Having fun in San Antonio: "Ok, that's it!"....

said Paulie every time my Mom's grandfather clock did its thing. It chimed on the hour and then every 15 minutes. He really got excited on the hour when he could count......sometimes we let him stay up until 9pm so he could hear the clock and count...and then off to bed.

We had a wonderful time in Michigan over Christmas. Our flight to Detroit was good and of course it was snowing and the roads were icy as we made our way across Michigan to my Mom and Wayne's house. A four hour drive was a tense 6 1/2 hour drive and we saw oh about 20 cars off the side of the road and many accidents. Needless to say, we were relieved and grateful when we arrived at Crystal Mountain. People were skiing and Paul was thrilled to see all the snow and the mountains. He wanted to go straight to the top--that's my boy--adventurous and a risk taker!

The beautiful trees with snow right next to my Mom's house - so pretty!

Other pictures from our trip are posted below....... Mom and Wayne are fun to be around. We played pinochle, domino's, ping pong, darts, ate cookies, watched TV, went for a surrey ride in the snow, played in the snow, went for chilly walks, made snow angels (well, I did) and enjoyed being together! Crystal Mountain is so pretty in the winter. Much different than our visit in May. Mom and Wayne live on the 3rd hole green of one of the golf courses - and now it is covered with snow of course. They have had about 70 inches of snow so far and it isn't even January! They also live in the woods - well, the resort is in the woods. Paul LOVED the snow and he keeps asking me - "where is the snow?" Uh son - we don't have snow in San Antonio. Especially when it is 70 degrees on Dec 31!

Santa found Paul in Michigan and he was thrilled with his gifts. Santa knows Paulie likes music, singing and dancing - so he brought him a harmonica. And I must say - he is pretty good! Santa also brought him the Peter Pan DVD and a couple of cars - a black Lamborghini and a red Porsche! His cousin Lauren in Denver sent him a VTECH V- Motion system and a game! Mom had to ship it and it should arrive in SA by Saturday! I personally cannot wait to play! We don't have any other play system - and we won't for a while.

The surrey ride was a memorable event! The Belgium horses were so pretty. We had to bundle up of course since the ride was at night - in the woods - in northern MI - in December! Mom and Wayne have done it before so they knew not to sit right behind the horses - they tend to pass gas. Oh did they ever! Even though we were not right behind the horses - we still were blessed to smell the horrid farts. It was hilarious to see and hear the kids up front - they were disgusted and pleaded with their parents to switch seats!

We woke at 5am Monday morning to drive back to Detroit and catch our flight. This time we had clear roads and no snowy weather. It was rather pleasant. We even had some extra time, so I took Danny and Paul on a 20 min tour of Ann Arbor, MI. M GO BLUE!! Paul was SO READY to be home! I don't know how many times during the day he said - let's go to Paul's house..pleeeeease! We made it back to SA and by the time we picked up Miss Oreo, it was 5pm.

I thought during our drive from Detroit to my Mom's on Dec 23 that we would NEVER do this again in the winter - go to MI that is. But, I don't feel that way now. It was a blast and it really felt like Christmas in the WinterWonderland at Crystal Mountain. Thank you Mom and Wayne!