Chirstmas in GA

We headed to GA after Christmas; we were all very excited to see our family! Here are a few of our favorite moments while there :)

We went to the Warner Robins Air Museum; what a cool place to visit, we will go back!

Had to eat at Firehouse Subs, Greg's all-time fave!

Jordan & Hunter

Jannah & Slylar making buttermilk biscuit with Grandma!

We left Grandma's house and headed to Gamma and Gampa's house. So thankful our families aren't too far from each other, makes it easy on us when we go to visit :)

No better way to go to bed than story time with Gampa!

This picture deserves a post of it's own, and it will get that! You will have to come back for the rest of the story...

the annual moose t-shirt picture :)

We love our families and we love the good times we had in GA!!!!

We gave Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My parents and Jonathan came out! I am not sure who was more excited to have them here, me or the kids!! We had a nice visit, filled with a little bit of going, a lot of laughs, some good eatin' and just hanging out.

At the Arch

Mama makes a moose shirt for the kids every year...here are the 2011 shirts

We all took part in making gingerbread houses...one of the J's favorite thing to do :)

Y'all come back soon. You hear?!

Fun with Gamma

Isn't this view so pretty?! Wanna know where it's from?!

Can you tell where we are?

Mama and I were on this huge hot air balloon! We had so much fun! I have always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride; my sweet husband made that happen for my birthday. I was so excited and couldn't wait to go!!!! It was really neat and I realized how much hard work is involved to actually get the balloon prepped to fly. We (the passengers) helped do a lot of the work! The fall colors were gorgeous and the weather was perfect; it was cool, but not cold. I loved every moment of it...thank you, Greg!

Greg and the kids followed the chase crew that followed the balloon, and when we landed, the pilot let the kids get on for a short low ride on the ground...they were happy about that :)

We also went to the famous, must go-to Ted Drewes. It was good, but I think the custard shops we have in O'Fallon are better...just sayin!

We always love it when family comes to see us! Who will be next?

We had a blast, Gamma!

Grand Slam Vacay Part 3

We went to the Harbor Festival in Norfolk, which hosted many events all weekend. We wanted to see the parade of sails, and it didn't disappoint. There were many large ships, some new, some old. We had fun and even made the local news channel.

We sat along the waters edge and watched the ships sail by. I even lost an earring in that water! I had a hard time relaxing, because I was afraid one of the children might fall right in...thankfully, no one did!

No event is complete without a fly over!

And of course, more beach time...I never get too much of that!

One JGB totally refused to cooperate in this picture. All of my kiddos have the same initials; the first two were unplanned, number three was somewhat planned so that he wouldn't be left out; that has nothing to do with our vacation!

She is her mother's child...

Jannah and Jordan made a kite; it entertained them for a couple of days.

You know what I am going to say, right?

I love him!

Just give Jamison some sand and a shovel, and he is good to go!

Last, but not least, as we headed back to Illinois, we stopped in Kentucky at the Louisville Slugger Bat Company...truly, our little trip to VA ended with a GRAND SLAM!!!

Jannah and Babe Ruth

Greg holding one of Micky Mantle's bats...

team Bailey

And from all of team Bailey...it was fun and it's good to be home!

Grand Slam Vacay Part 2

I'm back and I still have lots more to share from our trip to Virginia! Have I mentioned that we had a blast?! Our second week got even better, when we picked Gamma up from the airport, the kids were surprised!! They had overheard me talking about her coming, but didn't know when or if she really was going to come. After picking her up from the airport, we went out to eat and then headed to the piers; we were just in time to see the sunset behind the massive ships. Norfolk is home to the largest navy base, and it is huuuuge!

Mermaids are all over Norfolk; this was one of our favorites, so we stopped to see it after leaving the beach one day. I tried to tell the kids I used to be a mermaid, they don't believe me!

If ever I'm missing, you can find me where there's sun, sand and waves...just sayin!

We packed up and drove about 35 minutes to Virginia Beach. Jannah is making something for Gamma, she may be 8 years old, but she still loves to play in the sand and pretend to cook things! I think I see culinary school in her future.

Jamison doing a little body surfing

G and Jordan trying to dig to China

...almost there!

We went to the Cape Henry Lighthouse, it's actually located on an army post. This is the old one, built in 1792. It is no longer operating, but a beauty to look at and open for people like us who want to climb up to the top to look out.

Here we go...

And, here's our view from the top. We only had to climb 192 steps to get there! The new lighthouse (the black and white one) was built in 1881. It is operating and the light can be seen from as far as 19 miles off shore, WOW!

Stay tuned...there's more to come!