Nana and Papa

More visitors! This guest room thing is really working out well. They loved our sign (thanks for the idea, Keeley!).

We're hoping Nana and Papa will come down from Boston to stay with us every few months.

Even though they won't get in the hot tub with us.

Papa proved again that he is the original dog whisperer. 

And Nana proved her impeccable taste!

Aunt Doe

Our great aunt, Doe, stopped by for a night on her way through town. She's a happy snowbird, always on an adventure, so we were thrilled to have her visit.

In the first fifteen minutes after she arrived, Ryan brought down all the important things he wanted her to see. The trophies, the game balls, the cool foreign money.

We made cannoli with sprinkles and planned her next visit!

The Flu

Poor Dad brought the flu home from Hawaii. I was happy to snuggle up for extra TLC while he was down with fever and chills for 3 days. Except for the part where I caught it, and ended up having to go to work with Mom on day 3 of my fever. 

I got to meet the therapy golden named Kelsey!

It was super boring, because Mom had to do actual work. 

Georgia Cousins Tea and Farm

Tea time with Marmee and our American Girl Dolls!

The boys prefer Legos and Jakob time.

This is the farm where Mom spent a lot of time when she was growing up. It is now happily under new management, a little firecracker named Joli. Yes, that is her rabbit on a leash.

How cool is it that there is so much open land here, with all these animals?!

The turkey did not like the boys, he thought they were after his turkey girlfriend.

Sweet Wags, what a good boy.

Sweet Aunt Jenny, what a photogenic girl.

The parents had a date night at Breakout- it's a place where they lock you all in a room for an hour. Their room was a museum heist, they had to find clues to solve the art theft in order to win. They brought Jakob because they knew he would be the MVP!

Incredibly, they solved it with only 2 seconds to spare. Even Mom had to admit it was very fun.

The visit flew by, and it was hard to leave. But we hope they will all come visit us more often, now that we have a guest room!

The night we got home, Ryan asked Mom to make Marmee's strawberry preserves.

They were great with our new favorite breakfast, biscuits.

Georgia Cousins

Our favorite part of Christmas break is heading up to Georgia to see our cousins! This year Mom's gift from Dad was airplane tickets instead of the painful holiday drive with snowbirds and highway construction.

This is a perfect example of why we love them- they surprised us at the airport!

Marmee and Poppy have a new house this year, too. It's next to the Ringgold Depot, complete with a regular schedule of awesome trains!

We always have so much fun with these guys.

The art museum had some eye-opening sculptures.

Hot chocolate break with Marmee.

It's a good sign when the boys are tired at the end of  the day. It means the adults can visit, and capture moments like this sweetest picture, ever, of Marmee.