Kirsten and Mark

Whenever Brit sees a camera lately it’s “pitur” “pitur” until we actually take one…or a few.

Oh, and someone told him about saying cheese before a photo, and now he really does.

His bear “Bop”

All snuggled up!

Yes…he needed a picture of this.

Pick a color

Put it away

Notice there’s not really any coloring going on. Just putting them in and out.

This has been our excitement the past few weeks. I know. Tremendous amounts.

Maybe when this rain stops we’ll actually go out and do things again.

Christmas Eve pajamas, with train slippers

Playing "train" with aunt Sara

Enjoying the gift of music

Being a human present...or bow catcher

Seeing slides and a castle made all of ice

Seeing this!

And this...a life-sized Nativity of ICE!

Waking up Christmas morning to Britton's presents

Having to play with a toy before it's all unwrapped

Holiday Lights

The DC Temple bathed in fog

These are just some of the great joys we had this Christmas…and we look forward to keeping the Spirit of Christmas with us throughout this year!

Yeah…that’s right. 18 whole hours. And, what did we do almost the whole time? Eat. Well, not exactly eating the whole time, but many activities revolved around food.

The plan: Leave early Monday morning, catch the 7:15 bus to NYC, get there by noon. Have the whole day, and leave at 10 the next morning.

The reality: Metro train had a problem. Took twice as long to get to bus stop as planned. Missed bus. Had to wait till 9:15. Barely made it on that one because of no shows. Later in the day=more traffic getting into city. We arrived at 2:45. We were really hungry, but didn’t want to drag our little suitcase all around, so we headed to the hotel. Should’ve walked the whole way. Would’ve been faster than the metro. Finally arrive, check in and all is well.

Head down to The Hog Pit, a BBQ place recommended by the fabulous Missy and Ari. They were right. It was FANTASTIC! I like pork and bbq, but it’s not like my favorite thing in the world. This was the best I have EVER had. I had the pork sliders and Mark had brisket. So delicious. I was full too, so a lot bummed we’d already made reservations for dinner back at the hotel.

That glowing thing in the background is their “Hog Pit” Sign.

True Texas bar decor as well. Since it was 4 pm, we were the only people in there. That felt a little weird. But, it was nice too. Thanks for the suggestion ladies!

When we looked on a map to figure out where to go next we realized this place was only a few blocks from the bus stop! Ah man, we’d have saved a lot of time and hunger if we’d just headed straight there.

We headed north toward Macy’s and Times Square. Stopped here:

We got Britton M&Ms in all the colors they had, and some mini ones as well. He loved them, as expected. Then we stopped here:

Can you guess? It’s Macy’s. They had the ground floor decorated very nicely. We were in there for a long time…and eventually made it all the way to the 8th floor. Yeah. It’s that big. A little ridiculous. Outside it was so cold, and I had forgotten my scarf and gloves at home, so I really considered actually buying a scarf or hat there. For those that know me, I don’t really do either, so to consider paying $35-40 for one it must have been really bad.

We also made a stop at the Hershey’s store and stocked up on good stuff. Well, I stocked up on their Cinnamon Chips. I can’t find them in LA, and there is the BEST cookie recipe on the back.

We turned east and ended up at Rockefeller Center.

I realize this is blurry. Maybe I really should give in and let Mark order the new Canon Powershot. Oh well…

Just across the square they had angels and trumpets, which looked through to Bloomingdales and their Snowflake Show…seriously, they danced to music.

More food: A stop at Magnolia Bakery for a slice of Pumpkin Cake, and we were off back south to make our dinner reservation.

Asia de Cuba. It’s basically what it sounds like, Asian style food with Cuban influence. It was a lot nicer/fancier than we were expecting. Especially being from LA when you can walk in almost anywhere in jeans and a casual shirt and be fine. The food was actually really good, and there was a lot of it. But, it was a bit pricey for my taste. Especially when I wasn’t really hungry at all after lunch. I was quite pained as we paid the bill, but it was a nice experience.

By that time we were pretty tired. I wanted to badly to see a movie since we hadn’t been to a theatre for months, but our hotel was calling. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt next to Grand Central Station. It was probably the most comfy bed ever. Especially compared to the last hotel we stayed at (Days Inn Barstow, we still hold a grudge.) I loved their pillows and their comforter. The morning came much too quickly. Luckily, we can buy it if we want through their “home collection.” Not sure yet if I want to spend $65 for a pillow though.

