Drivers Ed Celebration

All week Savannah has been doing driver's education online.  It was no joke!!  10-4 straight on zoom Monday through Thursday.  So today, after taking (and making 100%) on her exam, we celebrated with Marble Slab take out!  What a fun way to wrap up this crazy year of 2020.

Preston's First Swipe

Preston received a Visa gift card from the Page family for Christmas.  He was THRILLED and couldn't wait to make his first solo purchase.  So on Sunday, our family walk landed us at Lowe's where he started his list of things to add to his treehouse . . .  and where he was able to make his first "credit card" purchase.  He bought a bucket. :)

Christmas at Home!!

The kids were up bright and early anxiously awaiting to see what Santa brought, but we managed to keep them in their rooms for a while until we could be a bit more alert. 

They opened stockings and Santa gifts first!  Each was excited to get a few favorites from their list, but they really liked the stocking candy.  LOL

After the downstairs gifts were opened, the cooks (Savannah and Dave) went to work with our homemade french toast breakfast.

While the breakfast was cooking/soaking we headed upstairs to exchange gifts from each other.  Preston was so confused when he literally opened a box of rocks from Savannah. . . but his real gift of a neck gaiter was also in there. :)

It was a fun morning with a few special gift surprises for us all.  Dave included another handcrafted card, which I was so thrilled to read.    

 It was such a wonderful day, at home, celebrating the birth of our Savior.  So thankful for a relaxing day to enjoy together as a family.

Christmas Eve in Mebane

 With all of the craziness lately, it really didn't feel like Christmas Eve.  We didn't get to enjoy the entire day together (both Dave and I worked in the morning) and we had to miss the Christmas Eve service at church too since they didn't have a morning one.  We also had to miss our annual take-out dinner from Chili's.  BUT, dinner at Denny's did not disappoint!!!  We drove to Mebane and had a late lunch/early dinner with my side of the family.  It was wonderful to see the cousins and spend time together.  We ate, laughed, open gifts, and then drove back to Charlotte.  It was fast and furious, but we enjoyed our time together for sure!

Preston's Gift Came Early!!

While we were away, I arranged to have Preston's gift built in the back yard!  Corey was so gracious to volunteer to build it for us and did an awesome job.  It was super dark when we got home on Tuesday, but we knew Preston would see the treehouse right away this morning so we let him open the gift early.  He went CRAZY!!!  His top three gift ideas were "swimming pool, cell phone and treehouse" so this was what we opted for this year. :)

 I can already tell both of the boys will spend lots of time in the house.  Preston is anxiously awaiting to get some neat things to add to the house . . . lights, a rope ladder, a safe, fireman's pole, etc.  LOL!  Super thanks to Corey for making this happen and for doing such a great job!!

A Surprise Disney Christmas Adventure

We avoided all travel this year, including the beach, thanks to fear of Covid. Our original Disney trip in June was canceled as well.  BUT, enough was enough!  Dave and I decided to take a risk and plan a surprise Disney trip for the kids at Christmas.  We made it all the way until Thursday to tell them we were flying out on Saturday at 7am. The surprise was awesome! 

After getting up around 4am, we made it to the airport in just enough time for our 7am departure.  The airport was pretty empty, but our flight was full. 

We finally checked into the hotel, Disney's Yacht Club, and made it to Main Street before noon.  Let the adventure begin!

At my request the first ride was It's a Small World!  The wait was ridiculous, but it was fun to start our trip with my favorite.

While the boys were on Space Mountain, Savannah and I rode Buzz Lightyear a couple times!

We had a full, long day in Magic Kingdom and ended with this awesome castle picture! 

The next morning we were up bright and early to walk to Epcot.  We hit soaring first to avoid the lines and then made our way around the park, saving the countires for later.  The wait for Test Trak wasn't that bad even though the posted time was 70 minutes.  It was my favorite Epcot ride for sure!

We enjoyed the countries and ended with a delicious dinner in an Italian restaurant, our only table service meal for the trip.  We sure missed the meal plan since they stopped that due to the virus.

Savannah and Dave outside the Germany entrance.

Day 3 was spent at Hollywood Studios.  We did our favorite Toy Story interactive ride first and then the boys went to ride Slinky while Savannah and I enjoyed LOTS more on the spinning ride and more Toy Story rides too.

Preston outside the rockin roller coaster.  He was so proud to do his first upside-down coaster . . but didn't know going into it that it actually went upside down. ;)

The longest wait of our entire trip was almost two hours for the Star Wars ride (we would never have waited that long, but the posted time was much shorter).  Thankfully, we made it out just in time to race over to make our reservation for the exclusive Star Wars adventure.  I think after waiting so long for the first one, they weren't as happy coming off, but at least the three amigos got to do both Star Wars rides!

And we say goodbye to Hollywood Studios . . it was fun to ride the skyliner back to Epcot and then walk to the hotel.

Our last day was spent back in Magic Kingdom.  The boys hit the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first and there was still a small wait (even at 7:15 in the park!) while Savannah and I rode a few other rides that the boys didn't care about.  Of course, we all rode Buzz again and a few other favorites before grabbing something quick for lunch and heading back to the resort to catch the Magical Express to the airport.

We are so thankful for the safety measures Disney had in place.  From required masks (we didn't see anyone without one) to distancing and sanitizer everywhere, we felt pretty safe.  Obviously, it wasn't as magical as normal, but it was a super fun way to spend some of Christmas vacation and a trip they'll never forget.  Thanks for the memories Disney!!  We'll see you real soon . . . 

Bachmann Christmas Celebration

 

We were so thankful to be able to find a time to celebrate with Dave's family in Simpsonville!  It was quite a challenge with so many trips planned, but we made it work!  Thankfully the weather was amazing and we enjoyed lots of time outside, but our inside time had to be masked of course.  We enjoyed opening our stockings and then some gifts too.  It didn't take Preston long to start his concert in the treehouse on his new ukelele. :)  

Then we enjoyed a wonderful meal and opened the rest of our gifts.  It was such a fun time to spend together as a family, especially since it's been almost a year since we had seen everyone.

The cousins were long overdue catching up too!

It was a fun day and we're just thankful everyone was healthy enough to celebrate together.

Our Gingerbread House Tradition Continues

 

Today we met up with our favorite family, the Marions, to continue our tradition of visiting the Ballantyne Resort's Gingerbread Lane.  After the kids were out of school, we headed over and enjoyed a socially distanced display.  We were excited to find that by going earlier in the season, the houses were not as broken too.   There were much fewer houses this year, but they were still quite impressive to see.