Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving with Ed's side of the family and had a fantastic weekend! We spent Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's parade, I love just seeing all the floats go by! Then we got ready and went to Ed and Anna's for some delicious turkey! That night poor Ed had to go to bed super early since he A. Felt like crap and had what we will now call the Plague and B. had to be up at 1AM to monitor the Target website (thanks Target). Quick backstory on the plague....when we were in Orlando Janet had supposedly given John her cold....John gave it to me....I gave it to Ed (I mean thanksgiving IS for giving!!)...it then quadrupled in severity for poor hubby. Hopefully the chain of sharing the cold will stop there....but Janet did drink from a cup clearly marked Ed...so the Plague may be back at the Geary household...sorry guys! :)

Thanksgiving night while Ed slept I watched Elf with John and Janet. I really think I could watch that movie every day and never get sick of it, one of my all time favorite Christmas movies! Janet and I were going to go shopping at Target at midnight so I could get the sweet deal on the Ipad but we just got to cozy on the couch. We did manage to get to Target by 9am on black Friday though. Didn't get any crazy deals but was still nice to be out to check it out. We lounged around the rest of the day until Nate and Lesley arrived. When they did we bundled up and headed to the beach so Maverick, Max, and Sammy could walk on the beach...Maverick also thought 30 degree water was perfect for swimming so he took a few laps in Lake Michigan too, crazy dog! That night we went out for a nice dinner and when we came home we celebrated Christmas since we won't be in Michigan for Christmas this year. Ed and I made out like bandits!!! Thanks Janet and John for all the great gifts! Later we did Fondue and watched Christmas Vacation (another top 5 Christmas movie of mine!)

Maverick after his bath (he got stinky swimming in the lake)

On the Saturday we saw the Muppets!! It was really cute. Ed is a huge Muppet fan so he was really excited to go. I'm pretty sure we were the only people there without kids...oh well :) Saturday night we had a cookie decorating contest between Ed, Lesley, Nate, and I. I don't mean to brag or anything...but I did win first place haha :) We all had some great cookies!! After cookies we played a bunch of games. I think my favorite part was on one game we all had to write a phrase that started "I like" about Janet, it could be true or funny.....then they all got read out loud. Ed and I both put "I like big butts and I can not lie". I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt, as was everybody else.....there were billions of things we could have put and thats what we both chose....if that's not a sign that we were meant for each other I don't know what is haha :) Sunday we left bright and early for the every enjoyable 9 hour drive home. It was a great thanksgiving weekend with our family! Now bring on Christmas!!!

Ed's Cookies

My cookies: A Mickey Christmas Carol, Mickey, Minnie, Tiny Tim

Nates Cookies

Lesley's cookies.....they were great minus that IU fan ;)

First place, WOOHOO!

Me, Ed, Nate, and Lesley with our cookies!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Disney!

Better late then never....
Our last day in Orlando we went to the Magic Kingdom in Disney. We got there right as the park opened for opening ceremonies which consisted of a song and dance routine and all the characters arriving via train, very cute. When we entered the actual park it was all decked out for the Holidays, gorgeous! The Christmas music made it even better, its never to early for some Christmas music in my opinion :)

Next up we hit up some of the big rides Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both very fun rides! After about 5 rides we grabbed lunch and then did more rides until we caught a parade full of all the characters. Then we all split up. Ed and I went for some pineapple ice cream (DELICIOUS!!) and then walked around the Main Street shops (super cute). We headed back to the hotel after and grabbed a quick nap before heading to the Wilderness lodge for a bbq dinner. After dinner we zipped back into the Magic Kingdom for a few night shots of Disney. We didn't get back to the hotel until midnight and were up by 4 AM to get to the airport....long tiring day but so worth it! Can't wait for our next Disney trip. Here are a few pics of the fun!

The whole family the night before Magic Kingdom (L to R: Me, Ed, John, Janet, Grace, Lesley, Nate, Marghi, Courtney, Mallory, and Andy) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking up to the park

Ed and I in front of the Magic Kingdom

 

 

Entering Magic Kingdom, all decked out for the holidays, so pretty!

Cinderella's castle

Inside "It's a Small World" (Is that song stuck in your head now? Every time I say it, its stuck in mine!!)

