Christmas Ornament Countdown 2021: 22 Days Until Christmas

South Carolina was such a fun trip last Christmas. I think that our Columbia and Congaree National Park day was the favorite. In Columbia, we walked through a little street fair. And then Congaree is a smaller National Park than some, but it was completely unexpected. We walked a fairly easy trail which was completely on a boardwalk. We walked through quite a few different landscapes on the walk. It was a neat area-maybe Kayaking there would be neat to do on another trip. Here is the blog post from that day.

December 2, 2021-Christmas in Michigan

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We slept perfectly well again last night. You would think that it would get cold in this little tin box, but with our heaters going the girls in the loft area have to have a fan on them and usually when I start waking up I am warm. 

Today's weather should have been really perfect. It was supposed to be sunny, but instead it was cloudy and windy. That wind made the 50 degree temperature feel like ice. Needless to say, I am a bit panicked about how cold we are going to get tomorrow night. (High of 39 tomorrow and low of 32-we will be outside until 10 pm.)

We set our alarms to go off at 8:30 this morning, and they did. We sure didn't get up though. We decided that there was no hurry at all so we took our time. I think that we left the campsite around 10ish. It could have been later though-I really can't keep up with our times though. I can see the time on the phone, but my computer time is always wrong when we travel.

Anyway, whatever time it was-we got there. We took the camper to the Henry Ford today and left the car and car dolly at the campsite. Two reasons that we did this-the dog and food. By taking the camper, we didn't have to worry about Bentley since we came back for lunch to let her out. And we didn't have to worry about packing lunches since we have all the food that we need in the camper.

Since the village is not open for the season, parking was super easy to find even in the camper. We settled Bentley in her kennel, and then went into the museum. Now, we have been to the Henry Ford at least 5 other times which means that we have seen most areas of the museum multiple times.

Despite this, there is still so much to see. We really didn't see a few of the main areas today, but we did take our time and enjoy the sections that were interesting to everyone. They have some type of mathematics exhibit that we were in forever. There was also a paper airplane making area that we were in for a while. Finally, the last part that we stayed in for a long while was a racing area.

After walking around for a good while, we went to watch an imax movie in the museum. So their imax educational type movies are free to members so we took advantage of them today. Obviously, we are not going to pay 77 dollars for us to watch a 30 minute movie, but when it is free! 

The first movie that we saw was about adventure-I don't remember the name, And well, you know how I am at movies-I just get sleepy. I did wake up when Anderson elbowed me when they were showing the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, NM that we were just at. After that, I did try to stay awake better and scene after scene were places that we have traveled to so that we really neat to see.

It was around 1 or after when the movie was over, so we headed back to the camper for our lunch. Bentley had a good walk or two along with her lunch while we are. Today's lunch included chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, leftovers from St. Louis, and pizza from last night. Of course that means that we had to use the panini maker, air fryer and microwave. Since we were running the generator we couldn't use all of them at once so it did take a while.

After lunch, we headed back to the museum for some more walking around. Before going back in the museum, we walked to their Christmas tree lot. Now, their trees looked pretty Charlie Brown-ish-but man, if I had a place to put a live tree I sure would have bought one.

This time in the museum I did go in both of the gift shops-I do just love gift shops. Though when I am in a gift shop, I never buy anything-but I usually take pictures of things that I want so I can look them up on amazon and look up books that I want to read on our library app.

We didn't have too long because we had another movie to watch-this one was about space. It was interesting-what I saw of it anyway. Then we had about an hour before the museum closed up for the day. We were back at the campsite by 5:30ish and started settling in.

Some folks started on showers while I started on supper. Tonight's supper was chicken soft tacos. I heated them in the air fryer so they were crispy and warm. After supper, Robby and I took the trash to the dumpster-and we drove there, not walked. It is too cold to be walking anywhere.

