Mercer vs Georgia Tech Basketball

On New Year's Eve, we drove up to Atlanta to see Mercer's basketball team play Georgia Tech. After the game, we went to The Varsity with our friends from Church.

Mercer played an awesome first half, but ultimately lost the game. Meanwhile, Evan tried his hardest to get on the jumbo-tron. He danced his little heart out! Perhaps if he had been wearing GT colors, his dream would have been fulfilled.

"Please, Daddy? Please can I have pizza?"

After eating food at the game, we went to The Varsity for more food!
Best. Chocolate. Shake. EVER.

Aquarium

A fun morning at the Georgia Aquarium.

Junior Rangers

We left Chicago on the morning of the 26th and drove as far as Kentucky. The roads were good and traffic was a breeze. It was too good to be true. On the 27th, we were not so lucky. Traffic was much heavier. In fact, traffic outside Chattanooga was at a standstill for what seemed hours. It was a long day.

To break up the monotony of car travel, we stopped at three different locations to get National Park cancellations in our Passport books. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges at each of these locations, as well. You'll see them taking the Junior Ranger pledges in the pictures below!

Fort Donelson, Stones River / Murfreesboro National Battlefield, and Russell Cave.

Merry Christmas!

Oh, the anticipation:


Imagine my joy to open a box and find this message inside:





Most of us:


Four Generations:


Santa Grampa:




And a few more pictures here:

Merry Christmas Eve!

Distributing Reindeer Food!

Snuggling Great Grampa

Evan, Sarah, and Emmy

Great Aunt Beth, Erinn and the boys

We had a merry Christmas Eve, indeed. Shrimp fondue for 12, wine galore, and wonderful times together as a family. And the SNOW! Oh, so much snow! Such a beautiful, white, Christmas.

The Field Museum, Chicago

The four of us spent a few hours at the Field Museum of Natural History on Christmas Eve morning. (I can't say enough about Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences' reciprocity with other museums around the country! What a deal!) We visited Sue, enjoyed the vast Mummy exhibit, saw thousands of dino bones, and ran from diorama to diorama.

Since it was Christmas eve, we were one of about eight families in the museum. It was like living the movie "A Night At The Museum," except during the day... and without live animals! :) Anyway, it was awesome. These pictures (below) don't do justice to the visit. Alex wanted his picture by every larger-than-life photograph, so those are included. Sadly, no pics of the mummies or the dioramas.

Christmas Around the World - Museum of Science and Industry

We spent the morning at the Museum of Science and Industry with Gramie, Bapa, and Aunt Emmy. In addition to visiting our favorite exhibits, we also saw Christmas Trees from around the world. Given Evan's interest in all things Country-related, this was a fun excursion!






Then, we went for cheeseburgers at the best little joint on earth, Bill's:



And dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Delish.

Zoo Lights: Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago

Great lights. Great hot cocoa. Great family fun. The kids tout Zoo Lights as a favorite Christmas activity, ranking it at the top of their respective lists -- on par with gift opening!

Mt. Trashmore Sledding

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! We enjoyed several afternoons of sledding at Mt. Trashmore. I can remember sledding here as a kid! Evanston is flat, people, so this hill is a big deal... even if it was once a garbage heap.

There are three different "slopes" and only Evan and Will braved the black-diamond equivalent, despite the warning:



We are fairly certain they reached speeds of over 30 mph -- no joke!


The bunny slope was more appropriate for the rest of us:





Fun was had by all!





More pics here:

Old Friends

On Tuesday, we had a wonderful morning visiting with
my friends from Carleton!

Ani with Alex and Evan
Lenore with Joseph
Rosa with Elena

After leaving Oak Park, we returned home via Wrigleyville for old-times-sake. We saw Will's old apartment/coach house, scored a rock-star parking spot,

and took the kids to Penny's Noodles. Oh, how I miss awesome Asian food.

A drive past a Wrigley Field completed the tour. The boys were exhausted!

Road Trip

On Saturday, Dec 18th, we left Macon, GA for Evanston, IL. Fourteen hours later, we arrived at my parents' house for a week of Christmas fun. The kids were great travelers, see below:

Class Parties

The kids are out of school for three weeks, and Tues the 14th was class-party day! Here is Alex with his teacher, Mrs Wallace, and with his friends Jos and Emery Tyre.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time organizing the kindergarten class gifts and party, but it was worth it. I think Evan's teacher appreciated her goodies!


Evan with his friends Turner and Chandleaur:

Evan's student teacher, Ms Moses, on her last day: