Christmas Break continued...
On December 26, we rolled out at 7am with everyone except JP, who had to stay to work at the hospital for a few days, and Lucy Doodle, who stayed home with JP. We drove five hours and stopped at Camelback Resort and our room was ready early (the best!) and we hit the waterpark for a few hours:
We went back to the much-too-small-room-for-eight-people-even-though-it-was-called-the-king-suite-and-slept-eight-people to change and drove down the road to get dinner at Barley Creek Brewery. After the last person ordered, I realized that we all got cheeseburgers - such simple folk are we.
We went back to the hotel after dinner and the kids played at the waterpark again while Phil and I walked around the place. There was a magic show in the lobby which was quite entertaining even for the magic-hater that I am. It just creeps me out.
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| SNOW!! |
The next morning, we drove from the Poconos to Phil's parents house in Maryland. December 27th was their big Martin Family Christmas party and *almost* everyone was there from his side (missed you Nisey, JP, Maura and Ryan) so we had 33 in attendance. No matter what side of the family we are with, it's always a BIG party, which I realize is partly our fault ;)
The next night, Phil's sister Kelly invited us to her outdoor furniture shop in downtown Frederick where we had some snacks and hot cocoa and then walked over to the creek to see the boats decorated for Christmas. It was very cool!
JP and Lucy made the drive down to Maryland that night and the next day, JP went to visit his girlfriend Grace who happens to live about an hour away from Nana and Gramps, very handy! These two have missed each other while JP has been on his gap year at home and Grace is finishing her senior year at Franciscan.
On Sunday, December 29th, Phil took Andrew and Eamon to see the Commanders game (their Christmas present). I had bought these tickets back in October and the game day and time wasn't decided until December 17, but it ended up being the national Sunday night game because the Commanders are killing it this year. I watched the game on tv but went to bed at half time when they were losing. I layed in bed, praying for a win so I wouldn't have to deal with three sad guys and somehow they pulled it off in overtime! How exciting!
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| Pretty good seats if I do say so myself. |
The next day, we all drove to Hagerstown to get a look at the new medical school where JP most likely will attend. It's only 40 minutes from Nana and Gramps, and only 20 minutes from Phil's brother (who is married to my bestie and has 8 kids) whom we went and hung out with the rest of the day. So fun!
Some of the cousins eating ice cream (their peanut butter soft serve is so good!) at the restaurant where their teens work. We call ourselves the MA Martins (us because we live in Massachusetts) and the PA Martins (them because they live in Pennsylvania) and all of the kids basically have a cousin around the same age which is so great.
For New Year's Eve we all went to our friends house to spend the day, where the kids played basketball for hours, and then went to the Vigil Mass for the holy day. Nana made a taco feast for dinner and we were supposed to stay up and play games but we ended up watching some episodes of Lost with the teenagers like every other night this Christmas break. I can't believe Phil and I used to watch this show on TV once a week for six seasons and now my kids can binge watch multiple episodes each night.
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| My only photo from NYE 2024 |
On January 1, 2025 we took the kids to walk around downtown Frederick because we thought they would enjoy seeing the boats, got some ice cream of course, and then shopped at Marshall's with some gift cards that were burning holes in Maggie's pockets.
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| This boat said "Colleen's Crew"! |
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| Our ice cream is better, but I loved this bench! |
January 2nd was a chill day spent doing laundry and packing and stuff like this:
We drove home on January 3rd, unpacked AND put away all of the Christmas decor both inside and outside. The next day we cleaned out the fridge and made a shopping list to start this stupid January diet because we need to push the reset button after that long and fun Christmas break.
That's Sam Hartman, and he's kind of a snack. And I am old enough to be his Mother.
ReplyDeleteAgreed and yup, me too!
DeleteLaughing at the sweet text from you husband; I don't follow any sports, and I've heard of this guy too. HOW funny.
ReplyDeleteLove the Colleens Crew. I mean, your crew wouldn't actually fit in that boat, but it's a nice thought. 🤣
The PA Martins and The MA Martins; what a lovely bunch of humans.
Glad you had a great (but busy) Christmas!
Could you hear his distaste for the guy "who doesn't even play on the team"? The ladies love him though!
DeleteAnd yes we need a bigger boat!
Ha! That was a good text exchange and those are indeed some luscious locks. I don't follow football at all so never saw this guy before (but I guess I'm more out of the loop than Suz above!).
ReplyDeleteYour break seems like the perfect balance of fun adventure and family time. We haven't done a water park trip since Greta was 3 and Cece was a baby ... probably time to remedy that!
The winter is the perfect time for an indoor waterpark...and Camelback Resort can't be too far from you?? Maybe 2 hours? They have skiing and snowtubing as well!
DeleteThis looks like a great time. I, too, love the Pa and Ma Martins. So clever. One question was your sil your bestie BEFORE they got married, or did you become friends after he married her. Either way it's awesome, but I'm wondering if it was like a double date sort of thing. The Brendan video is so funny. My Reg said his name the same way when he was that age. Awww. I thought the same thing as Suz - you wouldn't all fit in that boat. How awesome is it that you bought them tickets to a game that they won in overtime. Well done, you! I did not remember that Lost went on for 6 seasons. I watched it early on, and then I lost interest. I guess. We did an indoor water park with a few kids - well, I did, because the Irish dancing competition was held at a hotel with an indoor water park, but it was a weak excuse for a water park. Otherwise, we've never done one.
ReplyDeleteI just love that your break is all about family time. I'm so jealous. I really want Coach to take time off around Christmas next year. It'll be our last year of having a high school basketball player who has a basketball tournament to participate in. Maybe we can start going somewhere, or getting tickets to a play downtown or something.
My SiL became my bestie after, though we did all go to the same college and we did have one double date before any of us got engaged or married :) The perk of being a teacher is the same days off as your kids, and then I try and line up my vacation days with them for some family time. I hope you guys can figure it out for next year.
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