Christmas in Florida 2004
Posted by richard Thu, Jan 06 2005 20:48
This is a brief summary of our trip to Florida between Christmas and New Year's. To start it off, we left North Carolina Christmas night to avoid the snow/ice storm that was supposed to be heaviest along I-95. Boy, I am glad we did that. We heard from my great aunt and uncle that I-95 was slow going the day after Christmas so it was worth driving all night.Sunday morning we stopped in Ormond Beach at Nana's house for some rest. From there, we headed down to my grandmother's in Cocoa Beach for our family gathering. We got to see several of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was fun, but we were pretty tired from driving the night before. That night we headed to St. Cloud to my folks' house.
The next day we just hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a good time just relaxing. That evening we opened presents with my brother, sister, sister's husband, grandma and grandpa. Reia had a good time cleaning up everyone's paper. She also started bringing people items items from Dad's storage. Once the storage ran out, she started to bring drinks which was very handy.
Tuesday was another family gathering. Most of the people that came to the house were from my Dad's side (except Great Grandma and Will who made it over again with my cousins). Reia enjoyed playing in the backyard with the kids.
The next day we were off to have pictures taken of Reia at Bruce's after we had a long night of Reia not sleeping (maybe getting some more teeth). Even with the lack of sleep, we were still able to get some good pictures of Reia. That afternoon I slept most of the afternoon - I wasn't feeling that great. Late that afternoon, we headed to Ormond Beach to visit with Suzanne's family. That night, Suzanne and Reia went out to dinner with most of her family while I called it an early night.
Thursday morning we had Christmas with Nana. We all got some great gifts and Reia enjoyed playing with them. Most of that day we spent hanging out with Nana and Suzanne's cousins. That night we all went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel. We had a good dinner - Reia really likes the corn and apples there.
Friday, Nana, Suzanne and Reia ran off to go shopping that afternoon. I went over to Chad's house and hung out with his family. That night Suzanne and I went to a surprise New Year's/Birthday party for Eric. It was at his brother's (Dave) house in Orlando. Nana watched Reia that night while we were in Orlando. I don't know if Reia and Nana had a better time or if Suzanne and I did (just kidding Eric).
Saturday we opened presents with Suzanne's cousins. We enjoyed watching Reia pass out presents. That afternoon we got done to Port Orange to visit Sally. After a quick visit to Sally, we made our way to an ERAU basketball game. It was great to get to see some people we haven't seen in a while. ERAU won by the way. That night we went over to Nannie's and had one last dinner with Suzanne's family.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast. After saying our goodbyes, we headed for home. It was a good trip, but I think all of us (including Tucker and Reia) were glad to be home. Thanks everyone for your hospitality in Florida!
