A quick post about my Yule gift

As all of you know I am not a Christian and I prefer the traditions associated with the celebration of the wheel of the year. A group of my friends share in my desire to honour the planet and her changes and in so doing we annually celebrate one of the oldest holidays in the world. Yule. Or the Winter Solstice. We exchange gifts in an international gift exchange and one (or two) nights a year we gather together on-line and take turns opening our treasures. We photograph our bounty and share it with one another.



While the postal service wasn't as rapid as my friend would have liked and my gift didn't arrive for the 21st, it did arrive today and I took some time alone to open it this evening. I was blessed to receive a handmade gift of jewelry. Those who know me IRL know that I LOVE my jewelry. Necklaces and earrings especially. Knowing these beads were carefully strung together with love by a womyn I love like a sister and that they were done especially for me means more than I can say.



I wanted all of you to be able to see what they look like and what they look like on me.

Now it has turned to the early hours of New Year's Eve. Tonight (many, many hours from now) we will head over to the home our my VERY dear friend, K, and her husband, L. We see them and our other friends every year for New Years. This year there is a chance that it will be a small group of only 5 families. That's okay. It hasn't been that intimate in a very long time. I love this group of people too.



What I know that I can honestly say, as we pass from one Gregorian year into another, is that I am more blessed in love of friends and family than I ever dreamed of being. My hope for all of you this coming year is that you know at least a fraction of the love that I know. Life is truly GREAT!!!

OH YEAH, and my most amazing dh in the WORLD got my the one thing that I really wanted. A CHI!! I now have a ceramic flat iron. YAY!!

Yule pictures

While the boys watch "Rugrats Chanukah" and leftovers heat for tonight's dinner, I thought I would post the pictures from yesterday. Quinn shopped for Fergus while we were away. As I mentioned in a previous post, he REALLY wanted to get the gift for Fergus at Toys 'r Us in the US. Funny. Ferg wanted the same thing but when he realised that the gift he wanted to buy was $19.99 US and in Canada was $19.99 here, he decided to wait and save a few pennies. That meant that yesterday morning he and I braved the arctic chill in the air and went out shopping.



He barely got Quinn's gift wrapped when they were both begging to exchange gifts. They knew that this year they wouldn't be receiving anything further from mommy and daddy as the trip was their gift, so they wanted to get whatever they could for the holiday. How could we resist? Sure!!





Doug went out later in the afternoon and bought a Yule tree. The boys spent a long time after our Yule feast decorating the tree with birds, deer, fruit and other significant ornaments. This year we had a bird to add that Christena (MIL) received from her sister. What a special addition.





Now, I should go and check the food. Have a great night and if you celebrate Hanukkah, blessings of the season to you and yours!!

Thursday and Friday

This cold that I have been enjoying through our whole trip did not give up after WDW. In fact, it took hold even better. I needed to spend as much time resting on Thursday as I could. Doug left the boys with me while he hit the local Best Buy (prices were the same and so with the exchange it is better to shop here - he had to check it out though and I don't blame him).

When he got back the three of them decided to go over to Pool #13 (where the owner BBQs were and where the bar was open) for a swim. I spent an hour or so listening to my iPod and sleeping by the pool outside of our unit. Then I missed them too much and realised that I would have plenty of time to sleep when we got home. I loaded my system up with some more cold meds and headed off to find them at Pool #13.



We swam, played, and hung out. Then we went to play mini golf at the resort golf course. Doug won, as usual. It was SO much fun though. Quinn enjoyed it enough that he and I went back for another game on Friday afternoon.

We finished Thursday off by dining, as per Fergus' request, at Red Lobster. It is his favourite restaurant.



When we got up on Friday morning we were reading emails and messages from friends and family members letting up know that there was a big snow storm headed for and hitting southern Ontario. The forecast was for large amounts of snow to arrive Friday and Sunday. Saturday was to be sunny and clear. We took these messages as a sign. As much fun as we were having it was time to pack our stuff up and get the car loaded to head home.



Check out time for the resort is 10:00 am so leaving at 9:00 the night before wasn't doing much more than cutting into our sleep time. We made the most of our last day and I napped in the afternoon, hoping to have some stamina for the drive through the night.



After Quinn and I played our last game of mini golf, Doug took the boys to watch a movie at the theatre in the main building.

We drove all night and again all day and made the 2156 km drive (according to our trusty GPS) in just over 24 hours, including stops for pee, coffee, meals and duty free shopping.

Pictures from Walt Disney World

Well, here we are; back in the land of ice and snow. Looks as though we got back at the perfect time. When we were within 40 minutes of home the snow started (first flakes we encountered in the air -- and first snow on the ground was almost Erie, PA) and by the time we got home it was coming down in a steady flow. There was quite a lot in the yard (about a foot compared to the skiff we had when we left) and this morning we got up to another 3-4 inches. Doug was out shovelling when I got up.





I don't think I have posted since Wednesday night after returning from WDW. It goes without much saying that the boys had the time of their lives and, by extension, so did we. It was incredible to see the looks on their faces as we rode rides, toured exhibits and sat through Mickey's Philharmagic.





I will post a series of images we shot that day. Everything from rides the boys were on, tours the Magic Kingdom on the train, the castle (during the day and after dark), etc.





I will post about Thursday and Friday, as well as our decision to head home early, in another message.

The word of the day????

****AWESOME!!!!**** (according to Ferg and Quinn)

We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and had a wonderful time. I will post info about our day and some pictures tomorrow. For now, sleep is the only thing I can think about.

