Christmas South, Part VII: Even MORE South

Double-Post day… in order to catch up on the blog, here’s an additional post for the day… that means if you’re just getting here, make sure and scroll down to see if you’ve caught everything. K? Good. Let’s go!

It was time to don our sunglasses and hop back in the car… heading south to see Great Grandma Betty in Naples! I can’t underline enough how fantastic the kids were for this whole journey, not just to Naples but also back and forth to Florida from Michigan. Part of this is just being good kids, but also a very awesome and attentive mommy. See this image larger.

We picked up some food from Applebee’s (it wasn’t horrible, but I think Applebee’s and I are officially breaking up.) and ate it over pleasant conversation and big smiles from cute little girls! See this image larger.

And then we opened presents! In the brief silence that followed as Grandma smiled at a framed picture of her great grandchildren and inhaled to speak, Ian managed to throw in “Say ‘thank you!'” See this image larger.

Great Grandma Betty got some chocolate and was immediately willing to share! It was Ian’s turn to say thank you! See this image larger.

Ian got a nice truck that had a special “return” mode… it was pretty awesome! See this image larger.

Time to gather for pictures! This one turned out great, but I could tell Nina was given Grandma a hard time. She bucks like a bronco when she’s ready to be put down! See this image larger.

LOL… not every shot is a winner, folks. Grandma and Mommy are looking good, though! See this image larger.

That’s a winner! Love it! A special thank you to Grandma Sue for sharing her part of our visit so that we could make the trip to Naples! See this image larger.

Ian jammed on the keyboard for a few moments before it was time to go. Play us off, keyboard Ian! Thanks for getting the kids toys, Great Grandma Betty, it was great seeing you again! See this image larger.

We dropped in on Uncle Chris, and said hello so that he could see Nina again, See this image larger.

I sold my old camera to Uncle Chris, I hope he takes some awesome shots with it! It was great seeing Chris again too, albeit briefly — he’s feeling much better these days, and we’re glad to have him back in the land of recovered. Thank you to Chris for Christmas gifts as well! See this image larger.