I Hate The Cold

When I woke up this morning it was 19 degrees outside.

Husband and son braved the cold and went to the gym and later on a Starbucks run to get us some hot chocolate and chai tea but daughter and I had to spent the day in bed, because we are not made for weather like this.

No idea what we will do tomorrow when it is back to school and work. We can't possibly hide out in bed till March?

Daughter's Pics

"Look at the photos I took," daughter said and handed me her camera.

Only then did I remember that she had been taking an awful lot of pictures during our vacation. Sometimes, at rather inconvenient times like when I was stuffing my face at breakfast.

So, here they are...daughter's impressions...minus the hundreds of photographs of raccons, possums and dogs:

Savannah

Our last stop before leaving out of Atlanta was Savannah, a place which we always like to visit and not just because son was born there.

There are some locals in Savannah that claim you should never walk on Tybee Island with big, puffy winter jackets - but trust me it was super windy that day and we were the only people nutty enough walking up and down the beach - we had to wear them!

And then, we flew back home...

Husband's Day

Early one morning we left for Orlando...

where at the Orlando Speedway, husband got to drive a real Nascar racecar, just like last year. He also got to go on a "drive along" where you sit next to a professional driver while he flies around the track. Engines roaring, tires burning...

...afterwards we went to the Hard Rock Hotel where we spent the night...

...and took a water taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe where we had dinner...

...sitting under Peter Criss' stage outfit and other KISS memorabilia...

...this is how husband likes to spend a day!

Camp

They had so much fun! And it was so exciting when a news team dropped in on them and we could watch them on the evening news...(daughter is the one with the pink jacket, son is wearing Army pants.)

Pictures taken by the Sea School

Beach

Every time we go to the beach the kids are full of questions about the shells, the birds and everything else they can find there. And to most questions we don't have an answer.

So this year, we signed them up for a sea school camp. They spent all day there but came home at night full of knowledge about puffer fish and horseshoe crabs.

Have you ever held a seahorse?

And husband and I had the days for ourselves which we spent by walking up and down the beaches of Sanibel Island and Captiva. Bliss.

Christmas Day

Early Christmas morning we enjoyed Gary's breakfast one more time. He had made his fantastic frittata and "strawberry soup" which is so delicious that I had to send the kids to the buffet to get me seconds and thirds and fourth. I figured that the other guests would be more forgiving with them then me. Anyhow, Gary' recipes can be found in his blog: Chef Gary's Blog from the St Francis Inn.

Afterwards we drove all the way to the southern part of Florida and to my sister in law's house where we celebrated Christmas the American way with her husband's cooking (fantastic), a huge Christmas tree and a lot of very excited kids!

Lighthouse on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spend in and around the St Augustine lighthouse which held special appeal to husband and son because it is haunted.

Supposedly two little girls/ghosts live there and often tease visitors by pulling their hair. One of the ladies who worked in the lighthouse told us she has seen shadows moving around the lighthouse that didn't belong to people. But even though husband really searched for any suspicious activities he (thankfully) couldn't find any.

After we had attended mass in the oldest church in town we went back to "our" beach cottage and took a long walk on the beach.

And just when it was getting dark outside we celebrated Christmas, the German way, on Christmas Eve.