Wrapping Up the Trip
December 27th, we got a visit from Grandma Sue, who was in town at the Villages! Nice shot! See this image larger.
Nina was big into the golf cart, even more so when it was moving! See this image larger.
Kaylee and Ian gettin’ in some Scoobi-Doo time! See this image larger.
*Grampa, what do you mean you’re reserving a tea time at 8am? Is that when the scones are done baking?* See this image larger.
More Scoobi! See this image larger.
Fascinating! See this image larger.
December 28th, tablets and laptops, like I said, these were popular this trip! See this image larger.
One of the nights we were at Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray’s, the pack n’play was too close to the dresser. I heard a funny noise and went to investigate to find that Nina had shuffled Grandma Barb’s paperwork onto the floor, and managed to also find a ziplock bag of cookies that Barb was saving for a project. Most of the cookies were still in the bag, but many of them were all over the inside of the crib-like bed and floor… Later somebody moved it too close to the bed, and we found that Nina could crawl right out of it!
We did a lot of geocaching this trip. Geocaching is using the web and a GPS system to do a bit of a treasure hunt. The reward is generally the thrill of figuring out the clues. Connor found this one!
Melissa found this Geocache, which is considered a “micro.” See that little dot in the middle of that flower-shape? It is magnetic. you can pull that off of there, unscrew the two halves, and there’s a paper scroll inside with the initials of the people that found it! Not all of them are this small, or magnetic — most are very cleverly hidden.
And that sort of does it for the trip… the next few pics are random from throughout the trip…
A shot from Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia’s… monkey hug!
A shot from Gramma Sue’s… Ian and Nina enjoy the kid-sized patio furniture! Generally Nina’s tea-parties do involve another person! Nina spent about half her time at Gramma Sue’s rearranging this furniture! See this image larger.
A shot from Grampa Ray and Gramma Barb’s… the kids pick some grapefruit off of the tree in the backyard!
And Gramma Barb took Nina for a ride in this really cute little basket. Nina always wore a smile while cruising around in this! (I’ve got a video of this coming up soon.) See this image larger.
ALRIGHT! Well, that was the trip, ladies and gents!!! I’ve got a series of videos I need to edit so there will be another slight pause, but those will be up shortly, so we can wrap up 2011!
On the 26th we woke up at the crack of dawn, hopped in a couple cars and drove to Legoland! 
Here is the crew, gathered for a brilliant picture before the craziness began! 
First a quick stop by the potty… Nina gives me a nice peek-a-boo from the stroller! 
I told Ian just before this picture that he doesn’t have to squint his eyes and hurt his cheeks for every smile, and he gave me this one. I like it! 
The first thing was saw was a poinsettia thingy that was talking to people and posing for pictures… weird! 
Artoo Deeto, it is you! 
If you could put little brown cloaks on the kids, you’d have a great Jawa scene here! 
A medieval themed spin-around-until-you-throw-up ride was our first stop. I snapped this shot of Uncle Ben and Cousin Connor. 
See? Book made completely out of Legos. I think they shellack the bejeezus out of it once it gets put together, is my guess. 
Patiently waiting for Mommy and Ian to go by… 
There they are! 
Hi guys! 
Nina went off on her own adventure with Mommy, while Ian and Daddy went on a roller coaster. I don’t have a pic of Ian and I, but I did get a video that I’ll post later. 
Little girl had a blast here! 
This turned out to be her major fun-center, she made the most of it! 
Who is in that one, Nina? 
Look at her go! 
We eventually got them out on bail. 
I could have left my big clunky camera back in the Villages (like I accidentally did my license!!!) but we would have missed smiles like this! 
And shots like this! 
I love this shot of Kaylee, she’s got a little attitude, that one! 
And any sacrifice we have to make to drive down to Florida is worth it when we get this little smile. 
And here was the reason Nina didn’t get to do join in necessarily every bit of the fun. She was involved in a lot of it, just not all of it. 
Here she and Mommy crawl around in a ball gymnasium! 
She’s almost escaped!
Ian is standing next to a kid on a ball canon… adults and kids down on the ground floor get pelted with spongy balls shots from the canons… that smoke-stack thing on the right is belching out a shower of them, right as this image was taken. The kid on the canon spotted that I had a sense of humor as I mimed an injury upon walking in… I was immediately his favorite target. 🙂
Our two little treasures!
Thank you Legoland, for making a parent’s worst nightmare into a photographic moment! 
Ian poses with fireman Joe… It is very odd how Legoland works. Sometimes things are completely made out of Legos, like the fireman here… and sometimes not, like the firetruck. When they did make stuff out of Legos, it was cool, as you shall see… 
Nina prepares to run over some Lego people, without remorse! 
She’s standing on the pedal, look out! 
Upset by the paparazzi’s lack of respect for our family vacation, Nina prepares to punch out a cameraman. 
Ian earned his Legoland Driver’s License, which entitles him to drive ANY car that is in this particular Legoland ride. 
Ian, Cousins Connor and Kaylee pose next to fireman… uh… Wayne Newton? I made that up. 
It was Ian and I vs three other trucks. We came in 2nd… and I had to pump both sides of the handles… and the first place team had a family of four. And it was close. It was weight vs effort, and we nearly won, lol. 
My little princess snuggles in for a good nap. 
I can’t thank Grandma Barb enough for being on baby duty! Thank you! 
This was an interesting ride where you pulled a rope to make your seat go up in the air… 
…and then glide back down to the ground. 
Ian loved it and wanted to go again, immediately! 
This time he went with Mommy! 
One of the many Lego sculptures around the park. 
Aunt Mel and Cousin Kaylee pedal their way through an air-ride! 
The sun started to go down on our lovely day, but we still had some sights to see… 
There was an area of the park where Lego reproductions of famous locales were on display. Here, Ian gives a big grin in front of the NASA exhibit. That kid is such a rocket-jockey… makes me wish he could grow up in an era when the space program wasn’t seemingly on the decline. 
Times square! 
A pirate adventure! 
Sunken ship adventure! 
A two-story merry-go-round. Hi Nina!
Hi guys! 
I had to stop and pose with Artoo on our way out… that little droid and I have been through a lot together. 
I guess they’re “planking.” If you don’t know what that is, google it. There, you just got a little dumber! 😉 
After a long, tiring day, we went to a restaurant, which was a wonderful place. The owner even ushered us temporarily to the outside seating so that we could see the spectacular end-of-day Lego firework show. Finally, we piled into the vehicle, the kids all started up their various iPads and tablets, and we drove back to the Villages. Thank you Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb for a wonderful day that I know we’ll never forget! 
Here we go, people! Actual December 25th Christmas! Let’s call it “Christmas Actual.” Here Nina enjoys a baby doll! Ian likes to make it cry for some reason. 
*Grampa Ray, open this for me!* 
Nina opens up some cute little Sesame Street figures, and immediately lines them up. 
Ian gives me his angry face, Nina doesn’t seem to care, but great shot Connor and Kaylee! 
Wow, kid… you more than made up for that last shot. Wow. Beautiful smile! 
Giants jersey with Chris’s birth-year on it… I teared up pretty good for this. Thanks guys! 
The front of the jersey! 
Nina will look adorable in this! 
That’s a happy boy! Legos! 
Kaylee kitty! 
Connor strikes the Heisman pose. 
Happy to have an Ernie! 
You can almost hear the lamps and breakables in the room crying out in fear. 
Nina flipping out so much that she’s just a blur! 
Future cheerleader? 
This is sort of a changing of the guards… most of the men are away, so the kids moved in to the recliners. 
Sometimes a lot of people fit in the recliners! 
Tickle time! 
Have you met my awesome family? 
A cupcake cake for Nina’s birthday! Cool idea! It is like we have our own smoosh cakes! (Unfortunately, Nina wasn’t into cupcakes this day, and pretty much plopped it on the floor. She does that with cake-like materials sometimes, not sure why!) 
I took this shot of Nina enjoying a cupcake and I! 
Golfcart ride! 
On the morning of December 24th, we packed up the car and headed over to the Villages. It was a little tight! 
We arrived at Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb’s just in time to hear about an excursion to the local pool! So we got all dolled up and golf-carted ourselves right over there! 
Mommy and Nina having a blast! 
Aunt Mel, Cousins Connor and Kaylee also having a blast! 
Ian loves having goggles on, he becomes almost fearless! 
Smile for the camera! 
Another cute one! 
Ian saw Connor shoot water all over the place doing this, so of course he had to try it! 
Come on, tough girl! 
Good job, little sweetie! 
Our family of really white people, getting some sun! 
We hopped back in the cart and headed home! 
*Hey, you guys are dragging some noodles!*
Nina ready to go back to the pool again already! 
*The question is, if the milk is in a purple cup, how come it doesn’t taste more purpley? HMMM?!?* 
Crazy kids and cousins. 
On the Kunze side of the family there is a tradition of leaving a mixture of stuff for Santa’s reindeer out on the lawn. I don’t know what all’s in there, but glitter is definitely part of it. 
And there was much to distribute! 
The reindeer shall enjoy each other’s sparkly teeth for weeks to come! (Also the kids will probably blink said sparkles out of their eyes in a few weeks too.)
Ian suddenly said “GUYS, WE’VE GOT TO GO IN RIGHT NOW. LOOK UP THERE, IT’S SANTA’S SLEIGH!” Looking up, sure enough, there was a steadily blinking red light streaking through the sky. I took this picture just to remember to tell you all this story. 
