Aunt EA went with Jen to Bingo when Uncle Scott was out of town, so Molly, Leah, and I babysat Charlie at our house. It went great, and I took lots of pictures. Here are a bunch of them.
This almost-middle-schooler had fun with the toddler toys we got out for Charlie.
Doctor Leah needs to hear your heart, Charlie.
I don’t know what evil doctor Leah is injecting into Charlie.
These old matchbox cars captivated Charlie for much of his visit. Leah did a great job playing with him. Molly… nice face.
I’m taking a picture from one side, while Molly takes a picture from the other.
Charlie enjoyed watching Molly play a game on her phone.
Molly decided she could entertain Charlie with some viola music. He paid attention to her for a few seconds, then went back to the cars.
Christmas morning arrived with stockings and presents.
This Harry Potter fan was excited to get a Sorting Hat.
Grampa donned the Sorting Hat as well. He looks happy with his placement (Hufflepuff, I’d guess).
Molly got 5 supplimentary Harry Potter books.
The girls loved their new unicorn slippers that Jen found for them. Combined with their new pajamas and new earmuffs (and Santa hat for Molly), they’re very cozy.
The girls both love unicorns, so they were excited to get these fun unicorn earrings. Leah’s are extra special, as they are her first pair of dangly earrings (which she’s been wanting for some time).
Jen made these fun Grandparent shirts for G’Mom and Grampa.
And G’Mom always loves her calendar.
We then headed to Grams’s house for breakfast and more presents.
Molly was most excited about getting a Hatchimal. Actually, she got two, as the giant egg hatched with twin giravens (cross between a giraffe and a raven).
Leah was most excited about getting this Hermione plush (she got Harry and Ron as well).
After presents, we had a delicious Christmas dinner (with Christmas crackers) and enjoyed each others’ company. Later in the afternoon, things got exciting for Molly. The Hatchimal started to hatch!
Time to catch up on what’s been happening with us (as I have failed to post things for a month and a half). So, pretend it’s just before Christmas for the next few days.
This Christmas, G’Mom and Grampa came to visit. This involved a lot of Christmas activity (some of which will get their own posts) as well as fun around the house.
Leah was happy to show off her checkers skills to G’Mom.
The girls also decorated a gingerbread house.
Grammy came in town as well, and even came to our house for dinner the first night.
With G’Mom and Grampa visiting, we had to play Telestrations. As always, hilarity ensued.
For Thanksgiving, we went to visit G’Mom and Grampa, who live outside of Memphis, Tennessee. This is usually a flying trip for us, but I wanted to try driving it. I really hate flying, and Thanksgiving crowds make it all the worse. Since Jen got a nice new car last year, road trips have become much more comfortable. So, I managed to convince Jen to give driving a shot.
It’s too far to do in one day, so we stayed at a hotel in Abingdon, Virginia. We ended up with between 8 and 9 hours driving each day. We left Monday after school and got in Tuesday before dinner. I thought the driving was great. My family members were less enthusiastic, but they admitted it wasn’t that awful.
Wednesday afternoon, Emmie, JJ, Aunt ‘Chelle, and Uncle J arrived. Tennessee was having a cold snap (meaning it was about normal for us Marylanders), so the kids all had some hot cocoa.
Thanksgiving was super special this year. G’Mom’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving day this year, which meant we got to celebrate with her.
Lots of music happened while we were in Tennessee. Molly and Leah even got introduced to JJ’s drum set. They teamed up to try them out, accompanying Emmie.
Before our Thanksgiving meal, the kids helped Grampa set up the manger scene outside.
The girls decided they needed to ride the manger animals.
Here’s the finished scene (with Grampa hiding in the background).
There was of course much eating on Thanksgiving.
After eating, we took some family pictures (which you won’t find here) in front of the manger scene. Then we decided to take part in the scene, with everyone playing the part of one of the characters in the scene. Looks like the best live nativity I’ve ever seen.
These kids do have fun together.
We finished Thanksgiving day with a concert including a violin/viola duet (which they practiced only a couple times briefly before performing), piano, violin, viola, and the Long family trio.
There was one more bit of excitement on Thanksgiving day. The kitchen sink decided to stop draining, meaning we couldn’t wash the dishes from Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up disconnecting the pipes, draining into a bucket, and washing by hand (occasionally emptying the bucket in a nearby bathroom). Thanksgiving plumbing problems are fun!
