Keeping Up with the Kramers

At the end of December, we made our annual trip to Indiana. Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as it was during our visit last year, but it was still pretty chilly for at least one person in this Florida family (ahem.... Heather).

We wondered how Sam would do on the plane this year since he wasn't yet walking last year at this time. He's so much more active now and certainly doesn't like to sit still for very long. With a little help from our trusty friend, iPad, he did very well on the way up.

Happy child, relieved parents.

Our first night in town, Shawn's mom opened her home to us and cooked us a warm meal. There is nothing like Grandma Kramer's home cooking! Sam, of course, went right for her toy bin and the other kids were quick to follow. They all got along so well and shared nicely.

Sharing cars with Grayson

Eatin' good at Grandma's... and enjoying being the center of attention

Holiday hugs from Lleyton

We were so pleased that the family agreed to gather again at the Lighthouse Lodge in Monticello for a post Christmas, pre-New Year's celebration. We were very well taken care of again by our hosts, Mike and Bonnie, who opened their warm and inviting inn and filled our bellies with a delicious, homemade meal.

The Lighthouse Lodge

Our beautiful boy

Aunt Tina, Lleyton, Aunt Kim and Kyle

Aunt Shell, Uncle Butch and Uncle Rick

Grandma Kramer, Mandy and Heather

The Yahoos... and the lovely Debbie

Ben and Lleyton

Christian, and Arrick and Alex

As goes the Kramer family tradition, we received Grandpa bags filled with peanuts, candy and something a little extra for the little ones. Uncle Butch made sure everyone in the family got one. And "the princess" even got a special treat (an orange!).  Thank you, Uncle Butch!

A grandpa bag for Sam...

And one for Lleyton...

And one for the Princess.

After filling our bellies with Bonnie's delicious home cooking, playing cards and catching up, we packed up and headed out to visit with Shawn's nephew, Bucky, and his family in Coatesville, IN. We had a great time playing with their two boys, who have an unlimited supply of Legos, Matchbox cars and Cars toys which made Sam's little head spin. They also have a huge backyard where we got to go exploring and Shawn practiced shooting BB Guns with the kids (Sam stayed inside with mommy during the shooting part).

Winter Sam

Arrick, Sam (with Tow Mater) and Christian

The guys

Ready. Aim. FIRE!

Let's go hiking

Our last stop on our trip was to visit Heather's Aunt Linda. If you recall, she is a house mom at the Butler University Kappa Kappa Gamma house. She welcomed us into her home and made us a wonderful dinner which we shared with Heather's cousins Bart, Cathy and Jordan. Sam loved climbing the big staircase and running around all of the rooms in the house. He even cruised by the large fireplace, pointed to it and said "Santa! Ho-ho-ho."

Here one minute...

Gone the next.

Aunt Linda and us with the Kappa Kappa Gamma bulldog

Even though Heather usually complains about how cold she is, we usually leave saying how we need to plan longer visits. We love visiting with those that are so special to us and enjoying the great state of Indiana. Maybe we'll just need to add a summer visit to our calendar!

We kicked off our Christmas marathon with a ride on the Orange Blossom Canonball's Christmas themed train ride. We boarded this vintage steam train for some good ole' fashioned cookie eating, hot chocolate drinking, and Christmas carol singing. We even got to visit with Santa and his elves!

"All aboard!"

Santa's elves are very funny!

Hi Santa! HO HO HO!

Trying on the conductor's hat... there's room to grow into it

The Orange Blossom Cannonball

Grandma Ewen and Papa Mark came over for an early Christmas celebration. We had a great time sharing gifts and spending time together. Sam's favorite gift of the night was the Mater's Tall Tales DVD and matching book.

As tradition dictates, we spent Christmas Eve at Grandpa Ewen's house. We were joined by Heather's sister and her family. We gathered round the table for a delicious meal together, followed by tearing into a heap of presents. Sam received a Disney Planes book with 12 miniature planes from the movie. He LOVED these planes so much that any time you tried to pick one up, he would let out a shrill scream right in your face that seemed to suggest he didn't want you touching his planes. Luckily, after a week or so, he's more willing to share those planes.   The Mitchell's, The Ewen's and the Kramer's The coveted planes Christmas Day was such a treat for us. Sam is more aware of Santa Clause now and very into presents. It was a bit more challenging to get him to sit still for photos this year than last, but we still managed a cute stocking shot.

Loving his new fire truck

Thanksgiving came and went in a flash, so it seemed. Sam and Heather spent the day with her side of the family while Shawn worked, then the whole family headed to Palm Harbor for the weekend to see some of the Kramer clan. We had a great time catching up with everyone, but as usual, the time just went by way too fast.

And here we are now, in full swing of Christmastime. We started out the month by taking Sam to see his first musical production, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, at the Orlando Repertory Theater in Downtown Orlando. We weren't sure if Sam would have the patience to sit through an entire play, but we were delighted when he not only sat through it, he was completely engaged. He clapped, he danced and he exclaimed "OH NO!" when the abominable snowman tried to attack. We were so thrilled that he had such a good time.


