Christmas in Virgina Beach

It has taken me forever to get back into the swing of blogging, but I did want to catch up on our fabulous holiday. Christmas is such a fun holiday. We didn't get a lot of great pictures of Peyton in her Christmas dress when we were back east, so these are from when we got back, but the rest of the trip documents our trip.

We spent Christmas in Charlottesville, VA at my sister's house. My parents and younger sister joined us there too. We had a wonderful break and are so grateful for the opportunity we had to spend the holiday with family and create such fun memories. Peyton had a sweet reunion with her cousins and literally couldn't get enough time with Kylee and Lexi. They were a darling trio the whole two weeks we were there.

Peyton and Aunt Cheryl. Thank you Cheryl for all your hard work to entertain us over the holidays and for being so cute with my little girl.

"The Crazy House" You may have seen on "you tube" the houses fully decorated with lights and decor that all are synchronized to music on your radio. There was one of these houses in an accompanying neighborhood to Cheryl and Skylar's house. It was incredible and so fun to see!
I may be 7 months pregnant (sorry Dad) but I was still part of our fun Christmas eve pyramid.

Christmas eve the girls got bundled up and went outside to spread out food for the reindeer. Peyton, although wasn't exactly sure what she was doing, followed in her cousins footsteps with excitement dumping her baggie of reindeer food in the grass.
Christmas morning - the tree and presents looked picture perfect! Christmas is truly magical, especially when you are able to share it with kids who are so excited and family.
Peyton enjoyed unwrapping her presents and was entertained by her gifts. She was spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa especially. She was in her own little world, content playing with her new toys or Kylee and Lexi's toys that were already in the play room. She was cute though and it was so fun to watch her.
Kylee's little cuddle bug! Kylee may only be 6, but she is sure a darling, mature six year old who my daughter happens to adore. She was such a help to entertain Peyton and take such good care of her. In the mornings when Peyton woke up and many times throughout the day, we constantly heard Peyton in her cute little voice "Kyee, Kyee..."
We enjoyed our time hanging out at Cheryl and Skylar's house having quality time together. Dance parties, dress-ups, playing with countless new toys, playing play-do and much more kept Peyton and us happy.
Christmas Night Virgina Beach got hit with a snow storm. We got about a foot of snow, which is unheard of there. Once again the kids had a blast. Kylee pushed Peyton on a little bike while Peyton squealed in delight.
Sleds were no where to be found in the stores, so we used boogie boards (only in Virginia Beach) Stores and even fast food places were closed more than 24 hours after the storm and roads were not cleared for days. It was kind of comical.
Temperatures warmed up and a few days after the snow storm we were playing in the snow without coats.

Grandma and Grandpa helped the girls build a little snowman, which Peyton thought was very cool.

We spent a day at Williamsberg, which was about an hour from my sister's house.

Cheryl and Skylar have a neat aquarium near their home as well that we enjoyed visiting. Peyton enjoyed seeing the fish and turtles.

Kylee and Lexi loved the petting area. Peyton enjoyed watching but was a little timid at this point to actually touch the live creatures.

We saw an amazing sunset when we were at the navy yard one evening and took a little boat ride.

Snow on the beach was definitely not something any of us have seen much before. Peyton was ready to run into the ocean and chased the seagulls around. She didn't seem to be phased by the colder temperatures and was ready to recreate the Florida beach memories with her cousins.

We went to the Nauticus museum and toured a battle ship.

Have I mentioned how darling these girls were together! It melted my heart to watch Peyton have so much fun with her cousins. I so wish they lived closer so we could do it more often.

Our little crew on the battle ship

Taylor was in his element exploring and learning more about history, wars, guns...

This is an anchor, which is just hard to comprehend. It was so huge.

Grandpa and his girls!
We had an awesome trip back east and are grateful for all Cheryl and Skylar and my parents efforts. We had wonderful food, lots of fun games, some great day trips and good relaxation time. We are so grateful for the wonderful relationships with have with family and the special Holiday that Christmas is.