Fun in Florida

Last post I mentioned our historic driving trip to Florida during the Christmas Holiday. It was historic because my husband does not enjoy driving long distances. He's an airplane kind of man. He knows the ins and the outs of the airport, where to park for which gate, which line to get in. The man can zip thru an airport in no time to get to his plane in just the nick of time. Stick him in a car for a 2100 mile trip with me and my bladder and two kids. Not his idea of a holiday. But we made it. I looked back at Leah riding in the car and laughed. She looked like a hostage. She felt like one too. The child takes after her daddy.







But once we made to Florida there was lots of fun to be had at both grandparent's houses. We even learned about a game called Ladderball from Uncle Dave. Some call it Hillbilly Golf. It's a big hit in the RV Parks from what I understand. Shuffleboard is so old school. Ladderball rules now. We went straight to Wallyworld and bought our own.

Paige, Leah and cousin Mickey at my parents.

Paige brought along a gingerbread tree decorating kit. So the cousins got busy putting it together. It made a nice centerpiece while we were there.

You should have heard the singing. Mr. Scotty has a karaoke machine.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family.

There are so many pictures I could download.

The other highlight of the trip was meeting up with one of my favorite bloggers Tracy P. Tracy lives in Minnesota and I live in Texas, but we managed to meet at a park in central Florida. Can you believe it. She and her family were there visiting her dad.

We decided to get the families together and the best place would be a park. Thanks to Google one was located. The kids and the husbands could keep busy while we chatted.

Here are Paige, Leah & Mickey playing at the park. It was great place to meet.





The wind really picked up and the kids and husbands had played basketball and were thirsty so we moved the party to a local restaurant. It was nice to just sit across the table from Tracy and hear her voice and get to know her better. Tracy and I both pray with Moms in Touch groups. There was so much I wanted to talk about, but didn't want to bore the husbands with an all blogging and MITI conversation. She is as wonderful in person as she is on her blog.

Here we are: Windblown but happy to get together:

Here are the kiddos: Tracy's two and my two plus my nephew. The kids had their own table at the restaurant. (Learned that trick a few years ago. ha)

It was a long trip, but totally worth it in my book. I even got a smile out of Buster.

Celebrate What's Right in the World

It's my birthday!

Yes, today the 4th of January. Let's just say there are a lot of fours happening for me today age wise. I joked with a friend I may have to buy a lottery ticket. We had a wonderful trip to Florida for Christmas. Drove this time. That will go down in the Brasington Family History Book cause it probably won't happen again....or so says Buster. I met a blogger friend. So fun. I'll get pictures posted soon.

This video link was e-mailed to me by my dear friend Linda. I almost skipped over it. I'm so glad I did not. I usually try and keep my post brief and to the point, but this is a 20 minute video. If you don't have time to watch it now, please come back and view it when you can. You will not be disappointed. It gave me a great perspective as I begin this new year.


Celebrate what's right with the world - Dewitt Jones @ Yahoo! Video

It seems they have removed this video from the internet. Sorry about that. It's too bad because it really was a nice piece to watch.

One of the phrase that really struck me was "Be the best FOR the world not IN the world."

I pray you make the best of this new year. I plan to.

Little Things like Marshmallows and Clothespins

Little things have made me smile this Christmas season.

First is our little Christmas tree. Keith and I love it, but Paige and Leah weren't happy that we didn't put up our big tree. The other thing that made me happy were these little clothespins that I found and then covered in scrapbooking paper to make them more Christmasy. I'm hanging our Christmas cards from a jute string along our bannister. I really like seeing them there in the foyer.

Then lastly, these little marshmallows are my other little treat this year. I found a recipe for homemade marshmallows. I added some crushed peppermint candy to the mix. Here is a peek in the bag at my little marshmallows. I didn't cut them very exact as you can see. They are tied and tagged and ready to go to our neighbors house to top off a mug of hot chocolate.

I've been meditating on this scripture this Christmas. I pray it blesses you too.

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights as sons. Galatians 4:4,5

Merry Christmas from our house to yours,

I pray you enjoy the little blessings of life and know the big love that God has for you.

The World at Your Feet

Last night Leah's school hosted Geography Night for 100 5th and 6th graders who signed up to take a walk across Asia. The school brought in this huge National Geographic floor map of Asia. We went to 8 different regions of the map and learned so much. All I could think of was my blogger friends. We had an overview of Mongolia and I thought of Daja. Then The Philippines ~ Hi Charity.

Here are a few snapshots from the night:



Students from the High School's Council of International Affairs were the host of each station and shared information on the culture, religion, forms of government and demographics of different countries in Asia.



This is for you Charity:

This is for you Uncle Ron:

It was a fun way to learn and really be hands on or "feet" on and experience Geography in a different way. From what I understand National Geographic has 3 of these maps....Asia, Africa and The United States. But I think the best way to learn Geography is to start blogging!

Neighbor Steve's Man Christmas

Christmas decorations at our house this year:

(click on picture - it helps)

Christmas at Neighbor Steve's House:

Neighbor Steve was serious about decorating for Christmas this year. Last Saturday his Christmas man dream came true. He backed this big, bad green monster into his driveway.

Steve's brother-in-law and niece prepare to put up lights:

Neighbor Steve (who is afraid of heights, but not heavy machinery) coaches from the ground:

Paige takes a turn on the lift:

A bird's eye view from the treetops:

After an entire day of ups and downs in his big green lift, Steve and his wife cooked a scrumptious pot of gumbo and had the neighbors over.

It's the beginning of a

Merry Christmas!

(We even got snow flurries in Houston today!)