// Holiday Traditions

Ever since Toby came to live with us permanently, I've had a newfound appreciation for holiday traditions. I know it's not as simple as saying "Well, we're going to do this ever year!" but I guess it makes sense to start somewhere and think with intention, right?

We started off December with Toby's Alternative Advent Calendar and it's crazy that we're almost finished already! It was a lot of fun to put together and we've been able to spend so much quality time as a family this month. Of course if we do make this a yearly thing, we'll probably change things around a little bit next year. For example, be more mindful of our schedule so we don't over do it, and maybe take it easy on the time-intensive activities so late in the season (Gingerbread house, I'm looking at you!) But overall, I loved Toby's excitement for his calendar and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Pajamas are a huge Christmas tradition trend and this year is the first year we're planning on participating. I love me a good pair of pjs and so does Toby, so hopefully it'll work out well! For those of you who do the pajama tradition, how do you do it? Do you each get the same (or similar) pajamas? Or does everyone get something different? This year everyone got something different, but I'm excited to wear them Christmas Eve!

Every year we add a "family" type ornament to our tree to commemorate the year. Sometimes we buy it, sometimes we make it. Mike and I started this our first year together. This year we decided to expand on that a little bit and each person in the family gets to pick their special ornament to add to the tree. I love seeing Christmas trees that have a lot of personality, and I think ornaments are the perfect thing to be passed from generation to generation. I'm not sure that the next generation in our family is going to want a lot of glittered donut ornaments, but ya never know! Haha Truth be told, we try to buy ornaments that reflect things that have happened over the year. For instance, this year Mike bought a little pipe ornament because he's been hand whittling pipes for himself and friends. I love that. It's fun to look back and remember those little events as time passes.

This next tradition has nothing to do with Toby or Mike, but it's one that I've had since (before?) college... every Christmas Eve I love to watch Love Actually. I don't know why that is my go-to Christmas movie (especially when there are so many other great holiday rom-coms!), but it is. I love that Netflix always adds it back for the Winter. We'll be going, going and going come Christmas Eve this year, but I fully intend to make it happen! Even if it means I watch it on my phone on the way to a family get together! haha

Despite being almost 26 years old, I always spend Christmas Eve night at my mom's house, and I've woken up there on Christmas morning every morning except once (and that was a pretty miserable day so obvz I blame it on not being at home!). Apparently she's spent the last 363 days worrying that I'll never wake up there on Christmas morning again, but I'm happy we're going to stay with my parents this year. I think it's nice to wake up surrounded by people you love, and why would we want to miss out on that?! Plus, my mom makes a mean breakfast! I've already put in my request for chocolate gravy and biscuits! (Any other Southerners out there love chocolate gravy in the morning?!)

Sometimes I think the best traditions are the ones that we don't think about... the ones that sort of fall into place and just become assumed. Of course now that we have a family I'm trying to not over do it by saying "Oh this will be a tradition! And this, too!" because that seems to take a little bit of the magic out of it, right? But seriously, it's hard to not want to just "MAKE ALL THE TRADITIONS!" 

How about you? Any traditions for the holidays as you grew up? Or anything that you do with your significant others/family/kids/friends/alone? I love hearing how others celebrate the season!

// The Flynns Take Florida!

I never really thought much of Florida before we started vacationing there last year. To me it was just one of those "meh" kinds of places. I didn't look much farther than the retiree stereotype and humidity. Of course I sort of felt the same way about Mexico, then we went there for our honeymoon and it quickly became my favorite place in the world. I think that's how Toby feels about Florida. I've never seen a kid love the ocean as much as he does. Part of me is sad to be back home, away from the "wilderness" and the sunny beach. But part of me is also very grateful for bathtubs and my own bed, ya know what I mean? The past 9 days were absolutely awesome and exhausting. We had no idea how a family of 5 would survive in a 35' RV for 9-ish days, but we quickly found out. I was pleasantly surprised with how cozy and homey it felt. I'm an advocate for many more RV trips in the future! Here's how we spent our much-needed vacation...

Mike wore a stupid hat while piloting the RV to Florida. He was so proud of how well he handled the motorhome (even I was impressed!) - I chalked the hat up as a "reward" for not killing us on our way down. That hat rarely left his head...

Papa and Dad had an "RV hat" so Toby donned his red cowboy hat, too. (Don't worry, we were parked when this photo was snapped... he stayed buckled up!)