Friday morning, we decided to head to IHOP for breakfast instead of creating dishes. The girls thought it was amazing (they split red velvet pancakes).
Thankfully, the plumber came out that morning and cleared the clog, so the kitchen resumed operation.
Friday afternoon Emmie, JJ, Uncle J, and Aunt ‘Chelle headed back to Alabama. Afterward, Grampa and I picked up a Christmas tree. The girls enjoyed helping decorate it.
I don’t think Leah is sure about the placement of this ornament.
The girls liked these ornaments so much, G’Mom and Grampa said they could keep them.
Saturday we got up and hit the road for the drive back. Sadly, that meant we could not watch the Iron Bowl (where Auburn defeated #1 Alabama to win the SEC West), but we did enjoy listening to the broadcast in the car on our drive to our hotel. The drive home had a bit of traffic, but was mostly uneventful and took us almost the exact amount of time that it took to drive down.
In September we had visitors from a far away land. Emmie, JJ, Aunt ‘Chelle, and Uncle J flew up to spend a couple days with us. While they were here, we went for a fun outing of putt-putt. We split into two foursomes, with the girls requesting me to accompany them while JJ and the other adults made up the other foursome. There was some intense concentration.
The girls had fun golfing, but also got a bit of time to relax while waiting on the other group to catch up.
It was fun!
The putt-putt course is right next to Rita’s, so we had to stop in for a treat.
Saturday morning, we woke up, packed up, and began our journey home from Callaway. Here we are as we get ready to leave on the drive home after a great week at camp.
We drove about two thirds of the way Saturday, and spent the night in a hotel in Christiansburg, Virginia. We drove over to Blacksburg for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and to see a bit of Virginia Tech’s campus. It was the girls’ first time eating at Mellow Mushroom, and it was very reminiscent of college for Jen and me (eating at Mellow Mushroom just off campus).
After dinner, we went in search of a treat. We found Gardner’s Frozen Treats in Christiansburg, and it was delicious. They had lots of flavors of Hershey’s ice cream, and then a few flavors of their own. Leah opted for Hershey’s rainbow sherbet, while I went for the homemade blueberry lavender (which was very different, but very good).
Molly went for homemade double stuff Oreo while Jen went for homemade pistachio. They were both delicious as well.
Then we got a good night’s sleep before driving the rest of the way home on Sunday. I was worried traffic would be awful the Sunday after July 4th, but it really wasn’t too bad. It was still a long trip, though, and we were very glad to be home.
Our time at Callaway was fantastic, but all good things must come to an end. The younger kids have an awards ceremony at the end of the last day (Molly’s now in a group that is too old for this). Leah was named Future President (which Leah’s talked about as far back as preschool, though she is not currently planning for a term in the White House).
Emmie was given the Natural Leader award, so I guess we’ve got some leaders in the family.
Leah, Emmie, and three of their circus performing counselors.
That evening was the final circus, and they held the awards ceremony shortly beforehand. I won the tennis tournament (as I had done the last time we were at Callaway), and got another t-shirt (though this one was in a smaller size for Leah).
The kids again paraded around the tent.
And then the held the final circus. Afterwards, Leah and Emmie had to get a final hug from their counselor, Jess.
Molly got a picture with her counselor, Brooke, after a very busy circus performance including the Spanish Web, the Triple Trapeze, the Bicycle Built for Five, and serving as Ring Master.
Camp at Callaway was again incredibly awesome. I used to think Jen’s family was crazy for going to the same place every summer for ten years. I now totally get it. We wish we could go every year (and if any of you have a plan that might entail us going every year, I’m all ears).
There were lots of other fun things at Callaway beyond those detailed in the previous posts. I’ll highlight a few of them here. For one, there are lots of great places to ride bikes. We took a family bike ride with all 8 of us. My bike is holding up my phone to take this picture, which is why it did not make it into the shot.
And we couldn’t miss Bingo!
Emmie won! And Molly was kind enough to accompany her to the prize table.
We also enjoyed the pool near our house a couple times for some relaxing swimming. Or, perhaps, some flying.
And everything wasn’t always active. There was plenty of relaxing as well. Thanks to Aunt ‘Chelle and Uncle J for bringing their hammocks.
Last time we went to Callaway, they had a Hawaiian Ice truck. This time, it was replaced with an ice cream truck which I consider a vast improvement. We paid it a visit several times. Most of the time we had the girls with us, but this time we went while they were in camp. We tried almost all the flavors eventually, and this was my favorite - muscadine.
