A CHRISTMAS TRADITION IN FLORA - LITTLE TOOT RAILROAD

We had a great time with the family as we enjoyed the Christmas lights at Charlie Brown Park. It's a family tradition of ours to ride the train and take in the festivities.

Reagan and Jackson as we were passing through the lighted tunnel on the Little Toot Railroad Track. You can see Uncle Zac just behind them.


More pretty Christmas lights at Charlie Brown Park in Flora, Illinois.

The Rinehart clan on a horse-drawn carriage ride.

Bay, Reagan and Jackson.

MORE CHRISTMAS FUN

The day after Christmas we traveled to Illinois to celebrate the holidays with our family. We started out at the Rineharts, the next day we had a wonderful dinner with the Cammon's and then even got to spend the whole afternoon with my Grandpa Boose. Even though I ended up sick and we went home a day early, It was a great trip!!

The boys played Rock Band with Uncle Zac and their Dad. It was quite entertaining and of course, not only do the boys want this game...so does Joe.

Ready to open gifts at Grandma and Grandpa Rinehart's house. Bayley, Reagan and Jackson enjoyed passing out the gifts. Reagan was so excited every time she found one for her Daddy.


Julie (me), Jackson and Bay on Christmas morning. You'll notice the crab cage to the right in the photo, of course they had to come downstairs for the festivities. A family tradition is to watch the marathon of "A Christmas Story" until we can't stand it anymore. You'll see the famous Santa scene on the TV in the background.

Riley Anne enjoyed her Christmas surprise very much. It was so cute to watch her tackle her toy and get excited when it would squeak.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Jackson nicely smiling for me to take the yearly "stocking photo". You'll notice the black hat he has on. He calls it his toboggan and wore it everyday of vacation. He loves it!

Bayley proudly displaying his Illini football.

Bay made a bridge of gifts before he started opening them. No matter the age they like to "play with the wrapping and the boxes". I love that he is wearing the Santa hat.

Jackson was eager to open his Christmas morning surprises.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ok guys, I'm sorry for the delay in posting these photos from the holidays. I had started posting once the holiday break was pretty much over and then I cut my hand washing dishes. I couldn't even use the mouse for a week. More details will follow in a later post...point is I'm back up and running so here we go......

Bay and Jackson putting out the cookies and milk for Santa. Of course, we didn't forget the carrots for the reindeer. If you look at ALL of the stocking hanging on the mantle, you'll notice a few more than last year. Yeah, we HAD to get small stockings for the newest members of the family. Oh you know... Bubbles, Bubba, Speedy and Bolt.

Yeah, Christmas Eve is finally here!!

Our Christmas Eve dinner in our beautiful dinning room. I love to cook and entertain so the holidays are right up my alley. I'm lucky to have boys. I can cook the food and they can eat it. It was so special to enjoy our holiday meal on my Grandma Cammon's dishes. I only use them on special occasions and this fits the bill.

CHRISTMAS FUN!

Here are some photos from some of our Christmas fun this year.

Bay loves arts and crafts so making a Christmas elf puppet was right up his alley.

Joe even helped with the gingerbread house this year. Bay and Jax were very proud of their completed project.

Having a great time making the gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

"Beauty-ful Clark!"

MORE PETS-SPEEDY AND BOLT

Ok, I've told you about Bubba and Bubbles the fiddler crabs. Well, I didn't have photos of the turtles at that time so here are the rest of the pets. In July we brought Speedy back to Alabama with us. A month or so later Larry found Bolt and of course he came home with us on our next trip. So Joe and the boys went to Petco and bought the turtles a nice home that I affectionately refer to as the turtle taj mahal. You should see this thing. They have everything they could need. The boys do well taking care of them, but Bay really enjoys making sure they have what they need.

Speedy got camera shy and found refuge in his log.

Arial view of the "land of turtles".

Here is Bolt in action.

A VISIT TO THE STATE CAPITOL- MONTGOMERY, AL

I had a meeting in Montgomery, so we thought we would take the boys and visit a few landmarks. We saw the confederate white house, a statue in memory of fallen service men and the state capitol. The Christmas tree was huge!

Bay and Jackson standing on the steps of the Alabama state capitol building.

Huntsville Botanical Garden Galaxy of Lights

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is looking at Christmas lights. This year we took Bay and Jax along with two of their friends over to Huntsville to see the light display at the Botanical Gardens. As we exited to go to the lights we saw the line to enter the Garden started right at the end of the exit ramp. Holy Cow!! We waited 45min to see the lights. I must say it was worth the wait. What a great display. Below are some of our favorites.