Other pics from our family visit

 Last year, Grandma Chickens sent the kids little cans of fake snow. We decided this would be a good Christmas Eve activity, and I think the snow turned out differently than the kids thought it would. 

 Zipping up and down the sidewalk on scooters in their Christmas clothes. 

 Ev practicing some of the nail art that Aunt Michelle gave her. 

 Gordon used the dirt out of the plant on my front porch to push around with his new trucks. 

Ben and I won a gift certificate for a segway tour by a company on the beach near us, and so we took advantage of Grandma and Grandpa's great babysitting service and made a date out of it. 

It was a lot of fun to drive the segway, they top out at 12.6 mph! We went down the length of the boardwalk and down to the harbor jetty. It was a gorgeous, clear day. 

 Then we headed to Olive Garden for their lunch special of endless soup and salad. We tried every soup except one. I love their salad and breadsticks. 

 The day before everyone left town, we took the chance to drive down "Christmas Tree Lane," near the area where Ben spent his teen-age years. It was after Christmas, but still fun, and less crowded. 

We took Grandma to the beach on her last day here, and we rode the ferry across the harbor. 

Too cold to play in the water (if you're a local), but it was still a nice day. 

 New Year's Eve dinner. We watched "The Wizard of Oz" and had popcorn after dinner. We've watched a lot of movies this Christmas break. 

 The kids are missing the snow. I think that's what Gordon is saying by helping his Lego men ski across his mashed potatoes. Gordon actually tasted the mashed potatoes and liked them, which is huge because a potato in any other form besides chips or french fries has previously been turned down. 

I think we're ready to head back to school and all the other craziness that is our life. I'm so grateful for breaks from the normal schedule. We haven't been sick much this break, and we've spent time relaxing and not doing much of anything. The kids play together pretty well, and enjoy being together (most of the time). Ben and I had a crazy realization last night that in a short seven years, Evelyn will be a high school freshman. Frankly, the thought scares me a bit. We've got a lot of teaching to do and influence to impart in a short amount of time.