Christmas Around the East Coast

We spent the winter break traveling all over the East Coast to visit family. We started in PA with my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. First stop - Dulles Smithsonian museum on our way north, and then the train museum with Nana and Papa!










Papa got out his old locomotives and Parker had a great time helping him!



Then we headed home to spend Christmas Eve in our own beds. The kids had a fun Christmas morning before we packed up and headed to the airport.


New riding helmet, gloves, chaps and boots!




Next stop - Nashville! We got to spend time with Eric's parents, brother's family, and aunts, uncles and cousins. We also got to see some of his extended family over dinner.






Then we took a quick day trip down to Alabama to visit Grandma Camilla! She had a great time showing off her house and town to the kids, as this was their first time there!





Another successful holiday trip - lots of family, friends, and food!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Momming Hard Day 9... until the end of time

Things were rolling along quite nicely yesterday (well, not really but let's not get caught up in subtraction regrouping lessons).  We were getting ourselves set up for success on this temporary schedule. We were learning things and reading things and writing things and then... the bottom dropped out. The governor announced all schools are closed for the rest of the year.  I'm sure all the other parents watching the news conference had the same physical reaction that I did. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Tears, anger, disbelief... my poor children. ALL these poor children. When they left for spring break they didn't realize it would be the last time they'd see their friends. The last time they'd see their teachers. Ainsley, in particular, is taking it the hardest. She's missing her last Lower School play. Her last Grandparents Day show.  No field day.  No fifth grade graduation. No class graduation party. She is heartbroken. The next time she sets
Read more

Attempted Baking Projects

Image
I’m sure I’m not the only one who started this quarantine and thought the Zombie Apocalypse was imminent. I did what all normal apocalyptic-preparers would do - I filled our extra 60 gallon water containers, I checked the date on my bucket of freeze-dried food, and I stocked up on canned goods and baking essentials. Clearly the stores would be completely shuttered and I was going to have to make my own bread and can my own vegetables by the time we emerged from quarantine. Well, we all know things didn’t turn out quite that bad, but an Ayres is always prepared!  I’ve had a fully stocked pantry of baking ingredients so I’ve worked hard to keep something on the counter to eat at all times. Today I attempted cinnamon squares.  The yeast didn’t rise as much as I thought it should’ve, and I didn’t include the pecans that the recipe called for since I have some nut-haters in the family.  So you roll out the dough and the spread some of the filling, which was easier said than done.  Then you
Read more

Ainsley's 11th Birthday in Lockdown

Image
My baby girl is ELEVEN today!!! She couldn't have a big party, but she sure had a special day.  We surprised her with yard signs ( cardmyyard.com ). We released the butterflies into the garden. They hung out on the kids' hands for a while before flying off.  Her gift from us was a purple hoverboard - she is so excited! Her neighborhood friends came and secretly decorated the garage for a little party. She was so surprised and loved sharing cake with her best friends. THEN to add even more excitement, two of her best friends from school came for a 'drive-by' socially-distant celebration. She was thrilled to see them drive up - she hasn't seen them in person since March 6, before Spring Break!! Both sets of grandparents gave her a new bike (she will get to go shopping and pick it out herself next week). She has grown so much and is in desperate need of a new bike!  My beautiful 11 year old... how time flies!
Read more