Christmas with Family

The Saturday before Christmas, Lisa and the boys went to Jill and John's house in Decatur, Il to celebrate Christmas with Lisa's family.  Brad could not be there because he had to work.  We had a lot of fun.  The kids received a lot of fun gifts.  Looking forward to doing it next year.

Look at that pile of presents!

 What a festive fireplace.  Jill bought stockings for all of us.

 Timmy being held by his favorite Uncle, Uncle Steve.

 Benny opening one of his many presents, a hooded towel in the shape of a monkey.

Flight 93 Memorial

On our way home from Pennsylvania we decided to take Route 30 home.  We made time to stop at the Flight 93 National Memorial.  Although it is not completed yet, it was a very moving memorial to those men and women who sacrificed their all for others.

The sign from Route 30.

 There was a long walkway leading to the crash site.

 The wall with the names of those on the plane (listed alphabetically).

 Opposite view from the one above.  The plane crashed right before that rock.

 Along the path to the crash site there were little alcoves like the one below.  Each one had a little memento of remembrance.  My eyes welled up each time I saw it.

 Since we were there right before Christmas, there were wreaths there, One for each person killed.

Sweet Lights!

On our way home from the wedding, we stopped in Hershey, PA to take in the sights.  We took the kids to Hershey Park.  It was all decked out in Christmas lights.  Most of the kiddie rides were running and Benny had a blast.  Timmy just wanted to ride on the Carousel.  He also liked the Monorail and the train ride.

 It was a bit cold, so we were all bundled up.

 Santa was on a roller coaster.

 This little pirate ship was Benny's favorite ride.  He must have ridden it 5 or 6 times.

Christmas Wedding!

 The week before Christmas we were fortunate enough to attend a good friend's wedding in Pennsylvania.  Our friend Jim Franklin was marrying his true love Theresa. The wedding was held at Aldan Union Church.  This was the same church that Brad attended while growing up.

 

Here is the groom waiting for his bride.

The beautiful Bride! She sang "God bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts as she came down the aisle.

 The Happily Married Couple!

Benny and Johnny playing Angry Birds while waiting for the wedding to start.

 Our silly boys having fun during the reception.

Benny and Timmy were two out of three boys at the reception.  Here is how they had fun at the reception.

Christmas Music!

Benny participated in a Christmas program at church.  He sang two songs (Silent Night and Away in the Manger).  Grandpa and Grandma came up to see him perform.  They also helped us decorate for Christmas.  We also got to take them to our new favorite restaurant, Choo Choo Johnnys.

Playing with trains at Choo Choo Johnnys.

 Benny singing!

Hanging out with Grandma!

Christmas In Chicago!

On Brad's last weekend day off, we ventured into Chicago to take in some of the holiday sights.  Our first stop was the Willis Tower (previously known as the Sears Tower).  Timmy fell asleep on the ride into town and therefore slept through the elevator ride to the top.  Since my last visit to the Tower (which was many years ago), they have installed plexiglass sky boxes in the observation level that extend out over Wacker Drive. That was pretty cool to stand there and see the street below. 

 Timmy finally woke up just before we were ready to go back down.

Next we headed over to the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza.

 The wonderful tree!

 It was very crowded and we had to wait in line for what seemed like forever, but the hot chocolate was worth it!

We ended our evening by having dinner at the Walnut Room in Macy's.  It is the first restaurant in a department store.  The store itself was amazing.  There were 7 floors dedicated to shopping.  We had to wait for our table, so we went to visit Santa on the 5th floor.  This was the third time the kids had seen Santa (first time at a store at the mall and the second time was for photos at the mall).  After dinner we went up to the 8th floor (the restaurant was on the 7th floor) to look at the tree that was in the center of the restaurant.

Playing tic tac toe while waiting for dinner.

Playing cars while we wait for dinner.

 Looking at the tree!

 The Tree!

 We ended up getting home rather late, but we all had a good time.  We are looking forward to exploring other fun things next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, time sure has flown and we have been very busy.  This Thanksgiving we were blessed to spend a long weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids had fun riding their tractors, playing on the play set and taking walks with Grandpa.  We had our Thanksgiving Dinner at Aunt Leslie and Uncle Steve's house the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The boys made some great turkeys that were used as decorations for the table.
While waiting for dinner, Benny, Timmy, Brad, Uncle Steve, Aunt Leslie, Aunt Jill and Grandpa went to visit the local fire station (Uncle Steve is a volunteer fire fighter!).  On the way back from the fire station they stopped at a park.

Here is Timmy pushing Aunt Jenny and Benny on the merry-go-round.

 Here is Timmy pushing Benny and Grandpa.

 Aunt Jenny and her favorite nephews!

 Aunt Jill and "Uncle" John and their silly nephews!

 Our host and hostess for the evening, Uncle Steve and Aunt Leslie!

 Grandpa and Grandma with their two silly grandsons!

Brad and Lisa (aka Mommy and Daddy) with two tired little boys!