Krispy Kreme to end 2014

On our drive back to NC, we made our now-traditional stop at the Charleston Krispy Kreme.  It's a good break, about three hours into the trip, and they have windows where you can watch the donuts being made.  It was in this shop that we had a big breakthrough--we hadn't brought Simon's water bottle in, so when he seemed thirsty we gave him some of Alice's milk with a straw.  He gulped some down (this is the child who has refused to drink cold milk his entire life so far).  Thanks, Krispy Kreme!

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, except that I had some cheap glow sticks for the kids to play with in the dark, and Simon bent them in half, causing them to leak.  The only other eventful thing was that I gave Alice an apple to eat in the car when it was dark, and this is what we found when we unpacked.

how Alice eats an apple

Aunt Taesen's

It works out well to stay at Aunt Taesen's on the last night of the trip.  If the kids are bonkers by then, it's ok because she has her own kids and understands.  If the kids get even more bonkers from being over stimulated and staying up late, that's ok too because we drive home the next day and they can sleep a lot in the van.

Alice likes her cousins in theory and she talks about them a lot, but when they're around each other they don't really know how to play together.  Kaelyn likes to be in charge, and sometimes Alice will follow her lead, but sometimes she does her own thing.  Braeden seemed a bit perturbed by Alice and Simon, and tattled on them a lot.  It's always fun for me to see the kids interact, no matter what they do.  Simon played a bit, but mostly walked around or tried to climb up the stairs.

Again, it was so chaotic that I barely had the presence of mind to take pictures.  By bedtime it occurred to me, so what you're seeing here is the attempted "sleepover."  We normally sleep in the twins' room with both of our kids, but this time we tried having Alice and Braeden sleep in Kaelyn's room.  They all appeared OK with it, until we went downstairs and then heard little feet running around for an hour or two.  Eventually Alice came downstairs, and Zac decided to just put her in our room again so she could get some sleep.  We're not sure who the ringleader of the insurrection was, but my guess is that it was Kaelyn, and then Alice realized she too could get out of bed, and so she just followed along.

We tried to do a group photo of the kids the next morning, and took a gazillion photos. This was the best one.

Last day in Mansfield

On Tuesday, we spent the morning in Mansfield, then headed to Taesen's after Simon's nap.

We all enjoyed our visit in Mansfield.  Simon was shy when we were here over the summer, but this time he had warmed up really quickly.

Monday in Mansfield

On Monday we mainly stayed around the house playing.

Mansfield mud and mayhem

Sunday in Mansfield was the big family celebration.  It was so much fun and chaos though that we failed to adequately document it.  Simon spent most of the time walking around, and both kids enjoyed using some of their new art supplies.  We took Alice out for a walk on the muddy trails for a break in the middle of the day, and she enjoyed stepping in every single mud puddle.  Alice warmed up to Aunt Taesen right away and wanted her to read her the book before nap and to be the one to get her up after nap (when I went up to get her she stayed in bed until Taesen came).

Welcome wagon

We arrived in Mansfield in the afternoon, and we all took a walk with the kids on a wagon ride.

But why ride, when you can walk?  After a few minutes in the wagon, Simon wanted out so he could walk.  Alice enjoyed the rest of the ride though.

Last morning in Ashville

Cam kept the kids occupied while we packed up all our stuff for the next destination.  We were heading to Mansfield after lunch.  So far, the trip was going great.  Simon only had a little cold, and Alice had thrown up again, but was immediately fine again.  Compared to the past two times, when both kids were really sick, this visit was a cinch.  Although, of the three nights, Simon only slept all the way through the first time, so we were getting a bit run-down.  But things in general, were looking up.  It seems the worst is behind, as Alice didn't have any sleep problems.  Past trips have been difficult because she wouldn't want to go to sleep at nap or night time and would keep getting out of bed. I can remember being here for Christmas two years ago and Alice would just be wide awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Maybe we're over the hump and each trip will get easier from here on out.

A walk in the park

On the day after Christmas, we went to Slate Run Metro Park.  It was cold, but sunny, and it was good to get some fresh air and let Alice get some energy out.  I knew Simon would want to walk, and it would be a nightmare keeping him from diving into the frigid water, so I just walked loops around the peninsula with him bundled up in the stroller while we were near the pond. He let me know that he was dissatisfied with this arrangement by whimpering the whole time.

Once we went back up to the playground area, I liberated Simon, thinking he'd want to climb on the playground and swing.  But no, the boy just wanted to walk.

And walk and walk and walk.  We walked all over this big field.

Then he finally walked himself up to this spot and plopped down and poked around in the dirt with a stick for a while.

And then, and only then, was the child interested in swinging and playing on the playground.

Back at Cam's, after lunch and a nap, Alice was initiated into the fine art of decorating gingerbread men. She didn't have much interest in eating them, but she sure enjoyed putting the little blue buttons on their bellies.

The kids also had a lot of fun playing on the stairs. (Blame Zac for the verticle video).

Calendar Christmas

Christmas was very merry! Alice helped everyone open all of the presents, which were plentiful and perfect. Simon didn't really get the hang of opening presents, so he just wandered around and played with stuff the whole time. It was a very joyful day full of beautifully wrapped  and gleefully opened surprises.

This was the debut of Alice and Simon's stockings.