Christmas Break

I am so happy that I decided to take off the week for Christmas vacation to stay home with the boyz. We had a great time staying in our PJs until late morning and going off on local adventures. It was such a treat not to have to rush them out the door in the morning and cram in all that needs to be done in the evening. It was wonderful to see them having so much fun together. I am dreading the return to it all tomorrow, but at least, I will face it a little more organized.

On the first day of Christmas vacation, we were snowed inside in the aftermath of the blizzard. Despite the 30 plus MPH winds, the boyz enjoyed about an hour's worth of play outside helping me to shovel the driveway, using their sand toys, sliding down a snow drift, and giving sleigh rides singing "Jingle Bells." Liam took a while to get his snow legs and kept falling over, but he was not discouraged.

On the second day of Christmas vacation, we got out of the house to go to Play Town Express in Hopkinton where the boys spent several hours on the large inflatables, climbers, obstacle courses, and riding toys making some new friends.

On the the third day of Christmas vacation, we went sledding at Davis Hill in the morning and to the Higgins Armory in the afternoon. Sledding was a bit of a disappointment, as the winds had caused major drifting and uneven amounts of snow. The Higgins Armory provided more than its usual thrills with men dressed in armor walking about the museum and talking to the kids and the opportunity to handle chain mail and try on armor gloves, helmets, etc.

On the fourth day of Christmas vacation, we went to Co Co Key Water Resort, courtesy of our good friends, the Turcottes. Even though the resort is in Fitchburg, we stayed overnight. It was packed, but the boyz were very good listeners and had a blast on the slides, going down the lazy river, going in the outdoor hot tub surrounded by snow, and lots of other water activities. They loved having a pizza dinner picnic style in the Turcottes hotel room, went to story time with CoCo the Parrot, and played some games in the arcade.

On the fifth day of Christmas vacation, the boyz had a Star Wars sleepover at Nana and Grampa's house while Greg and I had a double date for New Year's Eve with our neighbor, Nancy and her friend, Doug.

On the sixth day of Christmas vacation, we went to a New Year's Day party with all of our friends in the neighborhood.

On the seventh day of Christmas vacation, we went to church where Liam both embarassed me with his bad behavior and charmed me with his budding understanding of what church is all about. The bad behavior needs no rehashing, but his most adorable comment does. When his friend asked if we were leaving church yet, Liam told him, "You can't go yet. You haven't gotten your daily bread." This comment was as good as Evan's question earlier this week of whether someone's dad who does not attend church with the rest of the family is "home-churched."

Now it's back to school, Scouts, swimming and skating lessons, work, and down to serious training for the Boston Marathon. More photos of Christmas break are posted on my Facebook page.