Christmas in Chicago {2018}

Posted in Family, Travel by Kendra G.

We started our Christmas break with a lovely Christmas service at church on Friday night.

Saturday morning came early and we hopped on a plane to head to Chicago!

Michael and Rachel showed us around the city while the kids headed back to the house to bake cookies and see Arie.

We stopped at Macy’s to get warm and check out the Christmas tree and beautiful decorations.

Afterwards, we hopped on over to the Christkindlmarket which was packed the moment it opened. I got a cute mug full of warm goodness, then we headed out.

Our next stops included Garrett Popcorn, Ballast Point to taste some beers, and Au Cheval for the best burger in the entire city.

Finally, we met up with the kids at Forge Brewery!

The next two days, we had a wonderful visit with family.

We were hopeful for more snow, but she was thrilled to at least see this much.

Christmas morning was full of coffee and opening presents before we packed our bags to hit the road.

Our first stop was in Lafayette for a short, but sweet, visit with the cousins.

After one more stop in Indy, we were on the road. 14 hours later, we arrived in warm Orlando to continue our Christmas break!

We had such a wonderful time in Chicago and we already can’t wait to plan our next visit. To say that Michael and Rachel were amazing hosts would be an understatement. We had such a very, merry Christmas!

2Dec2018

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

s’mores by the christmas tree on friday night while watching the grinch.

five miles with the girls.

lego building and beer drinking.

saturday night fun after watching the intense ucf football game!

kenley started a new soccer league today, indoor!

reunited!

living their best life with matching christmas pajamas!

***

we had a great first weekend of december!
bring on all things christmas!

how was your weekend?

22Dec2017

Christmas Tree Trail

Posted in Family by Kendra G.

Last weekend, we headed to Disney Springs to check out the Christmas Tree Trail. It was really cool and I am sure it will be a new Christmas tradition. Once we got to the Tangled tree about halfway through, Kenley declared that she wanted a picture with every single tree. Therefore, I present you the entire trail of trees.

Alice and Wonderland

Mulan

Mary Poppins

The Muppets

The Jungle Book

Lilo & Stitch

Peter Pan

Tangled

Dumbo

Robin Hood

Villians

Fantasia

101 Dalmatians

Pinnochio

Cinderella

Snow White

Frozen

Beauty and the Beast

Sleeping Beauty

The Little Mermaid

The Princess and the Frog

Pluto

Mickey & Minnie

We were expecting it to be busy considering how late in December it was, but we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t! We had so much fun looking at each of the uniquely decorated trees.

17Dec2017

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

we started the weekend on thursday night with ice skating and burgers on campus.

crosby did well but it was short lived.

back at it on saturday morning. 8 miles with the girls!

gorgeous sunrise that reminded me of stranger things.

we celebrated cari’s birthday by roller skating!

game time outside.

family movie night! we watched the polar express.

roasting marshmallows for s’mores!

yum!

we headed down to disney springs after church to check out the christmas decorations.

it was a gorgeous day and our cold front has definitely ended.

we walked through the trail of trees and kenley got her picture with every single one. i’ll share those soon. it was super cool!

***

we had a good, low key weekend filled with christmas fun!

how was your weekend?

10Dec2017

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

kenley and i had a girls night out on friday. we saw my son pinocchio jr. at her school! we knew a few girls in the show so it was super fun.

on saturday, we headed to hollywood studios! the weather was nice and cool but got colder as the day went on.

crosby was so excited to meet bb8!

hanging out with the storm troopers.

cruz from cars 3!

greg and kenley rode the tower of terror before we left. kenley said she half liked and half didn’t like it, but then said it was her favorite thing of the day.

sunday run day with the girls. it was freezing! it felt like 34 degrees out.

gloves and socks to keep our hands warm. we’re not used to this.

our advent calendar activity was building a gingerbread village!

we ended our productive sunday with instant pot chili and chocolate chip cookies with friends.

these boys are incredible!

