Christmas 2011

We have had a GREAT Christmas break! It all started with a "surprise" visit (well, for everyone but me!) from Conor's best friend, his sister, and his niece starting Thursday night! His best bud Stephie drove all the way from Tennessee and showed up at around midnight. We decided we should wake Conor up by tapping him lightly on the shoulder. I should've know better, because he's done it to me before, but he awoke in a defensive stance about to karate chop/punch us in the face. He must've been dreaming about jui-jit-su.  They got to hang out Friday while Jack and I went to one more day of school! As soon as I could, I left school and headed straight to the airport to get Kerry and Stephanie, Conor's sister and niece. Jack still didn't know, because he was reading his book the whole time. He didn't even know until we were about 5 minutes away from the airport. He asked why we were driving around Houston. I just kept saying that I just wanted to drive around. Then we went pulled into the airport, he was really curious. I went into this speech about how it's the holidays and we should be in the giving spirit and help people in need. So I said we should look for people who might need a ride somewhere. Maybe I went too far, but I hadn't really planned anything to say so this is what I came up with. As soon as we pulled in, he said, "Those old people look like they might need help." I had to keep making up excuses, like, "They probably already called someone," or "That guy is on the phone calling for a ride right now." Kerry was at the very end. When I stopped, I said, "Those people might need help." It was pretty funny. Stephanie is one year younger than Trevor. Jack kept her entertained the whole way home. We had a good time hanging out, eventhough Trevor wasn't a fan of sharing with her.
Saturday was Conor's graduation from UHCL. Two out of the three children would NOT sit still, so it was interesting. But we managed to get back to the seats in time to see him walk and then again as he exited! We are all super proud of him for getting his Masters degree!
Wednesday, Jack and I went to Space Center Houston! They had a super cool mind bender exhibit. (Thanks Jess for the free tickets) Jack figured out how to cheat the system and only did half the puzzles to get on the wall of fame. Some of those puzzles were really tough!
Friday, we left for Tampa to see Conor's grandpa. Trevor had a good time playing with everyone, even his great grandpa, who he called "papa." When he says Nanny, it sounds more like Ninny. He did "okay" on the plane. His temper is getting a little out of hand. Otherwise, when he's happy, we have tons of fun! Jack loved climbing the tree in Grandpa's backyard. He said he wasn't going to come down at one point. He said, "The grass is my bathroom, this stick is my pillow, and I don't need a blanket because it's too hot out here!" It was unseasonably warm (almost 80 degrees I think) up until we went to Universal Studios. We were seriously considering buying swimsuits for the hotel pool. A cold front came through the day after Christmas though. It was really chilly when we were in Orlando. We left Tampa at 6:30 (which was 5:30 our time!) to get there when they opened at 8. It's a good thing we did, because it was so packed, that when I left Conor and Jack in line at the Harry Potter ride to go to Seuss Landing, I couldn't get back in without a ticket (which wasn't for a few hours later)!! But Trevor and I had fun on the Dr. Seuss rides for a few times before the lines got too long. Afterwards, we went to the Orlando mall, which was also packed, for a bit of shopping. We got to go in the M&M store, which was really cool!
We have had such a good time! It's going to stink to go back to school next week. I would have to say Jack is a bit spoiled at times....he still gets to go shopping with his Uncle Jeremy, while I still have lesson plans to do. : (
Pictures below:
The boys having a serious discussion.
Jack  the Chef cooking dinner, with a little help from Nanny.
Trevor giving Spiderman lots of hugs.
Trevor loving the Butterbeer so much, he would NOT give it up.
Riding on the carousel
Trevor cooking in his new kitchen
and the rest are pretty self-explanatory.