We've been reading books about Santa and watching Christmas movies since the start of the season. Sam, all on his own, started saying "ho ho ho" and talking about Santa. We have even included Santa in the list of people that we say good night to at bedtime. This was all good prep for our annual trip to visit with Santa Claus!  Now, even though the visit went great last year, we weren't quite sure how Sam would do this time as an often rambunctious almost-two-year-old.  He's very good with the Disney characters and with meeting new people, so we were fairly optimistic.  We arrived at the mall on a Tuesday morning, ready with Sam's wish list and million-dollar smile!  We knew we'd be asking too much of him to wait in a long line (last year we only waited a few minutes, but this year the crowd was much heavier), so Daddy held a place in line while Mommy and Sam walked around and took trips up and down on the elevator. After a few laps around the mall and several elevator and escalator rides, it was finally our turn!

"Let's see, have I been naughty or nice?"

I love you, Santa!

We can officially call this visit a success!

Props to Theme Street Pictures... they really know how to pose these kids and have the right tools on hand to distract and get them to look in the right direction. They are serious pros, I have to say. And major kudos to Santa... he not only looks amazing (you know, for his advanced age and all), but he's really great with the kids. This is the second year in a row that we've gone to the Mall at Millennia to see Santa and we will keep coming back! P.S. Did you notice the Spiderman photo bomb in each of these shots?

Like a lot of you with busy schedules, it's really important to us to make the most of our time when we're together as a family.  We've created a family calendar that helps us plan ahead so we're not left in that frustrating position of answering "what do you want to do today?"  While we love our quiet "lazy" days hanging around the house, we also love to get out and let Sam explore the amazing world around him.  And we have visitors with small children a few times a year that often ask, "what should we do?"

So here is our go-to list of things that we enjoy (or hope to enjoy) doing as a family in the Winter Garden and Orlando area. We expect this list to grow as Sam gets older and can participate in more things (We can't wait to take him to Wonderworks or back to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex), but for now you'll notice that this list is limited to "little kid" friendly activities.

1. Orlando Science Center

2. Green Meadow Farms
3. Turkey Lake Park

4.  Fire Station Tour (the station in Downtown Orlando is pretty cool)

5. Winter Garden splash pad

6. Pool crashing

7. Downtown Disney

8. Beach day

9. Gatorland

10. Picnic in the park, followed by ice cream at Scoops!

11. Fun Spot or an arcade/mall with ride-ons

12. Orlando Repertory Theater

13. Matinee movie at the West Orange 5
14. PetSmart for tapping tanks and meowing at kitty cats waiting to be adopted
15. Themed or Character Dining (i.e. Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex or Backyard BBQ)
16. Pony Rides
17. Story time at the public library or Barnes & Noble. The Winter Garden library also has arts & crafts for kids of all ages
18. Richard Petty Driving Experience (as spectators, of course)
19. Music with Mar or Gymboree class (Sam attends Music with Mar every week with his sitter)
20. Central Florida Zoo

Here are some seasonal ideas that really help us immerse ourselves in the season and create some fun family traditions:

Ringling Brothers Circus (January)
Central Florida Fair (February)
Winter Garden Evening at the Pops, featuring the Orlando Philharmonic (March)
Easter Egg Hunt (April)
Disney/Pixar Cars Masters Weekend (June)
Movies in the Park (Summer)
Fourth of July fireworks - no one blows it out like a Disney theme park (July)
Barktoberfest (September)
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (Sept-Oct)
Dragon Boat Races (October)
Winter Garden Music Festival (October)
Winter Garden Halloweenfest (October)
Air & Space Show (November)
Celebration Fall Festival (November); Snow Drop (December)
Winter Garden Christmas Parade (December)
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (December)
Orange Blossom Cannonball Express Christmas Train (December)
Candlelight Processional (December)

In case you don't watch the movie Cars at least twice a week like we do, Mack is the name of the semi truck that hauls Lightening McQueen around. McQueen gets lost from Mack in the beginning of the movie and he speeds off down the highway screaming for Mack. So every time Sam sees a semi truck, he points to it and screams MAAAAACK!

Shawn's brother Chris drives a truck for a living so we were pretty excited when he called to say that he was passing through our area. We were excited for Chris to finally meet his nephew and we knew that Sam was going to lose his mind over the truck.

We met up with Chris and his truck just as the sun was setting, and Sam didn't disappoint. He shook with excitement and screamed MAAAAACK! when we pulled into the parking lot.

Can you tell he's excited?

"I wonder if I can just drive away while no one's looking."

"Move over and let me show you how this is done, Uncle Chris."

Sam, Uncle Chris and Shawn

"This thing goes on FOREVER"

We think that Halloween is shaping up to be one of Sam's favorite holidays. His Aunt Deb and Aunt Shell sent him books for Halloween, and Sam has chosen these books as bedtime stories almost every night since October. He says Happy Halloween very well, and we've even taught him to cackle like a witch.  "HA-ka-ka-ka-kaaaaa!"

Like most boys his age, Sam is obsessed with vehicles, particularly fire trucks and trains. It was a tough choice, but we decided to go with a train engineer for his Halloween costume given his strong preference for Thomas and Friends at the time. Coincidently, I found these overalls at a local consignment shop. Not only were they the only pair in the store, but they were just Sam's size. After that shopping find, it was a done deal, and an adorable Thomas treat bucket topped off his costume perfectly.


We had a blast trick-or-treating with our neighbors and Grandma Ewen, who had to come over to see Sam dressed up for Halloween. Sam was excited to run up to every door - light on or not - and hold out his pail. He even said "Trick-or-Treat" several times which was usually met with an "awwww."  Since Sam isn't quite into candy yet, we may have sampled some of his treats. So, all-in-all, it was a SPOOK-tacular evening for everyone!

Our neighbors and Officer Grandma

Making friends with the neighbors