At least for this blog update, it comes late. We are just a pinch behind in the Blog updates, but that's OK. What's new? This year, Grandma Charlotte was on her way down to spend Christmas with the boys. We prepped for Christmas just like always, spending the Thanksgiving weekend putting up the Christmas Tree while we watched The Game (Ohio State vs. Michigan) and getting our decorations up outside and throughout the house. Part of the decorating process was the boys making snowmen out of cotton balls. Billy's is a nice, neat, and orderly snowman. He then took part of his arms and made him some legs, apparently turning him into Frosty. AJ on the other hand, mangled his snowman into something that looks a bit like a version of ET made out of cotton balls.
Grandma flew in for the holiday and we planned out a whole week of things to do while we waited for St. Nick to show up and deliver a couple things for the boys who had been good all year (ahem, cough, cough)...well, maybe for the last couple months. Weeks? Anyway, Charlotte was more or less elated to just be down to spend some quality time with the boys and see their faces when they opened their Christmas presents in person this year.
Luckily Charlotte made it down just before Santa arrived in Jacksonville and in time to see the boys open their presents from Santa. The boys spent the evening with Grandma making cookies for Santa and preparing everything for his arrival. Once we got the boys tucked in, the rest of us called it a night and waited. Early on Christmas morning, we woke the boys to let them know that Santa had arrived and boys came out of their bedroom excited as ever.
Among their presents from Santa, the boys opened trains and books, buzz lightyear lights, airplanes and space shuttles, some Mickey Mouse presents, and some other stocking stuffers. From Aunt Laura, the boys got a remote control Thomas the Train. From Uncle Rick and Aunt Tina, the boys got a remote control construction set. Aunt Christine and Uncle Mark gave the boys some really nice books and puzzles. Then they got to their presents from their Grandparents. From Grandma, the boys present was a tablet PC with tons of games and education programs on it. An outstanding present that the boys love so much, we have to restrict their access each day. And from Nanny and Grandpa and Mom and Dad, the boys got a pretty big playset for the yard (which we'll get to in a bit). Another present the boys can't get enough of. As the boys are getting older, we are really trying to get more use out of the backyard and this was the culmination of those efforts. Now they are outside playing every single day and in Florida, playset climbing is a year round activity.
The next step on Grandma's visit was a trip to Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island. The island is essentially only separated from the mainland by some narrow waterways, so looking at a map, you wouldn't really think "island". It is a Plantation about 30 minutes away that dates back to the mid 1700's or so. Its not every day you get to see a 300 year old Plantation, the old Plantation houses, barns, church, piers, and slave quarters. The boys just love to run around the grounds and look for tortoises, but it is a great flash back in history.
The last stop was the best stop for Grandma Charlotte. We had a present for her that was yet to be opened. Up until this point, her only gift was a simple picture frame and a note, but after going down to St. Augustine for the night to see the Christmas lights, we walked St. George street and brought Grandma to her real present. A night time carriage ride through St. Augustine at night on Christmas is something everyone should get a chance to do just once. Plenty of great pictures and lifetime memories as Grandma got to sit with her grandsons as we toured the 500 year old town lit up by this year's Christmas lights. The boys also got to see their first magic show in St. Augustine. Just 10 minutes long, but the boys loved it when he began hovering spinning playing cards and making his wallet light on fire.
After a great week and a half visit, Charlotte eventually had to return to Chicago and a week and a half later, the construction of this ridiculous playset began. Now, I'm not a particularly handy guy. Sure, I can hang a ceiling fan, floor out my attic, etc, but this thing was 400 lbs of lumber and about 1000 pieces of hardware. Wow!!! So I stole a couple of my employees to help me build this thing in a day or so. We calculated it would take roughly 5-8 hours to build this thing from scratch.
Boy were we off. 2 hours in and we had only succeeded in moving the boxes to the patio, opening a few beers, collecting a laundry list of tools, and unpacking and sorting the wood around the patio. The next 4 hours were spent building a couple ladders and the extension for the swings and for the monkey bars. We hadn't even started on any of the main structure at all.
Once my help had to leave for the day, I realized this was going to turn into one lengthy project. The next two weeks were spent with every hour I had available before the sun went down and two entire weekends building this thing solo and connecting all of the component pieces together into one massive swingset. Luckily, it is nice and stable now (I had to stand in it to put the roof shingles on, so I feel pretty comfortable about a couple of 30 lbs kids bouncing around in there) and the boys have had a blast pretty much every single day since it went up climbing all over this thing. Monkey bars (with assistance), rock walls, ladders, swing set, slide, sandbox, snack table and bench, etc. A ton of work, but it was all worth it watching how much time the boys are spending playing on it.
One other quick story. Daddy had his birthday this month and the boys decided to surprise me when I got home with a cake that the two of them made. It was pretty funny. There are some pictures of the cake, but they probably won't make it on this week's video. They'll probably creep into next month's blog update, but the whole time, Billy was staring at me while I was eating it asking me if I liked it and continually digging more and more out of the pan for me to eat. Found out the real reason was that he loved the cake and later on, we found him at the table with the entire pan pulled over by him just munching away!!!
Last piece of this update are some special quotes from the week:
Mom: Just so we're on the same page, we are going outside for 15 more minutes to have our juice and then it's time for naps, OK?
Billy: Mom, we are not on a page. We aren't even on a book!!!"
Antoinette accidentally gets a little bug spray in AJ's eyes and he starts crying...
Billy: AJ, take it like a man. Take it like a man, AJ. No whining.
AJ: I don't want no broccoli!!!!!!
Overheard from another part of the house:
Mom: AJ!!! How did you get covered in cheese?
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