Holidays | A Day in the Life

Easter 2011

June 30, 2011 at 6:09 pm (Camping, Family Time, Holidays, Vacations)

I know posting about Easter when it’s almost July?? Pretty slack!! We’ve just been so busy this spring and into the beginning of summer. Busy with fun stuff, but busy.

We once again went camping for Easter this year which is a tradition I hope we will continue. The kids think it is so cool that the Easter Bunny comes to the campground and it’s usually nice enough out for our first camping trip of the year.

We went to Oconee State Park again this year. They have an enormous Easter Egg Hunt, so it’s a good choice for Easter camping. Surae actually got pretty sick this year at Easter and ran a little fever. Pop Pop brought his camper too and Surae stayed with him one day while Michael, Graham, and I went on a hike to a nearby waterfall.

The Easter Bunny arrived on time and left fun treats inside the camper and hid Easter eggs all over our campsite.

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Christmas Day!

January 14, 2011 at 1:13 am (Family, Graham, Holidays, Surae, Uncategorized)

Christmas Day was so much fun! The kids were ecstatic of course and the snowfall on Christmas was so beautiful and such a rare treat.

I mean, how can you not feel the enthusiasm from this picture??

Graham’s biggest request this year was for a spy net video watch and Santa must have listened. He also wanted the Lego Death Star, but at $600, it was way out of Santa’s budget!

Surae didn’t have any major requests, but Santa thought she might like a camera since she is always stealing her mommy’s and he was right. She took about 200 pictures Christmas day, none of which were in focus, but she’s getting a lot of practice!

Although Graham didn’t get the Death Star, he did get a lot of cool Lego sets. He spent the majority of the day huddled over building Lego’s with his Uncle Chris, also a Lego fanatic.

Graham also wanted a skateboard and Nana and Poppy delivered on that. He is one lucky boy!

When Graham was not dominating Uncle Chris’s attention with Lego’s, Surae got in some fun with him too.

My dad was kind enough to give the family an Xbox Kinect. It is so futuristic and cool, plus really great exercise. Thanks Dad!!

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family. It was a great Christmas!

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Hollywild

January 14, 2011 at 12:44 am (Family Time, Graham, Holidays, Out and About, Surae)

Hollywild puts on quite the holiday lights extravaganza each year. There are not only lights though, but wandering zebra, deer, cows and various other animals wandering around for you to feed from your car. It’s quite the sight! It was a super, super cold night when we went, but the kids loved it.

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Pre-Christmas Fun!

January 14, 2011 at 12:36 am (Family Time, Graham, Holidays, Surae)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The kids were so insanely excited, especially Graham. He was about to leap out of his skin from pure anticipation. It was really magical to see.

The Hyatt has a really wonderful “Festival of Trees” each year that we’ve started making an annual visit to. The trees are gorgeous!

Surae was part of her school’s Christmas program. She was the star! How fitting.

Santa and Mrs. Claus made a visit to the Greenville County Art Museum. They are serious art collectors from what I understand.

Graham and Surae did a great job making a gingerbread house!

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Thanksgiving

January 14, 2011 at 12:14 am (Family Time, Holidays)

The family had Thanksgiving together at Pam and Doyle’s house this year. Pam twisted our arms as usual and had us get together for family photos. The adults and children all resisted of course, but we did get a few good ones out of it although Graham was making his infamous “fish face” in many.

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Surae and Graham’s Thanksgiving Programs

January 6, 2011 at 1:04 am (Family Time, Graham, Holidays, Surae)

Between Surae’s birthday, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have gotten very, very behind on posts! So, I have a little catching up to do.

Surae had a wonderful Thanksgiving program at her school. The kids sang super cute songs and we all got to stick around after the program for special treats with Surae. It was a great day and she was super excited to have us all there with her.

A few days later, Graham had a Thanksgiving feast at his school. I am so thankful to be working half days, so that I can be a part of these things now. I came and helped set up the feast and Graham was so proud to have me there helping!

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Happy Birthdays and Halloween

November 24, 2010 at 9:05 pm (Birthdays, Graham, Holidays, Surae)

October is always such a busy and fun month! After returning from LEAF, it was time to start preparing for Halloween and Surae’s 4th birthday. Surae has been so excited to turn 4 and has talked about it basically non-stop for months. She has also been very consistent in her birthday requests- a princess bike, a cupcake maker, and a Barbie Splash Mermaid. The girl knows what she wants!

On her actual birthday, she decided she wanted IHOP funny face pancakes. They were Halloween themed funny faces ones when we went and certainly the grossest pancakes I have ever seen!

When we got back home, we let her open our presents and she was thrilled to finally have her big girl bike!!

Pop Pop and Roni came up the next day and she got to open more presents including the much desired cupcake maker. She was thrilled!!

Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, we decided to have a combo party this year and have a dress up party. Lots of people came and she had a great time! We had Halloween themed food including melon brain and mummy wraps. The kids painted little pumpkins, decorated cupcakes and played outside since the weather was so fabulous. Surae had a blast with all of her friends.

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Breaking in the Camper

April 16, 2010 at 1:30 am (Camping, Family Time, Graham, grandparents, Holidays, parks, Pop Up Camper, Surae)

Sorry for the total lack of posts lately. We really were in winter hibernation for what felt like forever. Now, in the past few weeks we have been so busy enjoying spring, I have forgotten to post. Well, weekend before last we got a chance to take the camper out of hibernation for an Easter trip to Oconee State Park. I really do like the holiday camping trips. Easter egg hunting around the campsite was so cool although we did have to wait for the last minute to hide the eggs because otherwise those park raccoons would have had some super fat bellies and probably a tummy ache in the morning! It was also a little tricky picking out candy because we had to stick to non melting candy. Besides that, it was super fun and the weekend weather was beautiful. We took off on Friday and Michael’s parents met us there as well with their new camper which was great.

Friday, we set up camp and went on a little hike and nature hunt around the lake. We found toads, turtles, fish, and lots of birds and bugs with Graham as our lead explorer.

On Saturday, we visited the Walhalla Fish Hatchery. It was our first time there and a very cool place to visit. This is the only trout hatchery in South Carolina.

After we got back, the campground held a 2,000 egg Easter hunt. How cool! The kids were split up by age groups and there were more eggs than their baskets could hold.

Sunday, we dragged ourselves out of the camper still in pjs for a sunrise service at the lake. It was a great weekend with gorgeous weather and fantastic QT with the family. So glad to be back in the camper and ready for the next trip already.

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Chinese New Year 2010 The Year of the Tiger

February 25, 2010 at 5:52 pm (China, Dinners, Family Time, Holidays, Surae)

As part of the Families with Children from China dinner group, we had a Chinese New Year’s Party at our house for all of the families. Although we have a whole bag full of silk outfits we bought in China, we never get them out for Surae to wear, so it is always fun to have an opportunity to do so. All of the kids looked great. We even bought Graham a silk outfit for the party and he loved wearing it because he thought it made him look like a karate master. For the party, we made all Chinese food. Michael made the most amazing sweet and sour soup and I made a pork and brocolli stir fry dish. Everyone else brought delicious Chinese food too and we had a feast. The kids had crafts activities to do as well. It was really fun and I hope it will become a yearly tradition.

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Art with a Heart Valentine’s Art Show

February 25, 2010 at 5:41 pm (Graham, Holidays, School, Surae)

Surae’s Child Development Center had an art show right before Valentine’s Day. It was extremely adorable seeing all of the kid’s art work together. Surae was so excited about having me come to her art show. We had a flutist play at the show and the kids ate juice and cookies for their hors d’oeuvres. It was the sweetest thing!