We stayed at Big Lagoon State Park at Perdido Key and oh my gosh, it was beautiful! This was the boardwalk across from our campsite. If you're ever camping in the western panhandle, you must pay Big Lagoon a visit!

Toby was overjoyed at the trail walks and the scenery. He and I took a stroll when we first arrived and all he wanted was to see an alligator. A far cry from the kid who cowered behind Dad at the reptile exhibit at the zoo last year!

Toby had just woken up from a car-nap and he was a little bummed that we were at a seafood restaurant instead of the beach. (Don't worry, little man. I was a bit bummed, too!) This gal doesn't eat anything from the water, so vacationing (with my family!) at the beach gets tough.

The amount of tacky shark souvenirs was overwhelming. I don't know why on Earth I put this shot glass back! Ugh, someone kick me! I scored some coffee mugs, magnets, and even a gifted shark wooden display, but this shot glass man! (If you're in Gulf Shores and want to send this my way, I'll pay you!)

Toby was super keen on waking up early during the first half of the trip. We had yet to really wear him out. This adorable photo is from about 7:30am when he and I took a little mommy/son trip to the playground.

We ended up at one of those side-of-the-road tourist traps called "The Track" (you know those!) - Mike took Toby on the big wooden go-karts and he was so underwhelmed. We then decided to treat him to his own kiddie karts and some rides on the attractions. At Christmas he was terrified of the tiny ferris wheel... this time he said "Mom! I want to go on that! I'm not scared!" so of course we obliged. We were so proud. He's growing up right in front of us! (How do I press pause on this whole thing?! Slow it downnnn!)

The next day was a full beach day. Sunshine galore thanks to the clearest skies! Mike and my stepdad had the idea of sitting their beach chairs right where the waves break on shore and despite the occasional mouthful of salt water, it was the most brilliant reprieve from the heat. Toby decided to join them and I think the photo of the three of them might be my very favorite ever. We also had some cranes pay us a visit during our trip. The clouds started to collect to the north even though the southern view was crystal clear. Weird how that works!

We decided to venture into Pensacola for the day and visit various parts of the naval base. We really wanted to see some lighthouses so my parents took us to one they had visited back on their southeast roadtrip around New Years. Yeah, so it looks nice and all, but those were the hottest, most cramped and terrifying 177 steps to the top... It was over 90 degrees with 96% humidity and there were way too many people. I started panicking about halfway up thinking "Oh god! I'm going to throw up! I'm going to pass out! How am I going to get down!" I finally made it up and then proceeded to start having an asthma attack! Yikes! It was a bit scary, and I'm not even scared of heights! I freaked out a bit starting our descent but Mike was awesome and helped me through it. By the time we got out we were drenched in buckets of sweat. Never again, my friends! Never again! To me, the view OF the lighthouse greatly surpasses the view FROM the lighthouse! haha Maybe I'm just a party pooper...

We visited the "Observation Tower" in the state park one evening to try and capture the sunset. The clouds were too plentiful to get a good color shot, but man, it was gorgeous! Look at those views! We missed a beautiful pink/orange sunset on our last night by about 3 minutes. I was totally kicking myself for that!

After a full day of rain caused a nature-imposed break, we went back to the beach. The sky was full of gnarly clouds and the waves were insane. They were easily upwards of 5 feet. We spent all of our beach time down at the Gulf Islands National Seashore and it was amazing! It's like $8 per car to get in, but that's a pass that's good for 7 days and there are no crowds! We had a huge section of the beach all to ourselves. We visited a public beach prior so we could scope it out, but we were not stoked on that situation We had another little crane friend visit us, and the seagulls just hovered around us all day. Mike also managed to snag a little crab, too! We let him go, but only after taking a glamour shot or two! Toby was stoked on the boogie board, but that didn't last long! He was totally kosher with the big waves, but we think he's still a bit too short-limbed to hold onto a board. Next year! I made sure to relish in the sunshine by taking a nap! We had some pretty comfortable beach chairs (especially since they were cheapo $15 grabs from Walmart) and the sunshine felt like an incredible blanket. I might have had my best sleep on that beach!

After that was said and done, Toby was dunzo. His little rosy cheeks were glowing and he was snoring up a storm on our way to dinner. The last half of the trip made him sleep in until 9am on most days, and that is unheard of in our house! He worked himself up and wore himself out!