The next day I realized that the outfit I was wearing was twice as warm as the one from the day before! Blast! On our ride home we made another discovery–almost all of the money we spent in NYC was on food of some sort…lunch, M&M store, Hershey’s store, Magnolia, Asia de Cuba…I mean seriously, it was a little ridiculous. But, it was all pretty good. The Magnolia cake? You could pass it up. The cupcakes in there didn’t look super yummy either. I think it’s a cute little bakery that got famous, and is now a MUST SEE.

Anyway, we had a great time and I’m excited I finally got to see NYC at Christmastime…now maybe for Thanksgiving.

So, apparently we made a good choice in flying to DC the day we did, since the next day it started snowing and didn’t stop for another 2 days!

Luckily, we traveled down to Williamsburg for the weekend before it all started, so we missed out on most of it. It was just getting dark when we arrived at the Historic Powhatan Plantation. At the end of a long drive, the big red brick Colonial house greets visitors with bright candles in the windows. Fife and drum players stood on the steps playing tunes. Ah, Colonial Christmas.

In our “arrival papers” we got a brochure for “Christmas Town” at Busch Gardens. With nothing else to do that night, we headed over. It had started to snow lightly, but wasn’t too bad yet. Just as we got there we received some really bad news. Our friends Kristie and Jared were supposed to meet us in Williamsburg for the weekend (it’s halfway between NC and DC, hence the trip) but because of work obligations they had to be SURE to get back for, and an unpredictable storm coming in, they couldn’t come. After that setback, we were determined to lift our spirits even more at Christmas Town.

I’ve never been to Busch Gardens in the summer, but in the winter the ride entrances are closed off and the path to the different country themed “villages” are pretty definite. There were different scenes in each one, like a Penguin house that told you about penguins, and then had some real live ones on loan from the zoo. And a giant snowman. Brit wasn’t too sure about that one.

We saw Santa in his workshop, and Brit and Mark got a nice picture with him. Where are the pictures you ask? On a camera we don’t have. I forgot mine in the car, so Mark’s mom took them all. Maybe I’ll get them one day and you can see them on smugmug. There was a nice indoor place to eat, and a couple of different groups played songs and sang. The whole place, with its European village theme, had just a great Christmas feeling about it. It was just what I needed to get into the holiday spirit.

We took the train all around the park, and Brit liked that a little bit. But, since he was in the middle of the seat, he couldn’t see much.

It was starting to snow more and more by this point…wetter snow. And it was cold. My feet were frozen in my boots (some boots huh?) and we were getting soaked. It was time to head back. By now there was a lot of snow…like a couple of inches on the car. Oh yay!

It continued through the night and into the next day. Up in DC they got 18 inches! That’s pretty unheard of, all in one storm. I’m glad we were farther south and east since we got about 3-4 inches total.

The next day was pretty uneventful…if you don’t count the HOURS we spent in the Time Share’s sales office. We agreed to the talk, even though we own, to get the $100 card. Because of some miscommunication that resulted from our last stay in Scottsdale, they thought they didn’t have much to tell us, so at the END of our 90 minutes, I questioned something they had just breezed over and they found out that we hadn’t been told what we were supposed to have been and then it launched a whole other long time with paperwork and such. Man! Then, Mark’s mom had a little question about transferring her week to points and that resulted in another 2 hours.

FINALLY we made it out and by this time it was beyond Brit’s nap time. For dinner we ate at one of those restaurants that has been in a small town for more than 50 years. It was quaint and the food was passable. But, it was all decorated and had a nice homey feel.

Sunday dawned bright and clear. The roads had been paved and we headed to Colonial Williamsburg to check it out in the wintertime. So adorable. I just love it. But, the wind picked up and it was super cold…so back to the car and on our way home we went. I can hardly wait to go back, because as we left I discovered several more houses and streets I didn’t know existed. I thought it was just 1 street…but no. There are lots. Huh.

It was a nice little getaway and I’m glad we went, even if things didn’t go entirely according to plan. And, the best part of all was missing the blizzard of 2009