Hoem Christmas Together

Walt's family has been getting together before Christmas for

a family dinner.  With all the kids getting older and the 

families getting bigger it's hard to get everyone together on

Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so this has worked out

for the last couple years.

 Arin inherited this Norwegian sweated from Walt's dad.  It's a beautiful

sweater and fit her so well

 Some of the grandkids, Trever on the left with his back to us,

Boston at the table with him.  Colby way in the back

sitting down Cody standing.  Ally in the pink talking to Fayth

 Pete got his dinner

 Adam and Brooke chatting

 Hard to take pictures without getting into peoples faces.

 Santa showed up.  Ellie and Pete aren't too excited about him

But since he brought presents they tolerated him for a minute.

I didn't take very many pictures.  I don't like staged pictures and

it was a little dark to take any far away.  These few will help me

remember the day.  :o)

Early Christmas with Ellie & Pete

It is Brooke and Chris' year to spend Christmas in San Diego

so they came over the week before Christmas to 

celebrate with us.

 Ellie actually commented on how pretty the present was wrapped

 Pete didn't care about the wrapping but he liked the garage

 Since they were going to be here Auntie Amy sent her present 

up and they got to unwrap it early too.  It was a big hit, Charlie

even had to walk across it once.

 Then it was time to play with all the new stuff

We even got in some cookie decorating the next day

before we headed to Walt's Family Christmas Dinner

Florida for Thanksgiving

This was the year for the kids to be with us for Thanksgiving

So we decided to make an adventure of it 

since it was my birthday too.

 We met Brooke and family at the airport to fly to

Ft. Lauderdale together then we met up with Amy
and her family at the house we rented in Homestead, FL

 We all got in really late so we slept in the next morning

and took it easy all day.  Claire read to Ellie and Pete

Two of the rooms downstairs had three sets of bunkbeds in them

One room downstairs had a queen bed and they all shared a bathroom

Upstairs was two more rooms with queen beds and each had a 

bathroom.  Lots of room!

Mr. Cool in Ellie's sunglasses

 We went to the grocery store and then

 we headed to Biscayne National Park late in the day

 Saw some wildlife, bet you've never seen one of these

or one of these 

 Be careful of the shark Claire

 Ibis flying to their night time spot down the coast

 The house we rented in Homestead had a huge table

all 10 of us sat at it comfortably

 Maybe too comfortably, we thought Pete was going to 

fall asleep

Wednesday we made our way down the Florida Keys

First stop Key Largo

Okay the sun was on the camera viewer so I 

couldn't see I was cutting off the top of the chair 

 Dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Key West

 Thanksgiving morning we got up very early to catch the

ferry to Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park 70 miles west of Key West

 2.5 hour ride

 Ft. Jefferson took up the biggest island in the park

 We spend the whole day on the island looking at the fort

 the surrounding waters

This was on the walk around the top of the fort

 After lunch we hit the beach for the rest of the afternoon 

 A couple hermit crabs joined us

 and these guys

 Ellie got her first lesson in snorkeling

 Amy and Claire

 After the ferry ride home we drove by the Southernmost

point of the Continental US

 Ellie's comfy bed on the floor at the hotel

 They called it a Villa since we rented all three rooms in 

this one section

 The kids had to get some swimming in the last morning

 Pete's floating on his back

 Claire is at the bottom of that hole

 Cade inched around the pool edge with Ellie

 Auntie Brooke held a swimming class

 There were four pools and we had this one to ourselves

 View from the lanai on the back of the villa

The front view was the sandy beach

 Heading back to Homestead it didn't take long for 

the kids to crash

 We stopped at this park on the way down for lunch

 This is a different park on the way back for lunch and a swim

 On Saturday, Brooke and Chris took the kids up to Jupiter, FL

to meet up with friends of theirs

So Amy and her family took us to Miami Beach for the day

 The Atlantic Ocean was a little colder than the 

Gulf of Mexico yesterday 

 Miami Beach

 Lunch at Senor Frog's

 Fun Place!!

Breakfast before going to the Everglades

 Pete and Pa walking toward the visitor center

 Cutie Putooties!

We had to cover the windshield and wipers with this

tarp to keep the vultures from pecking away the rubber 

 American Alligator

 Ibis

 Egret

 Bigger alligators

 Beautiful boardwalk thru the park

 We went up to the Nike Missile Base in the park 

for a tour and 

 Tailgated for lunch

Used in the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 60's

and the family

 The grassy marsh went on forever

 A Manatee down at the Flamingo Visitor Center

He's in the wild of the Gulf

The next morning we were off to Seattle bright and early

We had a great time, it was a Thanksgiving to remember

I'm thankful everyone got to go with us and we all made

it safe and sound!!