After it was all said and done, we pulled out of Big Lagoon Sunday morning and set sail for home. Mike drove part of the way back and I was his "co-pilot" for the last 3 hours or so. It's nice to be in a big ol' RV because you're so high up. You also have room to really stretch out and get comfortable. The dark clouds and thunderstorm chasing was just an extra perk. I can't wait for the next trip, that's for sure!

It was such a lovely week and we're so grateful my parents treated us to such an adventure. Toby had the time of his life and I loved (almost) every minute of it. We're all nice and bronzed as we settle back into "real life" here at home. We sure did miss our pups though. The cats have been living it up lounging on the furniture inside, too. I think they might have missed us... even if only a little bit!

I'm so glad I was able to snap all of these photos of our trip. It was one for the books! (And can you believe these were all taken with my iPhone?! Whattttt?!) We snapped about two rolls of film (mostly of Toby in Big Lagoon) but I'll have to share those once we get them back from the lab in a few weeks! We had hoped to meet up with a few friends in town, and do an evening of open shoots, but life got in the way and we totally lost track of time! We felt so disconnected at some parts, but I'm not complaining. We needed it!

Any fun vacations for your books this summer?

Flynn-Family Fun

Yesterday was a busy day for our little family. We woke up and got Toby ready to go visit his grandparents for a few hours, then we met up with my parents at an RV dealership. My parents have been searching for a new motorhome to upgrade their pull-behind to for the past few months and they were pretty sure they were ready to make the purchase yesterday. They decided to go look at 2 more before making the call and I'm so glad they did! We all fell in love with the first one we looked at and after a long test drive and some chatting, they bought it! Mike and I were especially excited because obviously we'll benefit from their RV purchase haha My parents are super into camping, roadtrips, weekends at the river, etc and I cannot wait until Spring so we can take that baby out! I never realized how cool RVs were until yesterday. Now I feel like I'm way into them and will want to look at all kinds. This thing is a beast at like 37" with 2 slide outs. Seriously, I'm just so excited and I can't wait to go camping!

 

This is Mike's "Excited we just bought an RV" dance (you know, except we didn't buy an RV... haha! We just get to benefit from someone else buying it!) 

After signing some papers and getting that all sorted we went and ate some delicious BBQ and shopped around for a bit. So many cute Christmas ornaments are out right now! Anyway, before we knew it we had wasted away the 5 hours of Toby's visit so we headed over to pick him up and surprise him with Grandma + Pawpaw (my parents). We loaded up in my parents' car and headed over to Opry Mills mall where we waited an hour for a table at Rainforest Cafe (at 6pm!haha). Toby loved it. He was super into the interactive animals (except the snake. He didn't want anything to do with that) and his grilled cheese.

When we finished up finally we headed back to the car and drove over to Jellystone RV park where they were having the big Christmas light show. It's one of those huge light shows where it's set to music on the radio. I had my doubts about how cool it would be but it was actually really awesome. It took forever to go through the whole thing but we all loved it. It ended at a big tent that had a kid's playzone + rides. Toby had entirely too much fun going up and down the inflatable rides, and riding the train. He got on the (very mini) ferris wheel with such excitement but the second that thing started to wobble he was screaming to get off. Poor guy. I was the same way when I was little haha He went back to the inflatable bits while Mike decided to get on one of those big elastic jumpy things with the trampoline underneath. Spider-jump? I don't know, but he was all about it. He even whipped out some backflips! By the time he got off of the ride we were all tuckered out and ready to go home. 10pm snuck up on us quick so we put little man to bed, watched a few episodes of Parenthood (we love it!) and then called it a night. Overall I'd say it was a pretty successful day with our family. We had tons of fun and I think Sunday is for relaxing.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend thus far!

The Most Magical Time of Year

Bonjour! I have not died! I am alive and well, though rather exhausted. The past few days have been non-stop go go go and while I've loved seeing everyone and exchanging gifts and eat way too much yummy food, I'm ready to take a break! How about you?

The short little break from the blog felt nice, I won't lie. And it might extend just a wee bit more [or at least be a little lighter] due to the fact I have to drop my trusty ol' MBP off at the Apple store tomorrow to have a new keyboard installed. The traffic will be a nightmare... I know. Hopefully it'll just take a few days though. Please let me have it by the new year! I'll be working anyhow, so it might not matter, but still. I'll have Mike's macbook but I can't do too much on it!

I have so many blogs to catch up on! I don't know when I'll ever find the time! Don't worry, I'll be dropping around you're little slice of the blogosphere soon! Hohenwald doesn't even have 3G phone service so I didn't read much Twitter or post anything via Instagram. Sheesh! I felt so disconnected!