Grampa Ray and Nina pose for a pic on the front porch, doing a little extracurricular coloring! 
When your cousin wants to use your iPad. 
Look at Ian here… *Kaylee, back off!*
We lost Aunt Dissy that night, but eventually we found her under a pile of children. 
*Hi Aunt Dissy! Nina, stop eating your Christmas gift from Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia!*
The adults got into it too! (Tablets became a lot more popular this trip, to say the least!)
Mommy reads Ian and Cousin Kaylee a bedtime story. Next entry is Christmas (again!) 
I got in contact with my roommate from college, Dave Ingram, while I was down in Florida. His wife said we should meet at a nearby park on the 23rd, so we pulled the kids out of their box, and headed over there. 
The park was brilliant, with a ton of equipment, a fence to keep all the kids penned in, and a fake-grass covered, soft rubbery surface for would-be skydivers. Here Ian and Nina sample a race car. 
Nina takes the wheel! 
One of many slides! Some little girl gave Nina potato chips out of nowhere, was kind of funny and weird.
A nice train… 
Nina waves to her adoring public. 
These guys had fun, and they did not stop. 
This is the beautiful family that we came to visit, my college roommate Dave Ingram, Jennifer, their daughter Hannah, and Bear the dog. In a different image, I joked about the dog not looking at the camera, so Hannah straightened him out on this one. hehe! 
Hannah was at the age where she was AMAZING with kids. Nina took to her immediately. 
Old chums. 
We had to drop by Target on the way home, but Grandma Sue also mentioned wanting to take the kids to the beach. To be quick I asked Melissa to run inside by herself, while the rest of us waited with anticipation to get to the beach… As soon as Melissa left the car, they zonked out from exhaustion. The park took a lot out of them! 
But the kids did wake back up, and we did make it to the beach by sundown. And what a cool sight welcomed us! 
My beauties! 
What a wonderful family I have! 
This shot by Grandma! 
A beautiful shot of Grandma Sue and the kids! 
Daddy joins in while Mommy snaps away! 
The kids on the beach! 
Another shot. 
Grandma got the best shot of the kids walking together though… nice one! 
Eventually Ian ran on ahead, like a 4 year old is want to do. 
Nina spontaneously broke into T’ai Chi, having been told by her former sansei that it is particularly affective in a peaceful location like the beach. (I’m kidding.) 
Our little cutie, trucking right along! 
We had a relaxing final night at Grandma Sue’s. Thanks for your hospitality and generosity! 
The next day was the 22nd, and Aunt Annie came over to Grandma Sue’s! 
And guess what, kids? More Christmas! 
Ian got this cool plane! 
Nina got a pillow shaped like Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba! 
She loves Yo Gabba Gabba, but she calls the show Foofa, because of a character named that on the show. She loved the toy, thank you Aunt Annie!
And Ian loved flying around with his too!
*Yo Gabba Gabba MUSIC?!? AWESOME!* 
Then we went over to the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant for lunch! 
Can you find Ian? 
Back at the house, Nina invited Brobee to the tea party, and he showed up without an RSVP. The nerve! 
Thanks for driving over to Grandma Sue’s Aunt Annie! We all loved seeing you again! 
Casey kitty’s poker face. Is he happy? Sad? Mad? 
Forgot a couple shots from the 20th, camera put them out of order :-\ Anyway, here’s a lovely shot of Grandma Sue, Ian and Nina at the Christmas Lightwalk thingy. We had a lot of fun, and I even saw something that we pretty much assume will be everywhere next year. (They were a string of long pieces that contained a series of lights in a column, that lit top to bottom one after the other, made it look like the tree was raining light… gorgeous!) 
We ate dinner at a great place that Grandma Sue suggested, and the waiter was so nice he gave Ian some free ice cream! I think the kid might have even deserved it! 😉 Nina got a little taste too! 
On the 21st we went to a cool restaurant that overlooks an airport, Ian was thoroughly entertained by the helicopters taking off!
That night, Uncle Gordon, Aunt Leslie, and Aunt Tara all came over to hang with the crazy kids! 
Look at those matching smiles! 
The kids gravitate to Uncle Gordon and Aunt Leslie a lot… Ian recently said he’d like to go visit “The aunt that lives in the building way up in the sky” on our next visit to Florida. Can do, kiddo! 
Playin’ with some toys! 
This bow made its rounds, believe me! 
See? 
*Hey! Who put that on Nina?!?* 
By and by it was time to say bye-bye, with some big hugs! 
There were also thank yous to be given, as Ian and Nina received some nice presents. Thank you! Good seeing you all again!
December 18th, we stopped for gas somewhere in Georgia, and I took a quick picture of our sleeping beauty through the car window, surrounded by presents.
