Good Riddance, 2019! And Other Holiday Happenings.

April 14, 2021

Good Riddance, 2019! And Other Holiday Happenings.

Two thousand nineteen has been a trying year and we're finishing with a bang! We did every holiday thing a family could think of: Christmas deco, ugly sweater party, snowboard trip, baking, surf trip, birthdays, family visitors, and presents!

Vegan Thanksgiving with Nonni. The food was SO tasty, even the carnivores loved it!

The girls made hand turkeys as Thanksgiving place cards.

The girls also picked fresh flowers from our yard to make our table bouquet. I love that they're getting into creating the Thanksgiving vibe!

Traditional day after thanksgiving Christmas decorating with the cozy Florida fireplace.

Granna and I enjoyed a nice day at Naples Botanical Garden.

Sunset skate sesh! Not bad for an old guy (no, but seriously, I'm floored every time I watch him!)

Like father, like son. This kid's flip tricks are impressive to say the least!

We took a quick weekend trip up to Cocoa Beach, gotta follow the surf! Our favorite little beach hotel easily lends itself to sunrise coffee and a giant hot tub for post surf happy hour.

The Cocoa Beach skate park is far superior to our skate parks at home.

Graham doing his favorite thing in the history of things.

Fall camping in FL is like summer camping everywhere else. We camped with The Lichters, who have a yearly tradition of camping the weekend before Thanksgiving at Koreshan State Park. So happy they let us in on their tradition! Beautiful weather and some great camping buddies.

S'mores with Daddio.

You can barely see it, but there are 5 adventurous kids in this shot in the bamboo forest.

Family paddle date on the Estero River.

We only saw one gator; everyone managed well😆

Here we are getting ready to hop on a plane for a snowboard trip at our favorite spot in Breckenridge, CO.

Our kids are readers, which I am very excited about. Also, I find it refreshing to see kids reading in an airport instead of staring at a device (not that our kids never use devices, they do, but we're trying to be balanced about it.)

First stop in CO is Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tami's with matching Christmas jammies from Nonni.

These littlest boy cousins are just too cute!

Traditional breakfast with Santa at the Denver Aquarium.

Me and my Mama.

The four of us have been up to couples shenanigans for 15 years! Most of the last decade's shenanigans have involved raising babies & taking trips together. Love these two!

P.S. Check out Graham's chemo curls! Unfortunately, they lasted about one year post chemo, then they were gone.

Uncle Graham and little Brixton.

After a family visit in Denver, we headed up to our most treasured ski lodge spot up in Breckenridge. We had coffee with holiday spirit in the lobby (often with snowfall out the windows) every morning. Magical!

Our little Bear loves cozy clothes more than most things.

Coffee/hot cocoa date at the fireplace.

The kids gathered some fresh snow and made some diy snow cones.

Daytime s'mores on the patio!

Check out Alastair's vintage snow suit! It was mine circa 1990, then Uncle Micah wore it circa 1999-ish. Alastair rocked it so hard! Also, he switched to snowboarding this trip. He learned to ski at the age of three and liked it, but fell head over heals in love with snowboarding. He's already planning for college up in the mountains.

Lift selfies for life! For early December, we lucked out with some incredible snow conditions. If I remember correctly, we got 30+ inches of snowfall during our 5 days on the slopes. Such a treat!

My two favorite guys on the planet. You wouldn't think that a bunch of SW Floridians would fare well in -10* weather, but we tapped into our old Colorado blood and stayed warmer than expected.

Team Rockley board meeting.

My boy marveling at the beauty of snow covered slopes. It is still apparent that we certainly left a piece of our hearts in Colorado when we left there in 2015.

Our little adventure buddies!

We've become so accustomed to beach sunsets, I think we forgot how how incredible a mountain sunset can be!

I don't know what it is, but he's got it.

What we do best: adventure, then HAPPY HOUR! Earning our afternoon beer never felt so good.

Maisy, the skiing machine, appreciates a post ski happy hour just like her mama and daddy.

A little twinsperation. We rode the gondola into town from our ski lodge.

A walkabout in town always leads to shenanigans, or should l say FRAN-anigans?!

Not much instills more inspiration than being at the top of the mountain in blizzard conditions. Boom!

After a very tedious and potentially dangerous trip down to Denver amidst an actual blizzard in a tractionless minivan, Tam and I enjoy a cold Colorado beer. Goodbye, Colorado, for now; you know we'll be back.

Obligatory Christmas cookie decorating photo. These vegan sugar cookies are spot on!

Ugly sweater party for the win!

The kids were stoked to purchase their first ever ugly sweaters. Due to the super last minute nature of this party, we cheated and didn't make our own.

My favorite weird, goofy elf :)

It's not a party until someone wins a {water} chugging Santa Hat.

Christmas morning at the Rockley Roost.

Rain boots and a crazy wrapping paper mess!

One million scrunchies.

She's adorable. Also, notice that it's still dark outside!

Our Christmas Wolf loves his cozy clothes.

You know it's Christmas when Graham rocks his party pants all day!

Who doesn't play keyboard in their rain galoshes??

A quick trip to the beach on Christmas day. Fun, but a little too crowded for our taste.

December 26 is Christmas breakfast at Booma and Boompa's!

They arrived late at night on the 25th and didn't own a Christmas tree yet, so we brought our mini tree to elevate the Christmas spirit.

Birthday wakeboarding at Revolution!

And happy 12th birthday to our sweet boy. Complete with cookies and cream cupcakes.

You wouldn't believe that that black object is an instrument....well, it is. And what a unique sound it produces! It's an otamatone.

Happy Birthday/New Years Eve to Booma.

Since Micah, Chelcy, and Milo were in town, we decided on a group paddle out to Big Hickory Island for Booma's birthday.

Milo did quite well; that boy loves the water!

His excitement for 2020 cannot be contained. Also, who needs clothing?!?

New Years Day demands a transformative experience immersed in Mother Nature at sunrise. This everglades overlook spot is 20 minutes from our house. Pure magic. Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge Marsh Trail.