When we returned, the last shower taker was finishing so I made our last batch of s'mores for everyone. It is currently just 8:30 (7:30 at home), and we are all settled in our beds. I still have to take my shower, and we still have our nightly move to watch.

December 1, 2021-Christmas in Michigan

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When we woke up this morning, it was slightly sprinkling. It was nice-really nice. So nice that we stayed in bed a little bit longer than we had anticipated. That was just fine though because all that we had on the agenda today was driving and a trip to the grocery store. I know we are wild and crazy people.

After Robby got himself ready, he started making pancakes and sausage for our breakfast. No, we didn't cook outside. It was cold and rainy. The griddle does fit perfectly on the stove, so before I could make the orange juice the pancakes were being served.

Now I know we have talked about this before, but there are just a lot of people in this camper. When we are all up and moving around, it feels like there is at least half a dozen children in here. Even though it is sometimes tight in here, I would not trade it for the world. 

After breakfast was made, we got ready to head off to Michigan. Robby didn't have any problems getting his outside stuff ready-good thing he always has a rain jacket packed since he needed it today. After my inside part was ready, I started working on the front windows. 

Since we have covers on the inside of the windows and since it is so cold outside, there is a lot of condensation on the inside of the windows. I wiped them with the dish towel. Then I wiped them with paper towels. Finally turning on the defroster or whatever it is called helped. By the time that he set down to drive, they much better.

And he definitely needed to see out of those windows to get out of that campground. We didn't have any problems, but we weren't quite sure where we were going. Once we left the campground, we just headed right on to the interstate and sailed on.

We only stopped once today for gas. We could already tell that the weather was getting colder. If we were at home, we would say that it looked like snow today. However, we sure don't want any snow while we are here so I definitely didn't say that.

Though even though I didn't say that, there was already snow. When we got to the town that we are in tonight (about 30 minutes outside of Dearborn), there was snow on the ground. It looks like this snow has been melting today, but it was enough snow that parking lots had to be plowed and some folks had snowmen built.

As soon as we were parked in this campsite, Campbell and Whitman were outside building their own snowmen. They came in asking for hot chocolate and sat in front of the heater to warm themselves up. They were seriously having the best time ever. 

Robby did some work, and then we all headed off to Walmart to pick up some groceries. It is so hard to know how much food we are actually going to eat. Sometimes we have to bring back in almost all of the food that I have packed, and other times we seem to really go through things. This is a going through thing trip-there is lots of car time so we are eating lots of snacks which is perfectly fine.

This all meant that we needed to go to the Walmart for a few things. Reagan, Anderson and Graham all wanted to go-so that means that everyone goes. Let's see we bought some necessities-chips, bread-and some not so necessities-air mattress pump and a pillow. We filled the buggy up.

Which meant that when we left, we had filled the trunk of the van up. And then Hungry Howie's was just right across the street. Back at the camper, we ate our pizzas. Then Robby did laundry while I read some to the kids. 

The next thing was pajamas and beds followed by a movie for Robby and I before bed.

Christmas Ornament Countdown 2021: 24 Days Until Christmas

Another Disney passholder ornament (the purple one this time). Well, actually these aren't meant to be ornaments; they are meant to be car magnets. However, my Disney tree needed a few more ornaments. I really would like to have a National Park tree as well, but the only other spot on the house would be in the bonus room which I would never see or possibly in my bedroom which might just be a great idea. I could link to a day's post which would talk about the last time we were in Disney in February of 2019. However, I'll link to our Disney trip list. We have certainly made lost of memories at Disney.

November 30, 2021-Christmas in Michigan

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Silly Bentley woke up at 5 this morning as well, but she didn't need to go to the bathroom so she just climbed up in the bed with us and went on back to sleep. We have to assume that a train came rolling through at about that time each of the last two mornings. The real test will be in the morning.

We didn't really hurry this morning, but we did move fairly quickly once the cinnamon roll were made. And really, just a note to self-baking for over 45 minutes in a camper only makes a camper hot even in the winter. We survived since we were just able to open the door and cool things off rather quickly.

