the first candylane visit of the year…

Repeat: who knows what the month will hold? So given the chance and even though it was cold we headed up here after David’s basketball practice to hit three main things. Santa. Reindeer. Lights. If a ride or two could happen in there then so be it. But those three were our goal. Santa moved to an outdoor location which I quite like. The kids got their photos taken from afar but this time with no masks and there was  little interaction. Way better than last year. We met up with my sister and family and mom and headed towards the reindeer! They had been there a little bit more than us so they headed home while I took the kids to see the light show. Super quick in and out but we saw what we needed to see. 

a festive thanksgiving break.

I typically go all the places on these little breaks off of school. I want to make it so fun and make memories and do all the things. This year I decided to just stay home. The kids have been pushing buttons and just generally being unappreciative so I figured why do it all? We literally had no plans other than Thanksgiving at my parents’. So we got a lot done around the house of the festive variety. Less screens. More fighting. You know, typical sibling stuff. And a lot of ibuprofen for me. 

Of course there were some things we had to do… like get David’s expander out! And a lunch beforehand. And then leaf play at Nonna’s for a bit…. Lots of cookie baking and movie watching… making snowflakes and reindeer food and ornaments. Matt got a lot of work done on a project in our basement… We got so much off our festive list this past break and I appreciate that because you just never know what things will pop up in the next few weeks am I right?!

our thanksgiving!

This year our Thanksgiving was slightly different from most…. My Long Island family couldn’t make it so it was just little ole us… you know, the group that gets together all the time…. And that’s ok! It just didn’t feel very “special” since we literally got together five days in a row around this holiday and all the time. So. My sister and I had some plans… Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving (bust on my end for not being able to find it except for clips on YouTube), Cupcake turkeys and an Indian corn craft. It broke up the day I will say. 

And of course there was allll the eating of allll the things. All the family time! Somewhere in the midst of all of this our Elf on the Shelf arrived bringing matching pajamas which Christmas miracle of all miracles, the cousins had the same ones! And not a single one of my kids questioned how that was? But alas! Another year with Cornelius!

washington dc, the second day.

Sunday morning we got up and packed up and got our coffee all before heading out to see The Capital Building… they were decorating the Christmas tree! Too bad we juuuust missed it. At ten we were in the Air and Space Museum which sadly was half closed for renovations. Bummer. To iep and her girls left at this point and the rest of us headed across the mall to the National Gallery of Art for a quick gander… saw some things before heading over to Chantilly, VA to eat quick and then go see the really BIG Air and Space Museum. This has been on Matt’s wishlist for literal years but we never find ourselves nearby. It did not disappoint. The hanger alone is enough to see but the shuttle? Wow. Truly such a great experience to see it in person. There was so much more to explore in that area that we will definitely go back! Matt might go on his own though so he can truly enjoy. 

washington dc, an afternoon.

Once everyone had their food secured in their bellies we did some site seeing. David enjoyed this all immensely as he has been learning about the government in school. Eating it all up, as it were. We went past The White House, The Washington Monument, The WWII Memorial and then made our way down to The Lincoln Memorial….. all before traipsing back to our hotel where we started our day. Lots of steps for some of those littler legs but they were troopers. We were able to get tables in our hotel restaurant to eat… even though the food left much to be desired at least we didn’t have to walk anywhere and we had our own area of the restaurant. Then it was back to our room for drinks and just chilling out, boys in our bedroom, girls in Toniel’s room…. The adults in between. Let me tell you I am a major fan of connecting rooms.