a modern christmas

Yesterday was Christmas and we celebrated with Arwen, Uncle Scott and Aunty Emma (happy birthday, Aunty Emma)

For the first time in weeks everyone slept in so there was no present opening until nearly 7am!

Santa visited and left a note for Arwen and I . He ate some of the Snoopy Gingerbread Dog Houses we left out for him

Then we skyped Nan and Pop one on each ipad while we opened our gifts

We had a nice lunch with Turkey and Ham and Jaffa Birthday cake - yum yum!

Snow dayz

After a lovely little snow storm on Sunday today we had no school because of the snow

Crazy squirrels out in the snow in our backyard

I got to stay home with Daddy in front of the fire while Mummy went to work

Yummy popcorn!

It's beginning to look a lot like..

Christmas!

I've been quite excited about the prospect of Christmas for about a month now and am so glad it is now December.

Yesterday we topped off a trip to the movies to see 'Frozen' with a trip to pick up a real live Christmas tree.

It is so tall it hits our ceiling and Daddy had to trim the top so our Angel could fit on top.

I helped mummy with the decorations while we listened to Christmas carols.

One day closer to Santa.

Daddy likes to pretend he's a Grinch but he has been getting into the spirit this year

Perfect snowflake placement is very important

and Mummy adds the Angel

Four today

Long distance birthdays - opening presents over Skype with Nan

Excavating TRex bones

I have first bash at the pirate pinata

Cutting the cake

A treasure chest cake fit for Captain Hook

Trick or Treat?

Last night was my first Halloween and I was very excited.

I was a dinosaur and when I put my costume on ready to go out trick or treating I discovered you could push a button in the paw to make it roar!

I collected lots of candy from houses around our 'neighborhood' and mummy and I walked down to the park where they had a bonfire

I have already started planning my costume for next year...

listening to my costume roar!

The last leg

Mummy and Daddy in the clouds - I'm not in the photo because the view was not enough to distract me from the ipad
 

Pointing out where I killed a bear on my way up the mountain

Trying out the legend of Blowing Rock NC

Rock Climbing at Natural Bridge

Taking a walk with Poppy to find the waterfall at Natural Bridge

It's fall on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Keating's adventures in the Carolinas

Fighting off the union incursion, Charleston

Horse drawn rides around the town, very nice

Adventuring - pointing out the spot where I killed a bear on my way up the mountain

On the road

The Fed shut-down meant we couldn't see into the Fort at St Augustine but the outside was pretty cool. The bricks were full of seashells!

We followed the Buccaneer Trail from St Augustine to Brunswick

At Tybee Island we discovered that I'm a stage 3 storm surge

On the trolley tour of Savannah

Enjoying a refreshment at the Pirate's House of Treasure Island fame - being careful to keep my wits about me and not get Shanghsi'ed

Disney Part 3

Our last day at Disney started with a trip to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor

It was very cool to see Mikey telling jokes and he even told one I texted in!

We saw the White Rabbit ,,,







and rode on the Buzz Lightyear ride










ut after the carousel the skies opened and it bucketed down









I loved standing in the rain and stomping the in puddles









After lunch we went to visit the Little Mermaid and visited Belle's village and the tower from Tangled before heading back to our room to get ready to head out for Daddy's birthday dinner







I slept through most of it but I woke up just as dinner was ending and danced with Mummy through Downtown Disney

Disney Part 2

We spent our second day at Disneyworld in the Animal Kingdom
Just before we walked through the gates they started playing "Bear Necessities" which made me smile
The first animal we encountered was a black swan - it's from Australia just like me
Walking through the African section of the park we discovered the Wilderness Activity book and I was determined to gather as many 'badges' as possible







On Safari we rode in a bumpy jalopy and saw crocodiles, rhinos, flamingos, zebras and more








I was just tall enough to ride the rapids ride and Mummy and I got soaked!









The bit I was most looking forward to was Dinoland USA where you can go on a dig and find fossils - but I fell asleep on our way.
Finished the day with a swim in the pirate pool and cheese pizza - yum!

Disney Part 1

I was so impressed by our pirate room that I didn't want to leave to go to see the Magic Kingdom this afternoon - but I'm so glad I did



We rode Aladdin's magic carpet ride (twice) braved the Pirates of the Carribean and the Jungle Safari (but I was careful to make sure I did not smile at the crocodiles) and saw my first parade and fireworks show.

Dinner - sharing a hug with mummy and pooh bear

MIA

Holding a Dragonfly at the Indian Reservation - Everglades

Despite initial misgivings I braved the airboat ride in the Miami Everglades - where we saw two alligators.

On our drive through the national park I was too engrossed in my iPad to notice the vulture on the side of the road.

I loved being able to go to the beach first thing in the morning and enjoy the warm water and got some good swimming practice



Today I had my first ever banana split




















Checking out the street art - South Beach

 

All in all a very good holiday and an excellent warm up to Disneyworld in just under a week!

Dinosaur-o-riffic!

Border crossings

Our four day weekend following Lake Erie from Buffalo to Sandusky and finishing with a quick trip into Canada to visit Niagara Falls was lots of fun.

In Cleveland I got to stay up late and watch Toy Story 2. I loved the hotel pool where I discovered I could touch the bottom and played dinosaur chasing games and three little pigs with mummy. We also visited the West Side Market and I had a yummy star spangled cookie.

We were a little bit sad in Sandusky because the ferry we were going to ride was booked out but we drove around and saw lots of water and seagulls (on a lake?) and we hired a kayak in the afternoon. It was so much fun sitting in the front of the kayak with mummy while daddy paddled hard and took us into the waves - we got we through!

Daddy and I swam in Lake Erie at Presque Isle where I saw the darkest sand I've ever seen and collected a few nice rocks from the beach.

I slept through our crossing into Canada which mummy says was a good thing because it took an hour to get across Rainbow Bridge and clear immigration. At Niagara we rode on the funicular down the cliff to see the waterfall. It was so loud - and more seagulls! We also got a close up view on the 'Maid of the Mist' ferry ride. I wasn't very happy about it while we were on the boat getting wet but afterwards I decided that I quite liked it.


My drawing of the Maid of the Mist going through the waterfall - I have my blue raincoat on

 Our last highlight in Niagara was riding in the ferris wheel over the city which was conveniently located next to a dinosaur themed putt putt range.

Though we had fun I was glad to get to the airport - have and ice cream and head home.