Mallory and I before lunch

Mallory and Ed at lunch

Part of the parade, Ed's favorite float "Aladdin"

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in front of Castle surrounded by Poinsettas

Ed and I in front of the castle

Orlando

Last week we took a much needed vacation to Orlando! Part of the trip was just Ed and I and the other part we were lucky enough to spend with a bunch of our family. It was extra special because this was the only time we would all be together in the next few months since none of our holiday plans match up. We got in late on Thursday night and then Friday the fun began! Ed and I hit up Universal Studios Islands of Adventures, it was a little cool out but the sun felt great. It was more crowded then I expected (should have checked for Holidays....had no idea it was Veterans Day!) but we never waited more then 45 minutes for a ride so it was pretty tolerable. Here are a few of my fav pics from Universal

The entrance to Universal

I love this cloud in toon land "I feel like there is a cloud overhead" it just screamed photo op

!

My fun quote to take a pic by

Us in Dr Seuss area

So cute having the elephant with the Christmas stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday Lesley came up in the morning so the three of us went to lunch and then went mini golfing. I got two hole in ones!! We also fed gators hotdogs, very expensive over priced hot dogs :) Saturday night Janet, John, Margi, and Nate joined us all and we did dinner. 

Pre-mini golf

Feeding the gators

 Sunday we spent the morning by the pool and then went to do the Slingshot ride, more mini golf, lunch, then drove over to Disney to meet up with Andy, Courtney, Grace, and Mallory. We did dinner that night at downtown disney. We ate at a great Irish Pub that had a fun band playing. Then we took a big family picture since we won't be able to get one at Christmas time

Getting ready for the sling shot with Lesley

Marghi and Nate before the Slingshot

Hangin out with Goofy

Me & Les at the Disney hotel

Grace & I showing how many times we'll do the teacups tomorrow

The whole family after dinner

Monday we spent the day at Disney. I will get pics from Disney up later, the good ones are on Ed's camera. I think it's time for bed now....I'm still catching up on sleep from vacation! It was a great time and I hope we can do another family trip like this again!

Halloween

So Halloween came and went. Ed and I both had to work so we didn't get to hand out candy this year :( However we did find a dog Halloween party to take Maverick to a few days before. (Yes we are those types of dog owners). Maverick did not appreciate being dressed up initially....but once he got there and saw all the other dogs (there were over 40) in costumes he was so excited he forgot how silly his mom made him look. It was also nice that we were able to go with our neighbors and their adorable little boy, their dog, and another neighbors dog (Mav loves playing with all of them). 

The party was great, they had an area decorated for fun pictures and booths set up for "tricks for treats." Maverick just had to sit and then he got to catch a treat, he thought it was the best thing ever. They also had a trick or treat hall where you walked your dog down and every few spots the dog got a dog treat and owner got candybars, mmmm snickers! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night: 

 Maverick the dinosaur, Rudy the Cowboy, and Kloey the frog

Maverick in his costume...he's such a cute Dinosaur

Our neighbor's little boy and his dog, SO CUTE

Mav and Rudy

There were treats being held above my head as I took this, that was the only way both dogs looked at the camera

40 minutes later he was practically unconscious in the car....a huge success!

Happy late Halloween!! Next up...our trip to Orlando!

It's Getting Cold....I need to pick up a hobby

So today was the first cold day of the winter. And with my luck we just got back from warm, sunny Orlando so it feels worse then normal. It made me think I better find a hobby for the winter or I'll go crazy with cabin fever OR spend all of our money shopping....either way it didn't look good for Ed so we'll see if I can stick to this blogging thing for his sake :)

So what have we been up to lately.....ever since we've been in our house we've had these HIDEOUS ugly gold lights in our living room. I have hated them from day 1 and been dying to get rid of them. Well I finally got my chance and I jumped on it. So we went from these: 

To these:

SOOO much nicer. I love the silver look and how much more modern these are. It helps that the main light is centered in the room too (the old ugly gold one was on the side because they had their dining room in this room...again another thing they did that I do not agree with). Also the room has MUCH better lighting now. My eyes are so much happier now! Well off to do a few things around the house and watch my Wednesday night shows. Will try this blogging again later :) We still have so much to catch up on!