'Nite all

Went to Daytona Beach today

And the boys experienced playing in the ocean for the first time. Doug and the boys played in the waves while I took some pictures (it's not as though the Atlantic Ocean is warm now or any time of year).

The boys have been asking and asking for a trip to Toys 'r Us and so we stopped there on the way home. Quinn was especially worried that he wouldn't have a chance to buy Fergus' Yule present before Sunday. So sweet. Fergus has decided to wait to get Quinn's gift.



The pictures here are simply some of the ones we shot today. I love the shot of the boys putting their toes into the ocean for the first time. And of Quinn playing in the sand. And of Fergus and I looking for shells. And of my husband playing with our kids. Okay, I love them all!!!

The view from our unit

I am just putting a couple of pictures of the view from our unit to the pool out our back door. There is also a shot of the unit from the pool (second lower unit from the left) and then a closer up shot of the screened in patio.

Day two in Florida - three since leaving home

Funny how fast time can pass when you aren't doing much of anything but being happy and enjoying time with your family. Doug was up with the sun this morning (or just before actually) and had had several cups of coffee and a shower before I managed to crawl out of bed. (Have I mentioned that I have a crappy head cold??) The boys and I were up around 9:00 and learned, from Doug-the-Explorer, where to find the "Owner's BBQ" and the "Games Room."



By the time we were all showered and functional it was 11:15 and was time for us to head to Pool 13 for the BBQ lunch and a little swimming. The boys were given stickers with Mickey on them and we just hung out. By one o'clock we were finished and Fergus couldn't wait to ride the train around our little resort.



We managed to find one of the Whole Foods stores in the area and grabbed food for dinner. We are lucky enough to have a full kitchen with full sized appliances so I could make dinner for us and we could spend time around the table recapping the day and then have a quiet evening. That was the plan. Things changed though. While I was making dinner my husband and boys were in the pool in our back yard. Actually, they were in the hot tub. Doug stuck up a conversation (or was pulled in kicking and screaming - this is my chatty husband we are talking about) with a couple who currently reside in the Boston area. They used to live in Stewarttown (Stewart's Mills in actual fact). They commuted from G'town to North York daily. Isn't that wild??



Anyway, this couple told Doug, within hearing distance of the boys, about the Legoland store in Downtown Disney. Now Teresa had already told me about this but Doug and I had not said anything to the boys. We were taking a "wait and see" approach. We waited and what we saw were two boys barely able to eat their dinner before bounding out the door and into the car. Legoland was AWESOME!! They are in their room right now and are putting together cars that they picked out parts for tonight.



Tomorrow the plan is to head to the beach. The boys have never been to or in the ocean before. This will be amazing. I guess I should go and check the weather forecast, huh?

A few shots from the road Dec 13/08

We came down through New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia before we drove out of snow and onto dry roads. Pennsylvania had far more snow than we have at home. I know I am letting my naivete shine through but I assumed that they would have a little less than we do. I was surprised. Oh well.



Doug shot some of these as we were coming through the mountains in West Virginia. Judging by the snow on the roads and how wet the roads were they must have had snow the night before. It was sunny and bright for us for driving and the fresh snow and ice on the trees made the view breath-taking.



Thought you might like to have a look.



(And a final shot of the boys waiting in the car while mommy stops for Starbucks)

. . . and three to go . . . there they went!!!

Got up this morning and enjoyed a continental breakfast in the Best Western in Charlotte before heading out again. They boys were excited to know that we wouldn't be on the road for as long today as we were yesterday. The challenge for them though was that we started so much earlier yesterday therefore it still felt very much like a long time to be in the car today.

When we stopped in Georgia for lunch (everyone was wanting salads so we made a stop at Wendy's) Doug was able to take a picture of the boys by the small palm tree out front. This is the first palm tree that any of my three guys have ever seen. The picture was taken after we ate and after the boys figured out what state we were headed to.

I bought a map this morning when we stopped for cold meds outside of Columbia. (Both Quinn and I are struggling with this cold and have NO desire to feel crappy this week!!!!) While at Wendy's I opened the map for everyone to look at and to show the boys where we had come from. Fergus continued to read the map and guessed that we were on our way into Florida. He even guessed we were heading to Orlando (mostly because his hand was near there on the map). Neither of them knew the significance of coming to the Orlando area though. Hee hee!!



As we drove through Orlando to get to Kissimmee they were reading the signs on the billboards as we drove past. It was funny because the signs were going past and not describing too much but were sporting images of characters they recognize (i.e.: Spiderman, Incredible Hulk, Simpsons, etc.) so it still took a while to figure it all out.



When we finally got to our unit (oh, anyone who needs to reach us can call the resort at: 407-396-8523 and ask for our room: Samantha Leeson) after following the resort employee as he drove his little golf cart they were jumping up and down. They couldn't stop themselves. They were SO excited just to be on this vacation with us. It was like we had fed them nothing but candy made from red dye day and night for weeks and they were vibrating with excitement. Then daddy pointed out the pool in the backyard and they started all over again.

This is the best thing Doug and I have ever done. They boys are SO excited JUST to be here! The other activities are just added bonuses.



Dinner at Ponderosa is finished. We have talked to Christena (she called to touch base) and the boys have had a chance to have a bath in the huge jacuzzi in our room. Now I'd best go take a remedy and get some sleep. Looks as though it will be a busy week!! YAY!!!