Cumberland Caverns

On our way home from visiting Go Joy and Grandpa we stopped at Cumberland Caverns to give the boys a chance to experience the concept of 'underground,' which they don't get much exposure to in Florida. It was very enjoyable and we even saw a very small bat.

Christmas Part 2: Tennessee

We had an epic Christmas in Tennessee at Go Joy and Grandpa's house, where we got to spend time with the Eric's brother Todd and his family and Eric's sister Lisa and her family. We had the whole crew! All of the cousins had a blast playing together (turns out Ethan has a knack for Wii bowling; Emerson worked on his pool with Grandpa) and we enjoyed being with family we don't often get to see. We spent time at the Country Christmas event down at Opryland where we got to ice skate, see the giant indoor ice sculpture exhibit, decorate gingerbread houses and do an elf scavenger hunt. Great fun! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas part 1: Tampa

We celebrated an early version of Christmas with Gama which included the boys wearing jingly elf hats. They were perhaps most delighted with the umbrella pirate swords but also appreciated getting new pajamas and socks and other assorted loot. Merry Christmas!

Cookie elves

Star

Ethan's Amazing Legoland Birthday

Captiva

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach on Captiva this year. On the drive down we had the best barbecue ever (seriously) at Reuben's Smokehouse in Fort Myers. While in Captiva we spent a lot of time at the beach. While not at the beach, we took a spin in a small surrey (cue the song...) and Eric caught us Spanish mackerel which we ate for Saturday dinner. Thanksgiving dinner itself was a feast at the Old Captiva House at the Tween Waters Resort. All was wonderful!

Thanksgiving week fun at Busch Gardens

The boys and I enjoyed Christmas on Ice, Elmo's Holiday Wish, and lots of Christmas cheer this week in the lead up to Thanksgiving. Seems slightly premature but we loved it anyway. Especially the ice skating show which was really a lot better than I expected. We look forward to going back in time to celebrate Thanksgiving later this week!