Finally uploaded my Christmas pictures, so I thought I'd share

We had a very magical Christmas this year. We planned it that way. We were given two very generous gifts before Christmas that allowed us to take a vacation. We don't usually take road trips at this time of year but we wanted some nice family time away because we have had a tough year.

We started off everything in secrecy. We packed up everything the night before and headed out right after church. As we were going we gave them clues. First stop: our dear friends in Columbus. We spent the night with them just hanging out and playing. Then we headed out for the next part of our journey . As we were driving south we decided it was inconcievable for us to pass by Cincy and not participate in ..........Skyline Chili!!!

We were totally tourists and loved every minute of it!

and of course we had someone take our picture  

Next stop: Petersburg, KY !!!! Creation Museum

The Creation Museum was amazing. There is soooo much to it. You definitely need a whole day to see everything.

 First stop: Men in White  and Buddy Bell concert

He was wonderful! Everyone enjoyed his show! It was nice to see Bear kick back and enjoy it.

We also got to see Ken Hamm briefly

I know the pictures are dark but I wasn't sure of the flash policy and didn't really want to disrupt others.

The museum was very well layed out. It was just amazing the time and thought they put into it.

They compared the Bible to science( Lucy)

Walked through the Bible~

Names of God 

Sin entered the world 

Doodles looking at King David 

Looking at a model of the ark

and real life scale

There was a fascinating dinosaur section. I realized as I was showing the pictures to my mom that I had a lot of dinosaur pics. I'll spare you and just show you a few...

We also got to walk to Bethlehem.

First we received coins to pay our taxes.

( I think putting coins on your eyes is a sign of genius, isn' it? )

We had to pay them to the Roman soldiers- this one of the "nicer" looking ones: 

We met a shepherd, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus

We also walked through the marketplace

After a great but long day, we headed back to our hotel and feasted on another delicacy :

 Donato's Pizza!

The next day we traveled through downtown Cincy and of course I needed a momento: 

Not too shabby from a  van traveling 55+mph. You'd think the pictures would look more like this

I've got some great pics of guard rails and bridge posts if anybody wants to see them

We're now headed to our final destination and have somehow convinced the kids we're going to the zoo.

In freezing weather! Yeah right.

But first- another stop at a favorite that we don't have at home:

Now back on the road-

Final destination:

Great Wolf Lodge, Mason, Ohio!!!!!

Bear and Doodles were beside themselves- it was beautiful. The lodge itself was very magical, very whimsical.

The ceiling was covered with snowflakes and at different times it would "snow!" 

Our room with a special room for the kids

Notice who automatically took control of the remote

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the water park well..

because I was in it with them.

Let me tell you it was a blast!

It's good to be 8 or 9 again every once in a while.

I did, however, get some good pics from the lobby

It was a wonderful trip and we made it home Christmas Eve. We are blessed every day but these days were just a little sweeter and just what the Orall Academy needed.