We went on two holiday getaways this Christmas! Here’s the recap of our trip to Williamsburg and Hillsborough.
Holiday Getaways
I hope you all had a very nice week with family and friends. We took two trips, one before Christmas and one after. I’m ready to get cozy and settle into January now!
Busch Gardens + Williamsburg
On Friday the 22nd, we took the kids to Christmastown at Busch Gardens. The theme park gets decorated with tons of holiday lights with everything Christmas themed. This was my first time going! I actually haven’t been to Busch Gardens even in the warm months since I was in high school. We are already planning a trip back in the summer using one of their vacation packages.
Arrival
The park opened at 2pm, and we got there right when the gates opened. We should have gone to one or two of the big coasters to avoid lines, but instead we meandered around. Mazen and I waited in a way-too-long to ride a 30 second Grover coaster : )
Pantheon
We noticed the wait for the Pantheon coaster was short, and Thomas went on the best ride of his life. By the time he was off, the line was too long for me to go, so I will have to wait for the summertime!
Kid Rides
Neither of our boys are into thrill rides, but Birch went on the Himalaya and they did a few smaller rides together.
Bundle Up
We waited for a “warm” day that peaked in the 50s but we also knew we’d have to plan to wear tons of layers. It was ok from 2-6 and then it got really cold. Wool socks and hand warmers were a must. I had on 4 layers.
Gourmet Dinner in Germany
We had a very theme park dinner of two pizzas and a beer while watching a merry merry Christmas show and warming up.
Games We Didn’t Win
Thomas tried hard!
Train Ride + Light Tour
The highlight for me was the train ride around the whole park. The lights were spectacular!
Donuts For Dessert
Williamsburg Lodge
We spent the night at the Williamsburg Lodge, which I got for free using a Marriott free night award I got from opening a Marriott Boundless card last year.
We had breakfast at the hotel – avocado toast for me!
Pancakes for big boy:
Colonial Williamsburg
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around. We got to see Thomas’s aunt and cousin who live a few blocks away.
Ice skating
The boys saw the skating rink and wanted to give it a try. Mazen has rollerbladed before and took to ice skating no problem. Birch did pretty well too! He spent some time on the plastic bear sleds too.
Find pile of dirty snow = make snowballs
Santa Sighting
We bumped into one of Santa’s helpers who was on his motorcycle and passing out beanie babies!
Lunch at the Cheese Shop
Video Recap Of Our Trip
via Instagram!
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Christmas in Cville
We drove home on Saturday and spent a day at home getting ready for Christmas. We took the boys to see Wonka and loved it.
We spent Christmas Eve at Thomas’s parents enjoying Christmas pizza!
Christmas Creativity
Mazen really got into the holiday spirit making it special for Birch. He made this video after we all went to bed of our family Elf on a hunt for sugar.
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And he even received some texts on his phone from Santa : )
Christmas Morning
Christmas morning went great! The boys slept till 7 and we opened gifts by firelight. Birch got a lot of Mandalorian themed gifts, and Mazen got Legos and an Xbox!
We got puzzles – and new tires for our car – ugh!
Chocolate Brioche French Toast
Boy was this good!!!
Home For The Holidays
After the house was tidied, and the gifts unwrapped, we hit the road for two nights in Hillsborough! My sister and her fam plus her in-laws were there for our annual Christmas reunion.
We had ham, brussels, rolls, brandied pears, corn pudding, and more. I was not the best photographer, but I did capture the kids table!
We had three pies and lots of ice cream for dessert – yuummmm!
Secret Santa
During our annual Elfster gift exchange I got this beautiful cocktail shaker (mine is plastic!) and an Athleta gift card for some new athleisure : )
The Christmas Mouse
Adding a little excitement to bedtime, there was a Christmas mouse who ran the perimeter of the living room! Good thing I was upstairs when I spotted it.
Cousin Time
In between pastries and pie, the cousins played and played.
We said goodbye to them on the 26th 🙁
We had a low key boxing day. Thomas and I both did workouts and enjoyed a mid-day visit to the Colonial Inn while Mazen played with his neighbor friend and Mom and Dad played with Birch.
The Orange County
Life-Long Friends
In the evening some of my childhood friends came to visit.
Birch loved Uncle Hugh and Uncle Larry!
Elisabeth says
Happy New Year!
Kath Younger says
You too!
Nancy says
The Elf video is amazing! What a great big brother 🙂
Happy new year!
Krista says
Aaah! The mouse! Did you catch it??
Kath Younger says
Noooo!!! They tried using a humane trap a while back and thought she was gone, even though they never caught her.