Holidays 2012 - Christmas & New Years!

The holidays are always soooo exhausting! I feel like the older I get, the longer that drive to New Jersey feels.

We got left around 3am and a 12hr drive took us about 15 to 16hrs b/c of the traffic. It was nuts! We saw an accident that was pretty bad on 95N. The top of the car had to be cut off in order to get the people out. Horrible. Other than that, the ride was alright. Alexis didn't get sick and the kids didn't kill each other.. my husband was entertaining, as always. I love driving with him lol On our way home, it took us 12hrs b/c the traffic was non-existent.

North Carolina mini Get-a-way!

The weekend before my birthday (weekend of October 20th) we went up to North Carolina to meet up with the in-laws. The guys wanted to watch the football game on Sunday, Nana wanted to see the kids and I simply wanted to get out of the house! LOL

The ride wasn't too bad, we met about half way. They came down from NJ and we went up from GA. There were a few things that stood out during the ride though..

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 2 - New Jersey

The second part of our Christmas Vacation was spent in New Jersey with family. The kids had fun for the most part, but Richie was sick for about 3 days...poor kid. I got to briefly see my brother and I spent a few hours with my oldest bestie, Dawn (and her adorable kids). Besides my husbands parents, we also got to see my grandma, my Aunt and my cousin.

We ate out, played pool, jammed to some music on the record player...yes, records... my MIL played all kinds of old hits. Great music.

For New Years we went to the Country Club like we did last year. Had a wonderful time again with the hubs. He tried to get me to dance, but it didn't work out so well LOL

Now, I need a vacation from my vacation!! ((Sorry, no pics this time lol))

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World Videos

Here are a few videos from our trip:

The beginning of the Christmas parade -


Car Stunt Show -






Fantasmic Show -

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (days 4 & 5)

We then went to Animal Kingdom - where we did the Safari ride and saw "Finding Nemo, the musical". The boys and I rode on Mount Everest and braved the 85ft drop and the Yeti! (Yes, I screamed like a baby.) At Epcot, we saw all the countries of the world, ate in China and saw the CandleLight Processional..very beautiful. Our last day was spent in Downtown Disney and finishing up Magical Kingdom. In Downtown Disney we did some shopping and watched "Mission Impossible 4" at the AMC dine-in theater - it was awesome! More pics:

My next post will contain some videos from our trip =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 3)

The kids chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We saw the car stunt show with a special appearance by Lightening McQueen! We saw the parade, the lights show and went on the Tower of Terror... American Idol was cool too. There was also a show called "Fantasmic"...it was an awesome show about Mickey's Fantasia. They used sprayed water as a "screen" to play video clips off of. Loved it! Here's some pics from Hollywood Studio:

More to come =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 2)

Our first day actually on Disney was exhausting, but SO FUN!! We always do Magic Kingdom first because it is the biggest park. We ended up going back on our last day as well to finish it up.

We took the ferry across to the park... I love the ferry!! I also love the view of the castle from the ferry -

Here we met Mickey and Minnie -

More pics from Magic Kingdom -

Fun Fun Fun!!
More to come =)

Christmas Vacation 2011 - part 1 - Disney World (day 1)

This year we were unexpectedly blessed with some extra money. One of my dreams was always to go to Disney World at Christmas time. Thanks to my mother I was able to share my childhood dream with my kids =) Thank you mommy (RIP) for helping make this a great Christmas.

Our Disney vacation started in Kissimmie, FL. When we go to the area we always stay at the Seralago. The rooms are a decent price, there is a little arcade, a bar, a pool and other "pluses" there. The room we got was a "kids suite" so the kids had their little area and we could have some privacy =)

Down in the Lobby they had all kinds of Christmas trees. My fave was the Santa one:

Here is the kids part - it is like a little fort with bunkbeds, a tv and an xbox:

We used our first day to just relax from driving so we got some food and played miniature golf...

More to come =)

WildWood, NJ - fun times...

