Grandma's vacuum.

Early Present

The boys were very happy to get a new train from Grandma and Grandpa B! Thanks very much!!

Cousins at Play

The boys had a great time playing at Cousin Daniel's house -- and actually with Cousin Daniel this time!  They all played trains together, and they also briefly all played hide and seek with one of Daniel's toy bears together.  (Then James decided he wanted to play hide and seek with Elmo instead.)  Hide and seek with stuffed animals means one person hiding it, and the others -- including the original finder -- finding it.  :)  It's so cute to see Mattie and Daniel talking with each other. 

The snowman PJs that Mattie is wearing are actually Daniel's.  I'd brought the blue ones for Mattie, but James was really excited about wearing them, so we let him (much to Mattie's dismay, since I didn't realize that James really wanted "the blue ones", and had already started to put them on Mattie).  But Auntie Nora saved the day by offering Mattie the snowman ones instead, which he loved even though they're too big for him.   

Cold Colonials

Daniel was very excited about going to the candy store in Williamsburg! (Apparently other people were, too -- it was packed!) James loved looking at all the foil-wrapped chocolate Santas and snowmen in the store. But he and Mattie were maybe even more interested in the half-size fire hydrant near the store. :)

We also got to say hello to Thomas Jefferson (in bronze) and Father Christmas.  

Kidsberg

We took a road trip from Cousin Daniel's house to see a bit of Colonial Williamsburg (which Uncle Adrian and I called Colonial Trolliamsburg after a sketch in Sesame Street), but the big attraction for the kids was this great playground. It had all kinds of cool climbing structures, including ones shaped like a ship and another like a castle. James liked climbing the tires and going down the slides with Mommy, and Mattie liked the up-and-down bridge. The benches in the middle pictures here are actually one big swing! 

The only problem is that it was really cold!  (Cloudy and low 40s, but it felt even colder -- brr.)  So, we didn't stay as long as we otherwise could have.