Saturday, December 24, 2011

"Let The Vacation Begin!!"

Yes, as of yesterday my eleven day super-sized Christmas break has officially begun! Been waiting months for this...literally. Had it all arranged in August and then had the next three months to suffer through, but it has now arrived!! Cari had to work Friday, and cousin Dylan spent the night, so Friday morning we did something we hadn't done in a long, long time:

Fort Worth Water Gardens 12-23-11
Downtown!! I cannot remember the last time we managed to make our way down here. Feels like years, which is probably was. But Dylan had never been here at all! For shame! Anyways...I am loving this new camera. Gets things much clearer and zooms much farther.

Fort Worth Water Gardens 12-23-11
See what I mean? Maybe someone will notice them and publish them!

Fort Worth Water Gardens 12-23-11
Emily: "Um, Dad, I'm really getting wet from standing here!"
Me: "Just 30 more minutes so that I can get this shot..."
Emily: "Geez, what's more important, you getting the 'perfect picture' or me getting hypothermia?"
Me: "Hmm...it shouldn't be this tough to choose..."

Fort Worth Water Gardens 12-23-11
My goal was to have everyone looking like sailors on a ship, but it turned out more like them looking like tourists. Ah well. Still an inspired shot.

After we were done freezing outside, we made our way to the Barnes & Noble store down the street. It's kind of a pain where the store is located; it's too far to walk, and if you drive down there you have to find another meter. What's funny is every time we went out to the car, the meter always had 2 minutes left exactly.

At Barnes & Noble 12-23-11
Man, that was some nice decorations! Christmas to me is all about who can outdo who.

At Barnes & Noble 12-23-11
Zach: "Hey Dad, who is the cowboy behind us?"
Me: "I think that was Barnes Noble, the creator of this bookstore."
Emily: "Oh sure, like a cowboy would aspire to open his own bookstore."
Me: "The smart ones do."

Barnes & Noble Downtown Fort Worth Texas
At Barnes & Noble 12-23-11
My gosh I can't believe how much Emmy has grown. The first shot was taken about seven years ago. She wasn't even as tall as Toad! I guess growing up is inevitable.

After we read, we drank:

At Barnes & Noble 12-23-11
Apple cider for everyone! Except me...gotta go hot chocolate...always.

That night we went over to Mom's house for some Fratelli's pizza (/ahref>, egg nog, treats, and of course...presents! It wasn't until about Tuesday that I really got excited about this night. Zach and Emmy were really looking forward to it as well. And that pizza was so good. Mom even got ham and pineapple. I like to think she got it just for me heh heh. A few pix:

Christmas Eve With Mom 12-23-11
Wouldn't be Christmas without Zach getting some Legos!! He has gotten so much this year we haven't even made our way to his Legos yet. But we will.

Christmas Eve With Mom 12-23-11
Emmy got a DS game! Four games actually. Now if she could just remember where her DS is ha ha. Actually I think this week we know where it is!

Christmas Eve With Mom 12-23-11
Oh yeah, PF Chang's gift card!! We go there very sporadically due to their high prices and constant crowdedness. But if we have a gift card, then we always use it. Always.

Christmas Eve With Mom 12-23-11
This has been on my Amazon list for like two years and finally little sis got it for me!! I have always loved these movies and if you haven't seen them, Star Trek: TNG was never about the special effects. It was always about the story, and the relationships between the characters. Mom and I both watched it very often.

Christmas Eve With Mom 12-23-11
Me: "Hey Mom, what's so funny?"
Mom: "Oh...um...wasn't this a joke present? You know, a real gag gift?"
Keri: "No!! Isn't this a good picture of Mike and me?"
Mom: "Ehh..."

I thought it was a good picture. (sigh)

Oh I'm only kidding. Mom really did laugh when she opened it but she thought it was a great shot of us. Hey, if I'm in it, how can it be bad eh?

Saturday we just hung around the house until we went to Cari's parent's house for Christmas dinner. Of course, the kids got their share of gifts:

Garcia Xmas Eve 12-24-11
Zach in all of his love of all things Angry Birds, got himself a handy dandy blanket! I don't think he's opened it yet lol.

Garcia Xmas Eve 12-24-11
Wow, what a cool jacket! Unfortunately, it was a size too small, and I think I threw the tag away so now we can't return it. It fits her, but it's a little snug. Why must things always be my fault :(

Garcia Xmas Eve 12-24-11
Now this is awesome! It's a bluetooth-enabled speaker system for the iPod/iPhone. I'm considering taking it up to work and putting it behind me to have a surround sound experience while I'm watching movies at work. I have it so bad don't I ha ha.

When we got home, we were all very sure to put out some milk and cookies for Santa since we all know he runs on them:

Xmas Morning 2011
I get the feeling Santa has Zach and Emmy on his nice list.

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