Holiday Shenanigans: Florida Edition

D and I spent Christmas together at home in Philly. After opening presents in the morning, I whipped up a batch of Alton Brown's french toast for breakfast. In the afternoon, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood with the dog; it was quite nice as not many people were up and about. A special bonus of the empty city was that we were able to score a parking spot for our car right in front of our building -- that rarely happens! Our Christmas dinner featured a small roasted chicken, mashed fingerling potatoes, homemade stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

After spending a quiet Christmas at home, at 4 a.m. on the 26th, D and I packed up the car (and the dog), and hit the road for an 18-hour road trip. Our destination? Lakeland, Florida, home to D's grandparents. After all was said and done, we arrived in Lakeland around 10:30 p.m. Our GPS originally predicted that we'd arrive at our destination around 8:30 p.m.; but a spate of bad traffic (and accidents) in South Carolina added in two additional hours.

Since we had Leroy with us, we opted to stay in a hotel since dogs are not allowed in D's grandparent's neighborhood. The morning after our arrival, we started what would be a morning ritual of heading to Lake Parker Park to work off some of Leroy's energy by walking one of the many lakeside pathways in the park.

{morning views and avian fauna at Lake Parker Park}

Highlights of our visit with D's grandparents included several rounds of Grandpa Bronson's famous brandy alexanders, watching a 3-D movie on their fancy TV, being entertained by dinner theatre in Orlando (somebody please do a documentary on a behind-the-scenes look at the Capone's actors: I'm dying to know their backstories), and learning how to play stupid, a card game (which I won! Woot!). Here are a few photos from our trip to Florida:

{Grandpa Bronson and his famous brandy alexanders}

{enjoying my first brandy alexander of our stay}

{watching a 3-D movie wearing our cool glasses}

{dinner theatre at Capone's -- a picture says a 1000 words}

{ready to enjoy an evening card game}

{dealing cards}

Leroy was a surprisingly well-behaved houseguest and it didn't take long before he let both Grandma and Grandpa Bronson pet and handle him. There may be hope for our little rescue dog after all! After spending four days in Florida, we packed everything back up again and hit the road early on the 30th. We made it back to Philly around 10:30 p.m. and after schlepping several loads of stuff back into our house (ok, D schlepped most of the stuff while I chilled with the dog in the car, which was illegally parked on the street), we soon called it a night.

New Year's Eve was another low-key holiday for us; D had the sudden onset of a cold, so we opted to stay in for the night. We feasted on a dinner of herb-roasted chicken breasts along with leftover stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce from our Christmas meal. Somehow we managed to stay up until midnight and toasted with a glass of champagne before heading to bed. And there you have it! A full report on our holiday shenanigans from Christmas to New Years. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!