Picking the Perfect Tree!

One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories is going to a tree farm, picking out my favorite tree, and cutting it down to bring home and decorate! But, those tree farms are hard to find! However, this year (and hopefully for many more years to come!) we found Days of Creation Tree Farm, a family owned "choose and cut" tree farm not too far away!!! I was so excited that we even got the tree up in November this year!!!

Can you tell that they are a "little bit" excited?!?

Before getting to the Christmas trees, we got to meet all of the family pets: rabbits, chickens, and goats! And the best part, this goat kept trying to eat Kate's dress! Kate thought it was hilarious and Gabe did too...but he wouldn't go anywhere near the fence! :)

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The Tree Farm!

Days of Creation offers 9 different varieties of trees to choose from:

This year we picked out a Leyland Cypress....but I'm getting ahead of myself!

The kids were given a giant pole to measure the tree height.

(It was also written on the tags - but they didn't know that.)

Time to pick out the perfect tree!!!

We found it! A beautiful, very full, 7 foot tall, Leyland Cypress!

Kate helped her daddy saw it down.

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The kids tried to pull it to the car by themselves, but they weren't very successful!

Daddy & this kid carried it to the tractor, and then off it went!

Time to shake out the dead leaves and bag our tree!

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Finally, our perfect tree was tied to the roof and ready to go to its new home!

We had so much fun tonight!

What a great family tradition that I hope to continue for many years to come!!!

Jekyll Island Christmas

Thanksgiving with Jon's family now over, it was time to head south to begin Christmas celebrations with my family. Our first Christmas event of the season: The Jekyll Island Christmas Tree lighting!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas......

Santa!

Gabe really wasn't scared as it looks in this picture.

I think maybe he was just cold??

Even Scute made an special appearance tonight!

A tour of Santa's Go-Go (aka island car) and a hayride around the island to see all the lights.

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The annual Puppet Show.

The kids loved the show and especially loved being snuggled up with PawPaw!

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This year's craft: Turtle Wreaths!

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We also got to learn about the different types of turtle that have been rescued.

Obviosuly, these particular turtles weren't rescued.....

Cuddle Time to stay warm!

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Once Santa lit the giant tree, a beautiful display of fireworks began.

And the best part, this is the first time BOTH kids loved the fireworks!!!

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We have missed you Grandma & Pawpaw!

Thanksgiving at the Beach - Part 5

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love:

Jon, Deanna, Kate, & Gabe

Gabe refused to look at the camera for our family picture, but then kept saying "picture me" once the spotlight could be on just him!

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My little turkeys!

After a very yummy Thanksgiving lunch, I took the kids out on the beach to fly kites. It was so windy today that our owl about took the ears off of a few innocent bystanders, but otherwise we had a blast!

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While Kate & I flew the kite, Gabe collected lots of shells with his new friend.

After a little while, the rest of the gang joined us on the beach and Kate joined the boys in a game of football!

We had such a great week visiting all of Jon's family.

We wish we could see you all more often!

Thanks for making Thanksgiving 2009 so much fun!!!!

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Thanksgiving at the Beach - Part 4

Around Town

While we certainly spent most of our time hanging out at the condo, we did venture out into town a couple of times. One such fun adventure led us to the Ripley's Moving Theater! As you will see below, we were all going to sit in the moving seats while Andrew kept the kids on the front to watch from the non-moving seats. but, as you might can see from Gabe's face, he was already getting nervous even before the show began. Then, moments before showtime he panicked and there was no way he was going to sit with anyone but me! So I too ended up in the non-moving seats holding Gabe. When the lights went off he nuzzled into me and fell asleep! :)

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Since I missed the "action" movie, the theater let me watch it again! This time Myra held my sleeping little boy while Jon and I sat through the show. While in the theater, Kate & all the gang went out for a walk and Andrew took a couple of pictures...

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On another night, Jon & I decided to take the kids out to Broadway on the Beach for dinner at Margaritaville! The kids loved all the fun decorations, but they got extremely excited when the storm came and this giant bottle fell from the middle of the tornado!

Mmmmm....

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It was a bit chilly tonight and all the rides were closed, but we still waited around the giant tree to watch the lights "come alive" to Christmas carols.

Then we walked around to look at all the decorations.

We also fed the ducks and fish.

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but under the few ducks, were hundreds of "starving" fish!

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Crazy dragon that popped up while we were watching the Christmas tree.

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And last but not least, on the way to the car Kate wanted to go see this Christmas display in front of Ripley's Aquarium. She said that the White Witch (from Chronicles of Narnia) had been here and turned everyone into statues!

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