The weather today was pleasant. Even though it is noticeably cooler tonight in Indianapolis, the sun was out, and we were comfortable throughout the day. I am not too sure how long we drove today. Around noon, we stopped in Casey, Illinois. 

Casey is a small town with lots of big things in it-largest bird cage, golf club, pencil, wind chimes, mailbox, and a ton of other things. We parked in the Baptist church parking lot-we felt so at home there that the kids pulled out the football and jump ropes while Robby did some work.

Then we walked up and down the streets of Casey for a little bit. I walked in a few stores looking for something fun, but I never found anything. I was tempted by a coffee shop that advertised their hot chocolate. 

Instead, we walked back to the camper, and I started fixing lunch for everyone. I was going to list what all we ate, but I sure can't remember it. I do remember that I split my croissant into two-had one side with peanut butter and nutella and the other side with cheese-then I put both sides in the panini maker.

After we ate, we were soon back on the road. We stopped for gas, and then had one more stop for Robby to send a couple of emails. We were trying to hurry since we had somewhere to go tonight, but the traffic was a certain mess.

We eventually made it to our campground tonight. It is an interesting place. There are lots and lots of full timers-fighting the cold weather wouldn't be where we would choose to be full time. After unhooking the car and plugging up really quickly, we were off.

We went to the Indiana Historical Society for their Festival of Trees. The building that it was in was absolutely beautiful. It was so, so pretty-grand windows, grand staircases. There were around 75 trees decorated through the museum each one with a different theme. Different businesses and organizations decorated each tree. 

We were able to vote on our favorite tree (some of our favorites were a ChickFilA tree, a postcard tree, a shoe tree, an orange tree.) Also there were 10 pickles hidden throughout on different trees along with a little puppet to find. It was a neat little stop. 

After we finished looking at the trees, we dove around downtown for a little bit. Then it was back to the camper. Campbell took Bentley on a walk while I started on our supper. Tonight's supper was bbq along with beans and mac and cheese. 

After Robby and I took Bentley on one last walk of the evening (hopefully), Reagan helped me make s'mores for everyone. Most folks had showers tonight, and afterwards we started a movie. Robby and I had some pecan pie while we ate. And shortly afterwards, it was time for bed for my tired folks.

November 29, 2021-Christmas in Michigan

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Bentley woke us up at 5 this morning. Robby said that she really did have to potty because she pulled him to the grass as soon as they got outside. We knew that she really had to go because she was trying her best to get out of the camper and off of my bed. After she pottied, everyone went back to sleep for a good long while. 

It was a very restful night even though we can hear trains going by near us. Right now this campground is less than 1/4 full. They must just be using two or three rows since we are all piled in here together. Now, it seems like there are a whole bunch of different people here now than there were last night. Currently, we have huge class As on all sides of us. It makes our camper look little for sure!

Once we did get up and start stirring, quite a few kiddos took Bentley to the "playground." I use the quotation marks because it isn't really a playground-it is just 2 swings and a slide. Then when they returned we all headed to the car. Robby had Bentley in the camper-but she knew we were leaving. She walked out the camper door twice and tried to head to the car. Once she had her treat though, she didn't mind being left for a bit though.

Our first stop this morning was the St. Louis Science Center. This had been on my list for a little bit, and today we were able to mark it off. Now, Whitman loved the place. He was in heaven and could have stayed there all day long. We knew he would enjoy it-and we even looked at buying a membership (it is free, but does have some perks. The real perk would have been free admission to one of the science museums at home. However, that seems to be not a thing right now.)

We walked through every room and exhibit that we could go through. The most interesting thing to me was the different types of soil from each state. The soil from Arkansas was called Stuttgart soil and was from there. There were lots of hands on things to do which everyone really seemed to enjoy. 

