A Party for the New Year

Since it is hard for family to come for Christmas now, we usually celebrate New Years Eve with as many of the family that can come.  We had a good group this year.  We went to dinner at Golden Coral - it made it nice to not have to clean up a big dinner. We rented the Clubhouse and had lots of snacks in the evening.  Kids swam, we played games and it was crazy. 

After dinner we were off to the Clubhouse.  Let the games begin.

The balancing of the golf balls.  If you think it can't be done, look again.

Here is all three:

 

More games:

Drake and Maddie with the breakfast scramble (putting the front of a cereal box together)

Harmony with the "Elephant" game. Holly below.

Kent balancing the cups.  Mike balancing below.

  Everyone enjoyed watching all the goings on!

 Sarah jiggling the balls out of a box on her hips!

 Layne sorting M&Ms, below Matt sorting. 

After all the games (family bingo, candy bar game, wii games, etc etc) the midnight hour finally arrived!

The serpentine began to fly and the bubble wrap created loud noise!!

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas and Memories

Christmas is always a special holiday.  We didn't put up as many decorations as we usually do since we were gone so  much during December.  It is nice to stop and ponder on the real meaning of Christmas.

 Our Christmas tree

This year we went to Eric's home and met with Carrie and family for Christmas Eve.  The kids all had planned and put on the Nativity Play for all of the adults.  That is always a fun thing and brings back memories of when our children used to do that each year.

  Our kids back in 1975 (Melinda, Glen, Holly and Eric)

 Another Nativity with cousins.
One of  my favorite Nativity plays was in 1999.  Here are a few pictures.  Two of the little shepherds got in a fight with their staffs.  It was so funny!

Here is the Nativity for this Christmas

 

Sam, Weston, Will, Jake, Harmony and Maddie

The grandchildren in the nativity play for 2010.  

Christmas morning took us to Carrie and Matt's home.  We actually woke them up and waited for a little bit until they were up and could let us in.  

The Godfrey kids on the stairs.

This brought back memories to me of when we used to sit on the stairs with all of our kids waiting to see if Santa had come. 

1995

1998

1998

Things have changed through the years! 
 Our house used to be full of present on Christmas morning -  a little different now!

This was in 1995 - the year of the stuffed Santas.  Isn't that a cute one in the front?  Cute little Braxton -- he is almost 16 now! 

Santa found the Godfrey home and it was fun to be with them as they opened presents. 

Emmett got a tent!  Maddie got a sewing machine and has been doing some sewing - good job Maddie!
We left the Godfrey's and went over and got to Eric's in the middle of them opening their gifts.  A fun morning.

Santa was very good to them!!

Harmony put on a fashion show with all the new clothes she got!! 
It was a fun day!! 

Florida Continued

After a cold Monday in Island of Adventure we were hoping to have warmer weather, but Tuesday was also pretty cold.  We went to the other park in Universal.   Universal Studios.

We went into a Tribute to Lucy that had all kind of displays, information, videos, and model of the actual set of filming the Lucy shows. 

We went into a demonstration of "Horror Shows" and how they do make-up.  It was very interesting!

We saw lots of things and then ate lunch at Mel's Diner - a 50's like place. 

We went to an animal show that was fun. 

We met a family that was there from England.  They were fun to talk to. 

During the show there was a cute pig that would walk across the stage periodically.  This time the chicken is chasing it. 

This chimp was one of the stars of the show.  He was pretty funny.

In the afternoon we saw the Macy's Holiday Parade.  A lot like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. 

There were beautiful Christmas trees every place we went. 

Paul went on all of the roller coasters in the parks we visited.  Some of there looked pretty awesome!!

We ate lunch at Finnegans Irish Bar and Grill.

We saw lots of interesting places and things! 

The third day we were at the parks, we went back and visited and walked through places we had been too before and spent time where we wanted more time.  The weather was much nicer and warmer and we enjoyed the day. 

It was warm enough that we even went on a water ride. 

Thursday we were on to Disney and the Animal Kingdom.  The weather was very nice this last day we were in Florida. 

We went into Asia and went on a ride in the new Mount Everest.  The line getting there was really interesting with lots of things like you were going to climb the mountain. 

We enjoyed "It's Tough to Be a Bug" 

We went on a safari ride through Africa.

We saw the Lion King.

We watched the parade in Animal Kingdom.  Their animals were very interesting. 

Friday we left early to go to the airport.  We flew through Ohio and then on to Arizona.  It was snowy in Ohio.