It was our second Christmas in the new house, and it felt a lot less awkward. 

With that said, it was somewhat unusual.  For the first time that I can remember, Nan and Nene were not with us.  And late last evening it was confirmed that Noelle would NOT have a late day flight today. 

The kids were up by 7AM and we started opening gifts around 7:30AM.  While gifts in and of themselves are not my focus of Christmas, I do love to see how the kids gift one another.  I simply can’t take photos of every exchange, but they are all very special.

Nigel bought Tab some ramen noodles.

And gave the girls two movies to share; they each got to open one of them.

Marie also got movies, and I have no idea what is on the in the background… some kind of Christmas music channel.

There were presents from Nan, Nene, Barb, Ba, Poppy and Noelle that we opened and tried to share with them back home in a variety of ways.

Our feast was a little less intense than other years, but just as filling. 
Johanna’s casserole was delicious, and it really is all about the cinnamon rolls. 

The kids opened some gifts from us, and I think Daddy’s selection of the Madrigal house, Casita, from Encanto was a good choice, judging from Katriel’s reaction.  Thank you Black Friday sales!

I daresay the most memorable gifts were the ones I could not take photos of because I was holding Stewart’s phone up in a FaceTime with Noelle.  She had planned to be here when the girls opened their gifts, but wisely had sent them back in the car with Stewart on his November trip to NY.  The gifts included letters asking them to be in her wedding a bridesmaids and junior bridesmaids.  They were all elated and touched. 

We worked at getting the mess a little under control before we headed out to church.

The service was lovely, and there were a lot of new faces.  I hope the visitors were blessed to hear about Emmanuel.

Once we were home from church, we changed into travelling clothes, backed the coolers, and got our bags into the big van and Stewart’s car.  We caravaned pretty much due east as we headed to North Myrtle Beach for a three night stay in a condo.  That idea was born when I realized Nan and Nene wouldn’t be coming AND the Hoyts would be out of town.  With no one to celebrate with, it became a case of, “well – since it is going to be weird, let’s embrace weird and add on a little different.”  Since everything the kids would do during a break could be done at a rental, AND it would keep me from feeling like I had to use my free time to organize a chest of drawer or paint a closet or deep clean a bath in my free time.  We opted for a beach view vs a mountain view.

We did the requisite stop at Buc-ee’s in Florence.  Sadly, we didn’t stay long and browse.  It was not only mobbed (I’m okay with that), but also the bathrooms were closed because of a county-wide water issue.

We made it to North Myrtle beach by 5PM, and retrieved our key from the rental company.  We found the condo complex, but then it took some time to find our particular unit (the signage was poor).  We quickly settled in and I started pulling out our dips and snacks.  Marie assisted me while Daddy helped Katriel set up her new toy house. 

We enjoyed snacks and games and fun drinks.

Noelle gave us a new trivia game.

Finally, we watched the girls’ new movie The Bad Guys. It was hysterical.
The rental was huge – four bedrooms, four bathrooms, massive living area and extremely well-appointed kitchen.

Thankfully, their off season pricing was acceptable and they allowed stays by the night and not the week.

We enjoyed an amazing breakfast (grits) before we headed to the park.

we arrived as it was opening with no real touring plan

Sometimes we were a large group, sometimes we were smaller groups. 
I found coffee.  We bought all day dining (a real treat – every 90 minutes we could queue for an entree, drink and either a side or dessert).

Trying lots of food was almost as much fun as trying lots of rides.

It was very hot and a very good day.

It almost felt like 2019 again. 

Photos are out of order as kids have shared some from their devices and I am going for speed here, not accuracy. 

It was a wonderful weekend, though the drive home on 7/5 was again miserable. 

At least we had another massive breakfast at the same place.
If it ain’t broke…

John left for SC June 20 for his first day of work June 21.  The kids and I have been working towards the movers coming (soon?).

With the holiday weekend between John’s start date and the movers coming, we knew we’d need to be creative to make the holiday feel holiday-ish.  Our pool is closed bc there was no way I was going to deal with that in John’s absence.  It would be extremely hard on John to come all the way back to NY.

Our decision was to meet John in Williamsburg, VA for a very quick long weekend.  Once we found the location, we decided to do a day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  The kids have never been there and John and I were last there on our honeymoon in 1997.

The tickets were $79 per person for one day or $86 per person for two day.  It only took a minute to decide it was well worth the $7 per person to add the partial day we were going to be there.

The kids and I were up long before the sun and on the road before 6AM.  I’d like to say we made great time, but that would be a lie.  There were way too many bathroom stops, a turn around or two (looking for bathrooms) and the DC traffic.

But we did get to our (dumpy) hotel by 4PM and dropped off our stuff and hurried to the park.

We rode the tram in and it actually felt like VACATION.  A glorious feeling after being locked down so long.

We rode what we could, and grabbed a great dinner. 
Staffing was a major issue (like it is everywhere these days). 
But everyone was friendly and there were no mask requirements.

Stewart, Katriel and I skipped one of the roller coasters and found spots for fireworks, which while they weren’t Disney quality, sure were a lot of fun.