Celebrating the Season

We really try to make the season fun for the kids not just by buying them presents but spending time together as a family doing seasonal things. 

This past weekend, we went up to Michigan for 24 hours (Austen had to be home for drivers ed on Sunday morning) so we ventured out to Gull Lake to tour the Kellogg's (think cereal guy) summer mansion on the lake as well as the Gilmore Car Museum which was also close by. The mansion was amazing as well as the volunteers who loved telling us stories about the house and Mr. Kellogg. The top part of the house was a holiday market too so the kids shopped for small gifts there to give to each other at Xmas. 

After the Kellogg house, we ventured over to the car museum where we took in old as well as new cars. It was quite an impressive space/campus where they housed all these cars and they had the whole place decked out in trees as well as holiday lights inside and out. We walked the campus where they had blow ups and hot cocoa as well as adult beverages and cozy bonfires. We finished up the evening at the car museum by partaking in the driving tour of lights through their campus and then hit up a brewery for dinner. It was a great way to celebrate the season complete with our Michigan (and CH) neighbors/friends. 

It's getting close now to Xmas and Hailey is having fun with our elves. She asked me today if Santa would bring her any presents because he happened to mention in a note he sent her that she was having difficulty getting off her iPad after her allotted time (weekends and winter breaks only for a maximum of 2 hours per day). She was very worried about this and said she'd try to do better but that she helped someone yesterday in her online game and always helps the children who need help in her class. I told her that she needed to do these good things throughout the year instead of right before Xmas to which she responded - "Why didn't anyone tell me that before?!" 

I'm sure she'll be a perfect angel next year now that she knows Santa's rules but for now I'm enjoying her very good behavior leading up to Xmas!

Car Museum

Kellogg Mansion