Christmas on the Coast, Part 2!

While the weather in MS turned wet and cold, we continued our Christmas vacation in the sunshine by the pool! Gideon was obsessed with playing in the pool, so we spent a couple afternoons running back and forth from the pool to the jacuzzi. 

Caitlin and Luke were able to fly down and join us the day after Christmas too! So glad we were all able to be together for the holidays! Now that all the grand-babies were together,  we decided to hit the Naples Zoo! Gideon loved all of the animals, but he was particularly obsessed with the giraffes! He really wanted to ride one...luckily for us, and the giraffes, they weren't offering 'giraffe rides' that day :)

I think he could have watched the zebras all day! 

Nana & Gideon making a Christmas tree out of an ice cream cone, way too much icing, and mini m&ms! 

Two of his favorite things: Nana and m&ms!

Here are a few family shots we took right before we hit the road...

A few goofing off...

Too bad they aren't looking! Oh, well :)

We are incredibly thankful to have been able to spend the Christmas holidays with my family! Skype is nice, but nothing beats the real thing! I have no doubt that Gideon and Charlotte will always remember their first Christmas at Nana & Pop's house! As much as we would have loved to stay longer, we had to head back to MS on Friday. Luckily, the little ones did great on the way back too! 

Random fact: During all of our driving, Matt and I discovered that Johnny Cash (already G's favorite!) has an uncanny ability to sooth a fussy Charlotte. How, you ask? I have no earthly idea! All I know is that whenever sweet C got fussy, all we had to do was put the Man in Black's cd in and, after only the first beat of music, she quit crying and would usually fall asleep! I now know every word to the first song on his cd, but I am so thankful that all it took was a good beat and a deep voice to calm her down!

I'll close with a few of my favorite road trip quotes from Gideon:

"Road Triiiip! Yeah, Yeah!"

"Drive fast, Dad!"

"Turn the blues (Johnny Cash) on, Daddy!"