When I was a little girl the highlight of my summer was always going to WildWood, NJ. We would get wrist bands and ride the rides and do the water park until our legs felt like they were gonna fall off! When you go to WildWood, there are some things you just HAVE to do:

1. The Ferris Wheel - it's huge!! At the top of it when you're sitting there just swaying in the breeze (and you will sway lol) you can see far out over the Atlantic Ocean and everyone looks like ants on the ground. It is so peaceful and beautiful..

2. Walk the Boardwalk - if your legs don't feel like they're gonna fall off from going from pier to pier for the rides, they will after you walk the boardwalk! There are so many shops to shop in, tattoo/piercing shops, old time photo shops, games and food that you won't even realize how far you have walked...

3. The Tram Car - for those who fall out from walking, they have the Tram Car...for $2.50 you can ride it from one end of the boardwalk to the other. Those who are walking will constantly hear "watch the tram car please" - in the same electronic recorded voice they have used since I was 2ft tall...lol

4. Curly Fries - the boardwalk has the BEST curly fries ever!! If you've had them, you know I speak the truth...if not, you are missing out!

5. Salt Water Taffy - this chewy, sweet goodness was a favorite of mine as a child and many others... nothing like it in the world ...nom nom nom

Picture time!!

For those who have been to WildWood, they know that once you hit a certain area, there is this smell from the water that hits you like "omg I'm gonna puke" LOL...here is the spot & Darrell's face when we hit the spot hahaaa -

One of our fave rides is the TeaCups - I had our cup spinning so fast that Alexis's eyes were rolling in her head LOL -

The Boardwalk, games and Tram Car -

A classic, the Carousel -

Seaguls are everywhere -

Some rides on one of the piers at night & most importantly, the Ferris Wheel-

So, if you ever get to go to South Jersey, go to WildWood!! There are tons of Hotels on the strip and you will have a blast!!! The beach and ocean are right there, rides, food, entertainment and most importantly - fun times to be had by all =)

It's "Jersey" - not "Joisey"

Some people liked to tease me about New Jersey b/c I absolutely loathe that stupid show "Jersey Shore" - if you like it, more power to ya lol... I just can't stomach it. My friend Amanda likes to "it's ttttttttt-shiiiiiiirt time" me (yes I know you do it in fun Amanda and no I'm not mad LOL, I'm just giving an example).

Now, before that show came out and we lived in TX, my neighbor said "Oh, you're from Joisey"... I politely said, "No, I'm from New Jersey, I pronounce my R's." (No offense to any hard core New Yorkers lol)

You see when I say I'm from New Jersey, people automatically think the northern part near New York, or they think all of New Jersey is like that. It's simply not the case. Not everyone from New Jersey looks like an over-tanned oompa loompa like the "characters" on Jersey Shore. As a matter of fact, I NEVER met anyone like that in the 20 something years I lived in Jersey.

The Jersey I know was "country"... farm land and cows...pastures with horses and geese running around...fields of corn behind old barns with the rope swing at the door where the loft is.

When we got to Jersey the other night my son looked at me like I was crazy because I said "OMG look at the cows!!! I have never been so happy to see cows!" haahaaaa... I was having a moment, yes, I love the cows... even though one day when I was younger they chased me and my friend down the road. They were behind their fence but they chased us anyway and we ran our asses off... maybe that is where my ass went, I'd like it back please...lol

So,anywho... today when I was driving I took 2 pics of the "scenery". Yes, I know, bad Jamie!! Taking pics while driving... sue me lol - but I just had to share the beautiful green grass (that I rarely see in GA and certainly not in my back yard) and I tried to get one of a barn =)

Jersey to me is crabs in the summer, the shore (like WildWood), warm summer days and cool breezy evenings (not the suffocating heat in GA all summer long with no cool break in sight), fruit and veggie stands everywhere on the side of the road that have the juiciest watermelons and peaches (yes, better than GA peaches) that you've ever had, beautiful old farm houses with gazebos in the front yard near small ponds that have ducks and geese, yards littered with sheep and goats.... that is the Jersey I know and love =)