December 19th we drove all day. When we arrived at Grandma Sue’s villa, we pretty much went to bed. And that Christmas started first thing the next morning, on the 20th! Here, Ian is inside of a cat toy. I’ve got a shot of him in this when he was much smaller. Cute! 
And BOOM just like that! It is Christmas again! Santa is pretty amazing how he keeps track of all this!
Bathtub Elmo gets a hello hug!
*You can play with this for now Gramma, but I’ll want it back in 15 seconds. K?* 
Kisses from Gramma Sue, always a welcome gift! 
Something I discovered this trip — if you ask Ian to hold up a large toy, he will hold it up right in front of his head. By the time you ask him to hold it at belly level, he’s smiling a little less. That’s what we’ve got here… well that and the ol’ *Do I really have to smile at you when I could be opening presents?*
And yet more festivities!
It was time to build the space shuttle, so Ian and I did our best!
This orange kitty toy runs away from you when you chase it — so Nina chased!
Exhausted, we take a brief rest.
Nina sets up a picnic on the lanai! 
Here’s a better view… 
Still putting it together!
*Sooo… do you have any fish, or tuna? Maybe some milk?* 
Grandma Sue had some great stuff lined up for us to play, and this was one of them. We checked out the Christmas lights at a nearby park and the kids had a blast. And as usual, we can’t seem to get them both to hold still at the same time. So here’s Nina in looking non-blurry…
And here’s Ian looking non-blurry. Nina contemplates her belly button! (Love Ian’s shirt!) Great Christmas Gramma Sue, thank you! 
The morning of December 17th, we arrived in Southgate the night before, said hello to Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia, and woke up to a great breakfast! We swung by and picked up Great Grandma Betty and had a great day! 
*Mmm! Something smells good!* 
Bacon is one of several things you can give a child that will cause them to be fully unable to look up from their plate. Otherwise, perfect! 
Nina tries to get in the spirit of the holidays by borrowing a Minnie Mouse hat. But whose hat is it? 😉 
NOW she’s in the spirit of Christmas! That or into the eggnog, not sure which! 
Ian, passing through. 
Love it when she’s Daddy’s girl! 
LOVE this shot of Great Grandma Betty! What a smile! 
And then it was time to hand out gifts! The part of Santa’s Helper will be played by Nina Chapman! 
Ian got the weirdest ball I’ve ever seen! He loved it! 
I don’t get to see this smile too often, that’s the true innocent, delighted smile of *I’ve never seen this before!* 
*Look Mommy!* 
Nina enjoys sharing with her brother. In this case she’s sharing her gift… wrap. 
Mommy spots Nina’s new gift while Ian tears into one of his. 
Nina got Abby Cadabbie! She loves her! (Of note – a day later, while on the road — she woke up, squeezed Abby to hear her talk, and fell back asleep immediately.)
“Hi! I’m Abby!” 
Nina’s up for an outfit change, donning her cool Santa diaper, while Grandma makes Abby say hello! 
*Thanks, Gramma!* 
Are you, by chance, thinking “Wow the little one is beating up the big one, that can’t happen too often?” Wrong. 
Ian got a great big Lego set, he was very happy! This picture shows him struggling with the size of it, but that’s a smile, trust me! 
*Here’s one for you, Grampa!* 
Mommy reads!
Another story read by Mommy! 
These were very cool books, with the voices of Gramma Marcia, Grampa Dave, and Great Grandma Betty all recorded into them! Here Gramma Marcia reads a Peanuts book to Nina! 
I lean in for a group shot. Note that Grampa Dave pads the table whenever we show up. Pretty much whenever we come over, I end up being very happy that he did so as a real “bonk” ends up as more of a “spoomf.” 
Go crazy! Go crazy! 
The kids always have fun here. 
What a gorgeous shot. Please look at this one larger — Nina’s smile is perfect, to me. It says *Shhh, yes I love you but Grampa is reading me a story.* Grampa’s smile is great too! 
Nina was cracking us all up, either with how she was handling Ian’s intrusions, or her wonderful babble. 
“Daddy’s hat!” 
Practicing snuggling up for the night! 
Another good one! Might want to see this one larger too! 
Great group shot, although Nina may have just finished burping up a little bacon gas, based on that look! 
Nina’s laugh and smile are very infectious! 
LOL. 
One of Ian’s gifts was a cool spider-vehicle. He loves it! 
*Mr. Monkey, are you still awake? I brought you a pillow!*
Ian’s Christmas party was the same day that we were to head to Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia’s house… it was short and sweet. Mommy was there too, but I didn’t get any pictures… :-\
Ian got a book from Charlie in the gift exchange!
Ian enjoyed the Christmas party. I know that was a pretty short entry, but this is kind of the way these parties go folks, let’s not forget. I did learn that Ian sings a “days of the week” song to the tune of the “Adams Family” theme song, and another song that half-explained why “tooty” is a common word in our home.