Christmas Eve 2014

We enjoyed a laid back Christmas Eve this year. We plan to be at home on Christmas Day so we were a little bit more relaxed than normal. The boys got a few gifts from some of their friends. Ms. Candace came over and brought the boys some toys. They got some of their favorite "As Seen On TV" items.

Ms. Kelsie has strep so we went to her house after church. So we went to her house to give her Christmas presents and she had some presents for the boys.

The boys loved their presents.

Brian came over to bring the boys their present from him. They were thrilled to get a punching bag.

We had a nice dinner of lasagna and boys enjoyed drinking from their snackies that Ms. Candace gave them.

After dinner the boys got their ornaments. Will got a "bowling" ornament because that's his current favorite sport.

The boys also spent some time eating, I mean decorating, the gingerbread house. Never one to avoid sugar, Nash loved the "decorating."

Christmas Cruise Part 4: Costa Maya and New Orleans

Our fourth port was by far our favorite. We absolutely loved our time in Costa Maya. We went to Maya Chan Beach Resort. It was totally relaxing and absolutely amazing. Pop kayaked with the boys and they had a blast.

Because our group was so large we got two cabanas. Each cabana had beach chairs, hammocks, and back beds. It was amazing.

A full authentic Mexican lunch was served complete with homemade tortillas and fresh guacamole. It was absolutely amazing.

The view that we had was beautiful and serene. There were even floating chairs and the waitstaff would walk out to your chair and ask you what you needed. 

One of our favorite aspects was that there was wifi for the entire beach area, so we all were able to catch up on our social media and see what was happening in the world .

Our last day was a travel day, so we stayed on the boat and monkeyed around. The cruise was amazing and the boys definitely want to go back again. They loved everything about the cruise, except maybe for the lack of wifi. 

Our flights were much better if we spent an extra day in New Orleans, so we lived it up. We went to the French Quarter and enjoyed beignets at Cafe' Du Monde and then had some delicious cajun food.

It was very interesting to explore some of the culture of the area. We enjoyed looking at art done by the local artisans.

I would say this was one of the best trips ever!

Christmas Cruise Part 2: Belize and Honduras

One the boys' favorite spots on the cruise ship was the dino kids pool area. They loved going there. 

 Many hours were spent there each day on the cruise.

 Our second excursion was in Belize. I was a little disappointed in Belize. We have several friends who have talked about how beautiful it is, but we must not have been to the beautiful part. There wasn't a dock so we had to tender our boat in.

 After getting to the dock, we paid a man to give us a tour of the island. He was a pastor. I'm not sure if we were on an official tour, but I can tell you that we definitely saw parts of Belize that aren't traditionally seen.

 He took us to the poor parts and the rich parts and told us stories about the island. It was neat to get that information, but I'm OK if we never go back to Belize.

 The boys did have a fun time on the tender boat though. On the way back to the cruise ship we rode on the top of the tender boat and the boys had a good time with that.

 Tuck didn't fair so well in the kids club. We dropped him off, but we almost always got a call. I think it was because he was such a young three year old.

 Most nights we would feed the boys from the buffet and then we would all go to the nicer meal. Most nights, we ended up bringing Tuck!

 We cruised on the Norwegian Dawn. It was a smaller ship than the Carnival ships that we saw, but for me it was plenty big!

Miss Candace enjoyed shopping at every port!

 Our next stop was Honduras. I really liked Honduras. The water was clear and we also went ziplining. It was a lot of fun.

 The zipline guides has a lot of fun with the boys.

 I thought that Reed would be too shy to go because he is very cautious, but he went and he had a fun time. Of course Nash and Will went with full gusto.

 The ziplining was fun and after we finished our guide took us to a beach in Honduras. I was less than impressed with the beach in Honduras. It was crowded and also there were people all over the place trying to sell us stuff.

Christmas Cruise Part 1

 For Christmas this year, we decided that we wanted to give our kids a little more than some gifts that they wouldn't remember for very long. We wanted to give them memories. We decided that the best way to do that was to take them on a special trip. So, we decided to take them on a cruise.

 It was so much fun surprising the boys with the activities that we were going to do. They never had any idea that we were going on a cruise until it was just about time to board the ship. They were excited about all of the different things. They were surprised that Uncle Bill was going with us, then they were surprised to ride in a limo, then they were surprised that Mrs. Candace was going with us, and then they were surprised that we were riding an airplane, then surprised that we were spending the night in a hotel, then surprised that Pop and Lola were going with us, and FINALLY, surprised that we were going on a cruise.

 The boys loved the fact that the cruise ship had unlimited food. They were in food heaven. The cruise ship had the best kid sized buffet.

 They also loved the water slide on the cruise. The kids pool was so much fun.

 It was a little chilly at first, so they also liked the access to all of the hot tubs.

 Our first excursion was Cozumel, Mexico. We didn't do anything but get off the ship and walk around but it was neat for the boys to experience a little bit of Mexico.

 The two Williams were happy to find their name on the front of a sailboat.

 They had fun posing next to the "gold statue" man.

 One night at dinner we had a real laugh. The boys were going to be in a parade with the kids club. However, we got a call that said "Tuck didn't want to be in the parade."

 It was fun to have Pop and Lola along with us for the Christmas cruise.

 After we boarded back on the cruise it was time to sail for our next stop, Belize.

BSFL Team Christmas Lunch 2014

 I am so blessed to work with an incredible group of people. I love each and every one of them. It is so neat that my coworkers are like family. Each year, Abbey and I like to do a little something special to show our appreciation for them.

This is our first Christmas in our new house, so we were excited to get to have the team over and actually have everyone fit!

 Abbey fixed an amazing meal. It was very tasty and I think that everyone enjoyed it.

 Abbey found a great idea for the team ornament. We try to make a keepsake ornament every year. This year, we took little pieces of pages that each team member had worked on and made them into pine cones.

I think that it was a successful meal, but I'm more thankful to be associated with such an amazing group of people.