snapshots: christmas travels 2013

I've always traveled a lot during the holidays.  In fact, I've only been home on Christmas day once in my whole life.  We always all piled into the conversion van (then the mini van, then the SUV) and made the rounds; we traveled two hours to my dad's parents, then four and a half to my mom's parents and made it back to our house about a week later, exhausted and present-laden.  We braved icy roads and screaming toddlers, played thousands of car games, and watched Ace Ventura in the car too many times to count (and Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls...obviously). 

This year, we did all of our traveling before Christmas.  We went to my mom's side at Thanksgiving and had an early Christmas.  We stopped by my dad's side on the way to Luke's side and did it all in one weekend.  And then we spent Christmas day at The Burrow. 

I photographed our travels, but didn't take any pictures of our actual Christmas day at The Burrow.  My parents came over, Luke's parents traveled two hours to spend the day with us, and Blythe and Travis came over.  Most of us were in pajamas all day (okay...some of us...mostly me).  We had stovetop cocoa.  We had a fire going.  We played Mexican Train Dominoes We watched Christmas movies (The Grinch!, It's a Wonderful Life).  We ate too many cookies.  We had Christmas at The Burrow.

Here are some of my favorite shots from our travels the weekend before:

and at our next stop...

There are more Christmas posts to come...stay tuned! (It's just the beginning of the Christmas season!)

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fall fest 2013

Our school had its annual Fall Fest last weekend, and things took a turn for the adorable:

brandon the babysitter

always helping

anna + max

obviously this happened.

pals

a wedding, a birthday, and a baptism

Real Thing That is Happening Right Now: As I blog this, I'm sitting (fully pajama-ed) in the empty bathtub keeping Luke company while he hangs some new hooks in our closet.

Back on track: last weekend, we had an action-packed weekend visiting Luke's side of the family: a wedding, a baptism, and a birthday party.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

 

A side note on the two shots above: Tony and I had quite a time touring the church while waiting for the baptism to start.  He loved the Stations of the Cross and the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.  So adorable.

chrism

Leo's little smile kills me. Christmas card picture?!

birthday boy!

labor day lake life: 2013

After the first week with students at school, we headed up to the lake for a short, but relaxing vacation. Sunset boat rides, swimming, card games, tubing, walks around the island, bonfires, family and friends.

Mom + Mitch

Mitch

Derek + Jackie

Jamie + Bill

Just laying on the boat.

Pretty Jamie