Christmastime with the family in Florida - The conclusion - 2025/12/26

Wrapping up our Christmas vacation with all the family from Michigan and beyond. 

Grammy and Grandpa took all their grandkids out for an afternoon of fun. It started with our usual Chick-fil-A where the kids got recognized and got to introduce them to the whole family. 

And while they're off doing that, the siblings are all out with each other on their own date day. 

We've all headed to Carabas for a nice lunch meal together. 

Getting way too much food and lots of soups. Alli would love it here. 

Back to the other crew who went out to play a round of mini-golf. 

And then over to the shaved ice place Bahama Bucks. 

When you remember to bring your own condensed milk (cause they charge way too much for a couple tablespoons) but forget to bring a can opener...

They're not the only ones who love Bahama Bucks. Don and Amy stopped by on the way home from lunch to get some too. 

Back at the house, we've completed yet another puzzle. 

Puzzle 6 - Good Humor is completed! 

A tasty dinner of tacos, burritos, and nachos. 

And a little bit more puzzling. Jacob came by the house to say hi to everyone and help with the puzzle too. 

Puzzle 7 - Saturday Morning Cartoons complete! 

We've still got a few more days in the house and we're already out of puzzles! Oh no! 

It's Saturday and it's going to be a busy day. Lots of things going on. 

To start, Theresa and I drove to the H-Mart in Orlando to pick up a bunch of Korean side dishes for tomorrow's meal. And if there's fresh sweet potatoes cooking in the store, you know Theresa is going to get some. 

One other reason to drive an hour from the house, T contacted that same eBay seller to see if she had any more puzzles we might like. Sure enough, she did and we picked up a few more while we were in the area. That should get us through the rest of the trip! 

Back to the house where the kids are playing Bananagrams. 

And the puzzle crew has already started in on the next one. 

Less than 2 hours later, we're done! 

Puzzle 8 - Words of Wisdom complete! 

T was trying to think of a special event that we could all do together while everyone was in Florida. 

Earlier this year, we took the kids to see the Cirque du Soleil show Drawn to Life at Disney Springs, and we all really enjoyed it. That sounded like a fun thing we could all do together! 

Eww. Wasn't thinking all those months ago what Disney Springs would be like on a weekend after Christmas. It was packed! Luckily after circling a bit, we all found parking, then made it through security. 

Then over to the show! 

That's a big group! 

T was able to find us great seats for a good price. Good thing since we've got 16 people! 

Everyone really liked the show. And most people had a different favorite act, so there was a little bit of something for everyone. 

The next day was a lazy Sunday. Watching a little football. Doing another puzzle. 

Puzzle 9 - Slang We Used complete. 

Just relaxing around the house and enjoying the calm. 

Back to work on the next puzzle. 

Dinner tonight is a big production. Everyone enjoys the big Korean meals we make together. 

I made round after round of gyoza. Theresa kept the spicy korean chicken cycling through the air fryers. Rita is making the fresh cucumber kimchi. Don and Amy are cooking ground beef bulgolgi. 

All that plus the sides we picked up from H-Mart yesterday, and we have quite the meal! 

A tasty looking plate. 

And lots of happy faces. 

Ian and Alli set up a round of The Gone Fishin' Card Game. 

So many hand-drawn cards. 

Completing another puzzle. 

Puzzle 10 - Storytime complete.

And already getting to work on the next one. Will it be done before bedtime? 

Yep!

Puzzle 11 - Best Sellers complete. 

It's Monday and it's our last full day together. It's been a fun week. 

Carson started us off by breaking out one of his Christmas presents. 

A coffee sampler of different beans from Uganda, India, Peru, and Nicaragua. 

I could definitely taste subtle differences between all of them, but what I really learned is that I don't like black coffee. It needs a little sweetness to cut the bitter flavor, and a little milk to make it creamy. 

Ian and Alli went out with the cousins to do a little after-Christmas shopping. 

And who can resist another trip to Bahama Bucks. Aubrey was trying to go there at least once a day during this visit. 

The final puzzle. I picked this one up from Goodwill when I wasn't finding anything else good. Lots of Disney Pins. Should be fun, right? 

WRONG! I hated this puzzle. There were no shades to match up or large sections to combine. It was tiny little fractions of a Disney pin that looked just like all the other Disney pins. The only thing to do was look at the box and try to find what that particular piece was and about where it fit into the puzzle. 

Bleh. With a little help from Amy and a few pieces from Theresa, this one is finally done. 

Puzzle 12 - Disney Pins complete.

And that's all the puzzles done! 12 unique 1000 piece puzzles completed in less than a week.  

The next day, I was busy driving the truck back and forth to the RV, trying to clear out the house from all the stuff we'd brought. 

Luckily checking out of the house was super easy. No huge checklist of all the things that need to be done: strip the beds, start the laundry, sweep the floors, etc. Just "take out the trash". Easy enough!

Since the flights back to Michigan aren't until later tonight, we invited Rich and Chi back to the RV to hang out. The kids are off with the rest of the family stopping (yet again) at Bahama Bucks and Carabas again for lunch. 

Later that evening, we met up with the family and swapped the Grandparents for the Grandkids. 

Have a safe flight back to Michigan! They got to take off into a beautiful Florida sunset. 

It was great having everyone here in Florida for Christmas! We loved getting to hang out at the house together!