***

we had a fun weekend.

how was yours?

3Dec2017

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by Kendra G.

we saw coco on friday night. it was amazing! go see it!

saturday morning, we headed to the first park of the day to see crosby’s friend sagan!

just hanging around.

in the afternoon, we headed to our second park to celebrate fenn’s birthday!

it was so good to see so many friends from kenley’s old school.

we made it to the ale house just in time for the second overtime of the ucf game and got to see the knights win! they ended the season 12-0 and are conference champions. we’re now peach bowl bound!

the bike gang heading back from the park.

our advent calendar activity…making chocolate covered pretzels!

***

we had a great first weekend of december.
how was your weekend?

20Dec2016

Christmas at Seaworld // 2016

Posted in Family by Kendra G.

Another item on our advent list this year was to see the Christmas lights and decorations at SeaWorld. We went last year for the first time and absolutely loved it. Instead of the Polar Express this year, the main attraction was Rudolph and friends. I was a little bummed that the Polar Express wasn’t back because it was really so cool last year, but Rudolph was a nice change of pace and something new for us to see.

Unfortunately, it was pushing 90 degrees when we arrived. Nothing says happy holidays like sweating like crazy walking around to look at the decorations. Luckily, when the sun went down it was a little better, but it was still really humid.

Untitled

We only rode a couple of rides since the lines were a little long. The kids could have looked at the train display all day. We watched them go around and around during the day and then again at night when they were all lit up. It’s such a cool display.

We were ready for the Sea of Trees show which had a cute little introduction and skit before the light show started. Crosby joined the other kids to sing a Christmas carol and was asked to participate in the show!

The show did not disappoint and Crosby did such a good job ringing the bell. He was all about it! After the show, we headed over to see the Rudolph in the Christmas village.

The line for Rudolph and Clarice was a bit long, so we met Bumble instead before we walked around to see the lights.

The park was beautifully decorated and the lights were amazing. We had such a great time once again this year.

1Dec2016

advent calendar activities {2016}

Posted in Family by Kendra G.

Welcome to another season of Pinterest Christmas!

My first project for the year was to come up with activities to fill the buckets of our diy advent calendar. I am so excited for all of our fun activities this month. When I sit down to make the list of activities, I always have my calendar out so I know what fun things we already have planned so I can fill those buckets first. Next, I fill in the remaining weekend days since those days are good for more time-intensive activities. I fill in the remaining days with activities that worked well in the past, or with new ideas from Pinterest. This year, my friend Lindsey shared her list with me, so I borrowed some of her ideas to mix in some new ones.

{1} Find Sprinkles the Elf [on the Shelf]
{2} Mail Christmas cards
{3} Go to Disney Springs to see the Christmas decorations
{4} Build a gingerbread house
{5} Make reindeer chow
{6} Have snowflake pancakes for dinner
{7} Get a blizzard at DQ
{8} Wear Christmas pajamas and read Christmas books
{9} Listen to Christmas music
{10} Build a “sand” man at the beach
{11} Donate toys and clothes to others
{12} Kenley shops for Crosby’s gift
{13} Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows
{14} Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon
{15} Make a Lego Christmas ornament
{16} Family movie night: The Polar Express
{17} Crosby shops for Kenley’s gift
{18} Go to Sea World to see the Christmas lights
{19} String popcorn for the Christmas tree
{20} Drive around and look at Christmas lights
{21} Celebrate Christmas with friends
{22} Roast marshmallows over the fire and makes s’mores
{23} Make Christmas cookies for Santa
{24} Go to the Christmas Eve service at church

Some activities are small compared to others, but I don’t want to over commit ourselves or feel like we are rushing from one thing to the next. The point is to enjoy the Christmas season together as a family and that is what we intend to do! You can see our previous activities here and here.

Keep an eye out for other fun projects coming soon as part of Pinterest Christmas and don’t forget to check out Misha’s projects at Emerald City Diaries.

You can also see past Pinterest Christmas projects here.

Happy December!