Christmas 2015: Round 3

Christmas 2015: Round 1 and Round 2

Since yesterday was the 12th day of Christmas, I can get my final Christmas recap installment up without worrying about it being too late to talk about Christmas, right? My last recap ended with Eric and I finishing up our Christmas morning at home together. Like I said, the calm of Christmas morning was short-lived at our house because we were on the road an hour later, heading up to Memphis to have Christmas with my parents and brother. We made it just in time for Christmas lunch (which was insanely delicious BTW), and spent the afternoon exchanging gifts and enjoying the company. The evening ended with family pictures in front of the tree, and for the first time we took pictures in matching pajamas. It was awesome! The boys weren't entirely thrilled but they played along, and even smiled!

 Mom even made scarves for the puppies that matched our pants. =)

 Of course we had outtakes.  I set my camera to take several shots at once and the first time I did it and ran over to my spot, Maggie freaked out, which set Hawk and Peanut off, and well I have an entire series of photos that look just like this one. 

 My little plaid family =)

Love these guys!

Top Row: This was an actual gift I received from my brother. He's so clever.....But I got my revenge! Want to know how to keep an engineer busy and drive them crazy? Give them a marble ball puzzle game that has 100 levels. =) Big sister ALWAYS gets her revenge!
Bottom Row: Maggie picked up on Christmas very quickly, and was totally digging her new ball!

The next day was spent duck hunting, golfing, shopping, and puppy walking. It was quite warm the day after Christmas and we spent the evening frying a turkey and drinking Moscow Mules....in shorts. Yes it was that warm. When it's warm enough for the pups to swim to their little hearts' content the day after Christmas, it's warm. And Maggie actually SWAM, not just waded chest deep. It's amazing what (accidentally) throwing her favorite playground ball into a reservoir will get her to do.

Clockwise from top left: 1) Mom holding treats court with the pups. I wish mine would listen to me as well as they listen to her. 2) Saturday morning paper reading and puppy naps are a given. 3) Hanging around with Maggie the day after Christmas on the back porch...in shorts. 4) Maggie wanted to sleep over in our room with Hawk one night so we had a puppy slumber party. 

Eric came back from hunting early Sunday morning and Matt had to leave to head back to Wisconsin that afternoon so we loaded up and headed downtown to visit the World's Largest Bass Pro. Yes, that's right, the world's largest Bass Pro.  Impressive right?

Even more impressive/ironic?  This is the same building I graduated from high school in, 13 years ago. You see, up until a couple of years ago, this building was a basketball/multipurpose arena facility, but once the city acquired the Grizzlies and built FedEx Forum just a few blocks from there, they didn't need the building any more. It sat empty for a few years until Bass Pro bought it and gave it new life. It now houses a hotel, 2 restaurants, a bowling alley, 2 giant aquariums, a stream with fish and ducks that live in it, an alligator tank, the world's tallest free standing elevator, and amazing observation deck that overlooks the Mississippi River, oh and an enormous hunting and fishing store. Like I said, quite impressive. We spent a few hours inside (lunch included) and didn't even spend any time up on the second floor. Eric and Dad ran upstairs to get a part for Dad's turkey fryer and saw an $8,000 smoker (not sure why anyone would need a smoker that costs that much) and professional fisherman Bill Dance who was just hanging out. Eric said he gave him a few fishing tips. We did make it to the observation deck where we got to see some great views of the Mississippi River.

Clockwise from top left: 1) The stream that runs through the store. 2)  Some of the sturgeon who reside in the stream. 3) The view of the ground floor going up the elevator. Yes that is a boat docked in the stream that flows through the store. 4) You can't go to Memphis and not have BBQ nachos.  These were a little different from what I'm used to, but they were delicious! Coleslaw and Gorgonzola cheese for the win!

I found the bridge!

That would be Harbor Town behind us. 

 Believe it or not, Mom is 5'8", not a midget even though she looks like one. She's just standing in between two giants. 

 Eric and I on the observation deck.

We had a really wonderful trip and were sad to have to head back home (and back to quasi-reality) on Monday. Because real reality didn't start until this week amiright? The trip home was wet. It rained the ENTIRE way home...like poured buckets of rain for the entire 5 hour drive, so we ecstatic when we pulled into our driveway. (But we did stop at the Flying J for pizza and potato soup.)We spent the rest of the day unpacking, snoozing on the couch, and a quick overnight visit from Eric's brother's family before they headed home from their Christmas vacation. It was the perfect way to end our Christmas Vacation....for that week. =) I ended up going back to work for an entire 2 days before we were off again for New Years! Let's just say that we had a houseful to watch the College Football Playoffs and ring in 2016.  But that's another recap for another day. And hopefully I'll get that one up before the end of January.