Atlanta stop #3 -- World of Coca Cola

Our last stop in Atlanta was the World of Coke.  Although they had some cool coke memorabilia, the museum was very busy, and not very interesting to the kids.  They did love meeting the polar bear, playing in the Christmas displays, and testing out Coke products from around the world in the tasting room (Africa was everyone's favorite!).

Atlanta stop #2...Georgia Aquarium

We took the exhausted troops back to our hotel on Emory University's campus, dragged them back out to dinner for sushi & thai food, stopped at a few comic book stores for Adam's latest collecting obsession, and finally headed back to the hotel for a drink in lobby while the monkeys ran around and exhausted themselves again.  We "slept in" until 7:30 (which drove Daddy NUTS) and headed out to the aquarium. Luckily, we got there early -- it was one of the busiest days of the year there.  The kids seemed to love the beluga whales the most, but the walk-through glass tunnel in the giant tank is always a hit (sharks, manta rays, giant grouper, and whale sharks glide right over your head!).  Savannah was into all of the touching exhibits, but Gage was a chicken!  He finally agreed to touch a ray and after rolling up his sleeve and getting him in position, he screamed and jumped away before the little ray could even get near him :-)

Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, GA

We took a mini vacation to Atlanta and the dinos were our first stop!  There weren't many dinosaurs (compared to Carnegie in Pittsburgh, or Chicago), but we loved the Sensing Nature exhibit (that was very science-museum-ish) and the giant kids play area upstairs.

The day after Christmas

We took the bikes out for a spin today and Savannah did GREAT.  Gage...well, maybe Mommy's decision to get rid of the tricycle BEFORE getting the bike was a little premature.  It's funny, watching her take off on a bike (even with training wheels), made me feel like she's so grown up!

Merry Christmas!

We had a fantastic Christmas this year. The kids finished school up on Wed., and brought home some special gifts for us. Gage made a handtowel decorated with a wreath made of his handprints. Savannah made a trivet decorated with a wreath made of her fingerprints.  On Christmas eve we had a nice meal of lamb and lobster ravioli with yummy pecan brandy bread pudding.  As we were about to sit down, Savannah came downstairs in her Christmas dress saying that she watned to look pretty for our special dinner and...she went into our closets to pick out clothes for us to wear for dinner. Mommy got a dress with red shoes, and Daddy got a shirt with red stripes and a red tie. We told her that she really helped to make our dinner feel more special by getting us all dressed up.  Christmas morning came around 6am -- Gage decided to "sleep in" that morning, but we were up and waiting for them at 5am.  Gage got lots of superhero gear and Savannah got lots of Barbie and polly pocket. Both got bikes.  We had our annual Christmas dinner of lobster, and spent the night making train tracks with the new Batcave and Batmobile "trains".

The Story of the Magic Christmas Pixies

Aunt Karen & Uncle Brooks gave each of the kids a Pixie ornament while in CT, and I told Savannah they were the magic Christmas pixies. Of course, Savannah wanted to know the "story" of these pixies. So, this is what I came up with:
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Along time ago, before the first Christmas, Santa was planning to fly around the world to give every child a toy. He needed something to pull his sleigh, and reindeer made the most sense off all the animals at the north pole (bunnies are too small, polar bears too big). Because reindeer don't fly, Santa knew he needed some magic. So, he took a trip to the Princess Fairy - who is the head of all fairies -- to ask for some magic pixie dust. The Princess Fairy decided that in addition to the water fairies, tinker fairies, and flower fairies,  there would now be Christmas pixie fairies who would live in the north pole, and whose job would be to make the magic pixie dust to make Santa's reindeer fly.  The pixies would collect Christmas snow (which we all know is magic because of Frosty the Snowman), and turn it into pixie dust that makes reindeer fly. And so, that has been the job of the Christmas pixies for hundred of years. The Christmas pixies are the fairies that help to make reindeer fly, and make it possible for Santa to give gifts to all the kids around the world!

Cookies, crafts, and reindeer food, oh my!

Every day, Mommy has a few Christmas treats or crafts in the schedule. Yesterday was cookies and reindeer food.  Judging how fast the reindeer food disappeared yesterday (DADDY!), there may not be enough to leave for the reindeer on Christmas!

Enjoying Grammy's house

Although Grammy started her new job and was busy working all week, we still had a great time. We
did not visit the moo-cows this trip (whaatt??) but we did do a lot of riding on Aunt Karen's old bouncy horse, spent a lot of time with Grandma Rooney, did all of Grandpa Pauly's Xmas shopping, and got to see lots of cousins, aunts, & uncles :-)

children's museum

Always a favorite, we snuck in a trip to KidCity while in CT. 

Decorating Grammy's tree

We decorated 2 trees in our house, 1 tree at Grandma Rooney's house, and a 4th tree at Grammy's house!!  Savannah loved the "boobie girl" ornaments (see if you can find them in the pictures ) and wanted some for her teachers (at her *very* Baptist preschool). We decided they would like angel ornaments better. Grammy -- who is typically very picky about her tree decorating -- was very patient with Savannah's decorating style ;-)

Firehouse Xmas Party

When Mommy was a little girl, she went to the Middlebury Firehouse Xmas party every year. This time, the kids got a chance to go and see Santa arrive on the back of a firetruck!  When someone yelled that Santa was here, Savannah took off, pushed the door open, and stood on the sidewalk as Santa pulled up in the firetruck!  After the party, we wandered around to visit the firetrucks and ring the bell (just like Mommy used to do!).

Gingerbread Village

We were lucky to catch the last day of St. George's gingerbread village this visit!  We met Kristine & "Baby" Elizabeth (who is 3, but Savannah insists she is still Baby E) to see the village (which is a fundraiser for the church), decorate some gingerbread cookies, and to see the house that Elizabeth made  Savannah literally drank the frosting for her cookie -- hellooo sugar high!!

Christmas #2 in Connecticut

The day after arriving in CT, we went to our annual family Xmas party that we celebrate at the nursing home where Grandpa Rooney now lives. The kids got to see lots of their cousins, do some crafts, play the organ, and had a surprise visit from Santa! Gage is definitely not afraid of Santa this year!

Christmas crafts -- cookie ornaments!

We have lots of cookie ornaments already, but why not make some more?! We now have LOTS & LOTS of cookie ornaments on the tree(s)!