When we finished the museum, we headed to Fitz for some lunch. The portions were huge and a bit pricey, but it was really good. We walked a block or two on our way back to the car-the weather is pleasant today. It is probably a bit colder than yesterday, but the sun is out so that does make a big difference. 

On our drive back to the campsite, we drove right past an ikea. We didn't stop then because we needed to get back to Bentley. However, we did put it on our day's plan. Back at the camper, we gathered pajamas and any other dirty clothes and did a quick load of laundry. The other day laundry costs us 2.50-today, it was 6. Oh well. You only live once and sure don't want to live in stinky clothes.

We did the laundry and watched a movie. Then it was time to take a few shoppers to IKEA. You know we couldn't miss a new Ikea. Reagan, Graham, Campbell and Keaton went with us to the store. It was just about 15 minutes away. 

And what do people who are traveling for another few days with limited space buy at Ikea? Well, they buy lint brushes (lots), potty brushes (8-for the camper-use for a trip and then throw away), dish brushes (50 cents so I can't not buy 2 each time), plastic bowls (I only have 2 in the house), and 2 shelves (for over Whitman's bed-and not too small-5 foot each.) Whoops! I was trying to not buy any big things!

We hurried on through the store-we never seem to be able to take our time. We then headed back to the camper. We ate our suppers-lunch leftovers for Reagan, chicken spaghetti for Keaton and Campbell, grilled cheeses for Anderson and Whitman, also a grilled swiss cheese for Graham, a roll up for Robby, and Thanksgiving sausage cornbread for me. 

We then headed off to Ted Drewes for some ice cream. No St. Louis stop is complete without Ted Drewes custard. It was incredibly fun tonight since half of the parking lot was turned into a tree lot. I have never been to a Christmas tree lot before. 

They also had a gift shop that we had not seen before so of course I found a stick for the camper. Then it was custard time-m and m, oreo, oreo marshmallow, turtle, and chocolate and peanut butter were all of our choices. As we were standing there eating our custard, a man who was walking by asked his wife if she wanted to drive by candy cane lane on the way home.

Well, Robby and I looked at each other-we wanted to go...and go we did. Robby did some research and Candy Cane Lane was a street right behind Ted Drewes. The whole street was all lit up and were raising money for charity. Then just a few blocks over was Angel Avenue another Christmas decorated street. We had Christmas music playing, and it all was pretty perfect.

When we came back to the camper, the beds were already ready so it didn't take long for folks to get into bed. Currently, we are half way through our movie and are about to stop it for me to take my shower. Then it will be bedtime. Tomorrow is a travel day-a short one, but who knows where we will end up and what we will see.

Christmas Ornament Countdown 2021: 26 Days Until Christmas

This is our 10th annual Christmas ornament countdown. I would be that most people do not put their Christmas ornaments on spreadsheets so they can easily see which state they have come from and exactly how many they have. However, I do-we have a total of 319 ornaments from all 50 states plus ornaments from 12 different countries/territories. There are a lot of memories hanging up on my trees.

Even though I do have quite a few ornaments, by the end of this year I will have done a blog post about each and every one of my ornaments. There is a possibility that I might collect a few more before the end of this year, however; those will make it to next year's blog. Who knows what all I might showcase next year-though I do already have an idea. I actually have half as many ornaments to talk about this year as I do other years since most things have already been showcased. That means that the Christmas ornament countdown will skip a day between posts.

I certainly hope that you enjoy my Christmas ornament countdown this year. We will start with an ornament from a bucket list trip. The Albuquerque balloon festival had been on our minds for a quite a few years. Since that camper had never been to New Mexico, and since we were able to snag a site to camp there, we jumped on it.

The Balloon Festival was so neat. We were able to see the balloons launch 2 different mornings and see the evening glow twice as well. It made it so much neater as well that all of the grandparents were there with us. The folks there were so good to the kids-they were able to pull the burners, fold the balloons, and even hold them. It was such a neat experience. We won't return for a few years, but we will definitely return. Here is the post from our first day there.