Texas Trip and Christmas

The week before Christmas we drove to TX to visit Charles' brothers and their families. On our way there we stopped in Independence, LA, the town where my great, great, grandparents first settled in the US from Sicily.

This is likely the church they attended.We wanted to go to the Italian Culture Museum but, they were closed :(

We were also sad to find out the Italian restaurant we wanted to eat at was closed. Though, it wasn't quite what we were expecting, we're glad we got to see this little town.

We stopped in Houston to see our good friends the Benacs. It was great to see them and Azure had so much fun playing with Lucy!

We did a day trip to San Antonio and remembered the Alamo. It was definitely a day of remembrance as we had completely forgotten what had occurred there. Very interesting stuff.

Then we went to the San Antonio Zoo. It was colder than we were expecting for Texas. Not many people were there.The highlight at the zoo was the hippo. We watched this guy get into the water and open his huge mouth. Tons of fish swam in and we thought at first that he was eating them and were wondering why the fish were swimming so anxiously into his mouth only to be eaten. But, we soon realized that they had a symbiotic relationship and the fish were actually cleaning out his mouth. Fascinating! We all sat and watched in amazement for about 30 mins.

These are really bad pictures. Can't wait to get our SLR in a couple weeks :)
Exhausted after a LONG day. She wasn't the only one who looked like this :)We also went to an open gym with foam pits and trampolines with all her cousins. At first she was a little scared to jump but, Daddy toughened her up and she had a blast! Daddies are great for that :)
For our drive back home we each had our own block of cheese to eat. You know how we love our cheese in this family :)


We also stopped in New Orleans on the way back and were disappointed by how debacherous it was. I guess we are too naive. We don't look forward to ever going back.

For Family Home Evening the Monday before Christmas we took a ferry ride across the Savannah River to Hutchinson Island where some gingerbread houses were on display. Azure loved being on the boat. We were excited to find out it was free. Wish we had known that before. We also acted out the Christmas story. Azure was sick this last week with pink eye and an ear infection. Thanks to her antibiotics, she is all better now. And gratefully she did not get either of us sick. Here she is part way through the act, where her illness is fully manifested:
Once the "donkey" came out to led me (Mary, great with child) to Bethlehem, she was all giggles. We didn't have donkey ears, but bunny ears worked just as good.

The babe lying in a manger. Forgetting her tantrum 2 minutes earlier.

On Christmas Eve we drove around town and looked at all the houses that had gone "all out" with lights and decorations. Then we feasted on a yummy turkey. Charles has been in charge of cooking turkeys before but, I actually cooked this one. It was my first time. I was so happy with how moist it was. The Pioneer Woman's blog is so helpful for cooking tips. I highly recommend it!

Just before bed on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning I made a yummy breakfast consisting of crepes with strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and nutella. Also potato latkes and a cheesy sausage, egg casserole. I think this will become a tradition.

Azure playing with her new paints she got on Christmas morning.
Another tradition we started this year was going to a nursing home to sing Christmas songs to some of the patients there. It was very touching and we hope to be able to do it every year with the kids on Christmas day.

Then we headed over to Garner's house for Christmas dinner. Here's Azure and her good friend Isabella. She is 2 months older than Azure and they sometimes have a love/hate relationship. But, mostly they love each other and get really excited and giddy when they first see each other after a long time. It's very cute :)

It was a wonderful Christmas for just our little family of 3.