Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to our family and friends!  We hope that everyone is able to relax and enjoy time together.  

Earlier in the week, the kiddos opened a gift from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Roger - an anatomical model of the human torso!  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Ayson giving Addie a timed memory test.

Gingerbread houses!!

Ms Annie stopped over to the give the kiddos their salt clay ornaments (dried and finished) that they made together last Thursday evening.  Thank you!!!

The kids requested NO hiking on Christmas Day (they wanted to just relax, play, and eat junk food), so we went for hike on the 24th and 26th!  We made sure to hike at places that had snow as ours has melted.

Pratts Falls

Some sections of the trails are STEEP!

Shadow and Ayson chilling:)

The kids next to their letters to Santa - check out the size of the massive carrot!!  Hope the reindeer are hungry!

Checking out the note Santa left Christmas morning

Adam gave the family new Clemson clothing - thanks Adam!

Addie and 2 of her new stuffies.

Adam and his crazy lounge pants (there is a matching shirt)

Ayson living his best life playing video games.

Addie setting up her horse/pet farms sets.

Of course the pets received gifts too!  

Addie was SO happy to have gotten her dinosaur mask!

The kids opening another gift (Mystery Mail- with missions/tasks to complete) on the 26th.  Ayson must complete a spy mission and Addie must help slay a dragon.

A walk at Baltimore Woods is never complete without multiple rounds of hide and seek along the trail!

The boys having fun

Dates and Winter Hikes

 A^4 had an uneventful week and we are happy and healthy.  We hope the same for our family and friends during this holiday season!  

On Thursday, the kiddos went to Ms Annie's and Mr Bob's so that Adam and Amy could attend the Optimist Holiday party.  Ms Annie had the kids make chocolate brownie waffle ice cream sundaes AND they decorated homemade salt clay ornaments.  Amy was sort of jealous and wished we could have all gone to Ms Annie's and Mr Bob's :)

As a Christmas gift (to Adam and Amy), Amy order 6 pasties from an Upper Peninsula company, Pasty Central in Calumet, MI.  They arrived on Thursday and Amy and Adam had pasties for lunch on Friday - yum!  Adam shared a picture with his work colleagues!

Saturday morning, the boys went to Barber Sam's for a hair cut and then did a little Christmas shopping while Amy and Addie went to Target to do a little Christmas shopping:)

Once back from our Saturday morning galivanting, we went to Clark's Reservation State Park (also known as "the Cracks" to the kiddos) and we were able to see snow!!!  There is no snow in our little valley but we do have paper snowflakes hanging from our windows!!!

A view of Glacier Lake through the snow covered branches at Clark's Reservation SP.

The BEST part of the hike - the limestone cracks!!!!  The new hiking shoes had good grip on the wet rock!

The limestone cracks!

Of course the kiddos wanted to play on the playground equipment :)

On Sunday, we checked out a new trail at Labrador Unique Area that connected to the "Tippy Top" trail - our longest hike yet at 5.26 miles!

The view!

The huge trees near the tippy top that were covered in snow in 2018.

Same view from 2018:)

Happy Holidays AND Happy December Birthdays

Happy Holidays AND Happy December Birthdays to our family and friends including Aunt Julie, Aunt Shirley, and Aunt Holly!!!  The week went by in a blur and Amy can't remember what we did during the afternoons/evenings - other than go to bed early.  Hibernation season is so relaxing!  We did have a fun weekend with our friends (Mr Bob and Ms Annie - we considered them family now:), a family outing that did not involve hiking clothes, and a fun Sunday hike and crafts.  We hope that everyone is happy and healthy!!

On Friday afternoon, Amy and the kiddos had a Christmas decorating date with Ms Annie and Mr Bob!
Annie had a decorating station all set up for the kids - thank you Annie and Bob!!

Addie's slow and steady cookie decorating

Ayson's cookies were done is a flash but he did a great job!

Mr Bob, Ms Annie, and the kiddos.  Thank you for a wonderful afternoon!!!

We then helped Ms Annie decorate a Christmas tree 

THIS tree decorating picture was taken at Ms Annie's in 2016 :)  We started decorating with Ms Annie in 2015 and have only missed 2020.

On Saturday, we went to Syracuse to watch our friends and neighbors (Josh and Sora with CirqOvation) preform with the Syracuse Symphony.  We had front row seats to the juggling, aerial acts, trapeze, and fire baton!

Sunday hike at Tracy Lake!

Ayson and Adam working on the model car kit.

while Addie created another scratch art!