Excuse the crazy lighting. Even Photoshop couldn't help the bright yellow cast lighting from my Nana's house! Haha I really love the Christmas season. I love the hustle and bustle, the endless pondering of thoughtful presents, the hot chocolate and full breakfasts, the family you can't really stand any other time of the year [kidding! Sort of!], etc. It's a great way to cap off the year. Then a week later you get to vow to never drink soda again or never run through the drive-thru, etc... Perfect timing!

I spent Friday baking and crafting, so when Mike got home from work around 5 we could load up the car and girls then head to my parents'. Of course we didn't leave until 6:30 but that was fine. We snuggled in, watched Love Actually, slept and woke up to presents. We had breakfast, opened our goodies, and then went back to sleep for two hours. Then we woke up, went to my Nana's, stayed for quite some time, ate a late lunch, opened presents, went home, Mom cooked, stepdad's family came over, ate again, exchanged presents! Phew! Oh did I mention we had a white Christmas for the first time in 17 years?! Yes! That never happens in Tennessee! Well it was great until Christmas night when we were supposed to drive the 2 hours north to pick up Toby. The interstate was shut down, parties being a little less than cooperative, etc. Luckily at 8:30pm we had the "OK" to go. The roads were okay until the Franklin area. Then they were awful. We managed to pick up Toby and head back south for the 2 hour drive [again] when we got stuck on an overpass while asking if a stuck car needed our help [but we worked our way out], then in front of our house in Spring Hill we hit ice on a bridge and went all over the road. Luckily Mike regained control and we managed home without incident. But it was scary!

We put Toby to bed and we slept. Then we woke up this morning, opened his presents with my parents, had breakfast and headed south to Mike's parents'. We opened presents there then ate a late lunch, rested around, and finally headed home. Here we are! I hate throwing so much into just one little post but honestly, I wouldn't have time otherwise to even update about it!

We're keeping Toby for a few days and I'm so excited! Lots of toys to play with! I love having him around!

Now a ton of photos! [I'll put most after the jump!]

Me & my little cousin Kaylie

Lacey Lou Anne

Toby and Grammy Terri

Pip and Baby G

My two favorite boys ever!

Tuckered out. Presents take a lot out of a kid!

Way Back When Picture Post

Before I had my mom's portrait tattooed on my inner upper arm, I went through some old photo albums at my Nana's house. While I didn't take them out and take them to be scanned, I nabbed a few low-quality photos with my iPhone. They're not great, but they get the job done. And I thought I'd share them today!

This is my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother, my Nana's parents. They were immigrants from Poland. They came over via Ellis Island in the earlier quarter of the century. (My Nana [grandmother.. not great grandmother!] was born in 1932 in Michigan.) I would really really love to travel to Poland one day soon.

This is my Nana and Papa back when they were first married in 1949. Weren't they gorgeous?! Brownie Franklin and Patricia Genevieve. My Papa passed away when I was 8, in 1996, but my Nana is alive and kicking! I already have a tattoo for her on my calf, and my Papa's will be in August once I return to Nashville.

This is my late Aunt Kay, who everyone says I favor.

My late Aunt Kay again with her daughter Stephanie. Both passed away after a horrific car crash in 1974 when my aunt was only 22 and my cousin only 2. I was named after both of them. Valerie Kay (Kaelah) and Stephanie Dawn (Kaelah Dawn). I've always said if I could have dinner with anyone in the world, alive or otherwise, I'd probably choose my aunt. I'd really like to know what she was like.

My sweet Mama! I used to love looking through her old yearbooks and stuff. The last photo is her senior portrait from 1978 which I had tattooed on the inside of my full sleeve.

As a baby, in 1988.

I always felt like I was channeling Pretty Woman in this photo, just you know, sans the prostitute thing.

Sophomore Year of High School, I believe. Well 10th/11th grade? I will never have short hair again!

Sophomore Year Softball. I'm not even sure I wore makeup haha

Sophomore Year Volleyball, I think. All I know is that hair thing I've got going on was NOT working for me!

Senior Year. Bad haircut, no eyelashes, no eyebrows, lined my eyes with dark black eyeliner. Man oh man!

I'm going to try to find more pictures this week! I'll definitely post them if I happen across them.

Do you have any old photos of your family or yourself? Post them! I want to see! Leave links to your posts if you do!

xoxo