Callaway Gardens 2010

Since we got out for Christmas break on Thursday, we decided to visit Fantasy in Lights on Friday instead of waiting till Saturday.  We debated over it some.  Getting the hubs to leave work early and therefore  actually leave the house on time can be a bit of a challenge.  But we decided that it would make more sense to go on Friday.  And am I glad we did.  Friday was clear and cool…it was colder on the trolley than it has been the last few years, but definitely not the coldest it’s ever been.  Saturday was a whole different story.  We woke Saturday to freezing temperatures and rain.  I am so, so, so  glad that we rode the trolley on Friday!  However, no trip to Callaway is complete without visiting the Butterfly & Horticulture Centers so after our scrumptious breakfast at the Country Store, we braved the cold and the rain and headed to the Gardens.

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My boys enjoy trying to spot the various butterflies.  Trey, in particular, likes to try to identify all the different ones.  However, they were getting quite frustrated with my obsession with  photographing this little guy.  He just sat there on the orange slice, eating.  You could see his tongue roll out and then he would roll it back up and then repeat the whole process.  This went on for several minutes and I was fascinated with photographing him.  The boys found it fascinating for about 36 seconds.  Then they were ready to go feed the fish. 

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After finally getting to feed the fish, it was time to head to the Horticulture Center and my boys were in a photo taking mood!  Yay!!!

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I just love all of the garden sculptures.  It is one of my favorite  things about visiting the Gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But my very most favorite thing about our annual trip to Callaway is spending this special time with my boys and making wonderful memories that we will all cherish for a lifetime.

Fantasy in Lights, Year Ten

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved looking at Christmas lights. Not long after we got married, I began hearing about the awesome light show at Callaway Gardens and I set my heart on going. In 2001, the Christmas I was pregnant with Trey, Phil treated me with a trip to Callaway for our anniversary. And I fell in love. The gardens are amazing and the lights are spectacular. We have returned each and every year since and it is always wonderful. And thankfully my boys love looking at the lights just as much as I do!

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We have been visiting the Santa at Callaway since Trey’s first Christmas in 2002. He is an amazing Santa with an old fashion coat and a real beard. To my boys he is the real Santa! For seven of Trey’s nine Christmases this has been the Santa lap that he has sat on and told his wish list to. The other two years (one of which was last year) , there was a replacement Santa and they were not nearly as good. Last year’s Santa was especially fake looking and I was extremely disappointed. I was so happy to see our Santa back this year.

Jesse was no more enthused about seeing this Santa than he was the day before seeing the Santa at school. He did not have a smile at all in the first photo. Luckily, there was no line this year, so the photographer was able to take the time to wait for him to decide to cooperate:-)

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Our second stop at Santa’s Village was to paint the boys’ annual ornament for our tree. And in true Christmas tradition, they both painted their ornaments with a rainbow of colors.

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After a few more photos, a quick walk around Santa’s workshop, & a quick bite to eat, it was time to hit the Jolly Trolley for our ride through the Fantasy in Lights!

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If you enjoy looking at lights, there are a ton of photos in the above album…but here are my three favorites from the night!

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And finally, instead of trying to capture FIL the frog as he leaped into the pond this year, I videoed him. Jesse really, really, wanted me to & I just can’t resist him!

The Gardens

A trip to Callaway would not be complete without visiting the gardens. We always visit the Horticulture Center and the Butterfly Center...the boys love hunting for the butterflies and I love seeing all the floral decorations. I would love to have some of these at my house.

Trey through the waterfall.

Trey was very cute walking around identifying all the butterflies...he wanted to find them all.

Trey insisted that we get a picture of the Blue Morpho Butterfly. He identified it from memory and said that he learned on Diego that it is the most beautiful butterfly in the rain forest.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: A Fond Farewell

This is the very last picture ever taken with Jesse and a passy. On Christmas Eve, Phil suggested that Jesse give his passies to the puppy dogs for Christmas. Jesse enthusiastically handed them over and has not mentioned them since...not once has he asked for a passy. He is growing up so fast and as the last reminders of his babyness fade away, I must admit, it makes me a little (okay, a LOT) sad.

Fantasy in Lights

Well, it's back to school for me today. The boys have one more day of freedom, but for me it is over! Wow, did Christmas vacation go by fast!!! It was a busy two weeks that started as soon as we got out of school...with a sick little boy! We were planning to leave for our annual trip to Callaway that Saturday and everything was all set to go. Trey was acting fine all day Friday and all night too! Saturday morning we got up and were packing up to leave and bless his heart he became very ill! He felt so bad, that he told us that he couldn't go! We knew then that he was really, really, really sick. So I called Callaway, and they changed our reservations to Sunday with no problem. It was so easy, like it was meant to be, like Somebody had a hand in it, that I feel like there was some reason we were not meant to make the trip on Saturday. Trey slept literally all day Saturday, all night Saturday night, and woke up Sunday morning good as new. So we packed up and headed out to Callaway for the 9th year in a row!

Starting with their second Christmases, the boys have chosen and painted an ornament while at Callaway. It is a tradition, and my tree now has ten painted clay ornaments decorating it. They are some of my most precious ornaments, and I love looking at them every year. This year Trey chose an eagle, his school mascot, and Jesse chose a gingerbread man.

We also ride the trolley every year and look at the Fantasy in Lights display. Some years it is warm, some years it is quite cold. This year it was cold! The lights were as beautiful as always and Jesse really loved them this year. He excitedly narrated each light set that came our way & enthusiastically sang all the songs!

We have visited Santa at Callaway each and every year...for seven of the last eight years we visited the exact same Santa...THE real Santa with real white hair and a real beard. One year, our Santa was apparently under the weather and they had to replace him. The replacement was not near as good, but he was still a "real" Santa. This year, for the first time, we had a fake Santa...fake hair, fake beard, and not nearly as jolly! I was disappointed in the Santa, and the photo quality of the pictures we bought. However, if the boys noticed they didn't say anything. They were giving Santa their lists and that's all that concerned them:-)

This year they had added a cooking decorating station. We bought the boys chocolate chip cookies and they went to town topping them with icing, jelly beans, mm's, and all kinds of other sugary substances. Then they ate them...every bite!

All bundled up and ready to get to the warm Callaway Inn.

I love our annual trip to Callaway! I don't care that we ride the same trolley through the same lights every year. Although the decorations are basically the same year after year, each year is unique because the boys are always interested in something new, find joy in something that they didn't see the year before, and continually light up our trip with their smiles, laughter, and commentary. Trey told me this year that he will always want to go to Callaway with us...for some reason, I don't think that this will last:-) but I will certainly enjoy it while it does!