Merry Christmas from Edith

Thanks to Edith, our neighbor in Florida, for being an especially great elf this season  She allowed packages to be delivered to her house, she wrapped gifts and put together gifts for the girls, she bought gifts for our girls AND she invited us over for Christmas dinner. Ted also took our family photo!  We are so lucky to have her because she made this holiday special for us. 

Disney Cruise 2016

On December 16th, we set in our car and traveled to Florida for our second Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy.  This was a seven night cruise on the same boat as last year's trip but it stopped at different destinations:  Tortola, St. Thomas/ St. John, and Castaway Cay.  Despite the wow factor of being on a new cruise not being there, we all had a wonderful time each and every day because Disney knows how to provide an excellent vacation.  We were able to explore the ship more and try different activities.  The girls enjoyed "Wake up with Disney Jr", Family Karaoke, and the Family Game shows.  They also enjoyed seeing Aladdin, the Broadway show Believe, and the movie Moana (multiple times).  Sophie loved going on the Aqua Duck water slide whereas Abby found herself in the pool and afraid of the big slide still.  Mommy enjoyed a little bit of exercise time and mostly laying out in the sunshine.  

Rodger did get a chance to see the new Star Wars movie Rogue One on the ship... though the girls and I opted to see Moana.

 Our little princesses dresses as Evie and Mal after Sophie read an entire chapter book in a few days of the Descendents.  The girls received tons of compliments on their daily outfit selections from random passengers.... whether it was their matching Star Wars dresses,  princess dresses, or hard to find Dory dresses... it seemed that people on this ship noticed that these two were certainly cuties on board!

 Just because.... Sophie and Abby wanted to take photos wearing their Moana and Elena costumes!

 One of the highlights of our trip every day was going to dinner to see our waiters Lucio and Andrew.  Lucio took extra time to talk to the girls and do magic tricks for them.  In addition, he taught Sophie some Portuguese after she expressed some interest in his home county of Brazil.  She is so excited to teach it to her class when they learn about it in school later this year.

We seemed to take a ton of great pictures this year... maybe it's because Rodger and I are much thinner and healthier.  We have worked hard in 2016 to meet some personal health goals and are very proud of the weight lost.  It's fun to look at last years cruise pictures and this year photos to see the differences one year has made.  We were able to celebrate once again with an anniversary dinner at Palo where, contradicting everything I just said above, we ate our way through a huge dinner!! It was so delicious... and I will continue to think about how wonderful Rodger's seafood soup and the almond souffle for dessert was until the next time we take a cruise.  

 Abby lost her second tooth on the cruise boat.... it was just sort of wiggly, but as soon as she saw that you get a special button on board when you lose a tooth she spent a day wiggling that sucker out!!  It was very exciting that Tinkerbell visited her instead of the Tooth Fairy to give her a special gift for loosing her boat on the Disney Cruise, so this is a tooth she will remember!

 Our shore excursions for this trip were all about the beach.  Rodger planned a scuba dive for himself and thoroughly enjoyed yet another dive in the beautiful waters of St. John.  Meanwhile, I took the girls snorkeling for the first time ever on the same island.  I was so proud to see that they both took so well to the snorkel and fins; they both loved the experience.  They snorkeled in Trunk Bay, St. Johns.  Sophie loved it so much that she and Rodger snorkeled again and completed a snorkel course at Castaway Cay the following day! 

When you were ever in doubt as to where to find us, this is where we were.....

I just love how Disney sends its photographers into the water at Castaway Cay so that we don't need to carry our own cameras or phones to take pictures of ourselves on the beach.  I love this family photo of our fun day on vacation... thinking that at home is was like 10 degrees.  The girls loved these new bathing suits.  I fear the summer.  They really loved "showing off their belly buttons" and I wonder if the days of me picking their bathing suits are long gone.

This is how I love to spend the holidays.... with a fake tree and 85 degree weather.  Christmas for me is not one day but the month or so that leads up to the holiday.  The decorations, traditions, cookies, wrapping, gift giving, lights, seeing family, going downtown, and all of the other things that we do in December that make it special.  Christmas Day is about Jesus' birthday and remembering why we celebrate.  But, I don't need to be in the cold to celebrate Christmas.... I can be right here with the three people I love the most and that's what's most important to me.  So, bring on the sun and the beach!

All in all, we had a great cruise... it still stands as a top vacation for our family and we will likely go on another on within the next two years.  We are all well rested, happy and just grateful to have had the chance to spend this much time together.  Our busy lives and busy schedules often times don't give us the time to just enjoy each other and let us relax together and the cruise really allowed us to do that.  Thanks Mickey Mouse, see you real soon!

Surfin' Santas

Surfin' Santa spreading some Christmas cheer at Ron Jon Surf Shop.  We had to make a quick stop there before the cruise for new bikinis and stopped for this photo opportunity!  It was the best we could get after an 18 hour car ride...

Nails and Toes

All set for the Disney Cruise with these Minnie Mouse inspired designs...

Can I get a snack?

Every time we stopped to go potty, Sophie wanted to check out the snacks.... once she found THIS one.

MY ugly sweater?!

So... I get a text with this photo to find out that Rodger wore my sweater to work today for his company's ugly sweater day. Should I be upset or proud?

Happy 70th Birthday Grandma

Grandma turned 70... and we celebrated in style! We went to Cress Creek for Brunch with Santa where we toasted with mimosas and ate dessert first. That's how we should all celebrate 70!!

Grandma also opted for her favorite Chinese food for dinner with the rest of the Binkowski family (since Papa was recovering from knee surgery)... and more dessert of course!

Abby and Beau

The little ones and their love...

Sophie as Willa...

Sophie was very excited to go to Harper's 7th birthday party at American Girl. She dressed up just like her doll, Willa, including matching pigtails. The girls had the most fancy of parties at the store and played many fun table games. Ms. Anne shared one of the games results where the girls had to name any person living or dead that they would like to meet. Some answers included "... Abraham Lincoln, my great grandparents, Jesus, and Lin Manuel Miranda." I don't have to tell you which one was Sophie's answer....WORK!

Special Delivery from the North Pole

Grandma B

Thanks Grandma for coming to Abby's class and being a reading helper!! She loves to have her Grandma there as the special guest of the day.

Art Party

Beautiful Christmas artwork made by our girls at the Hutton party... they are already hanging up in the house!

Our Angels

Sophie and Abby (age 7 and almost 6)

I am Moana

The sign of something good...

Finally, Abby loves something?!?!

Holiday Photo Shoot 2016

Binkowski Christmas photo shoot....

Holiday Lights Parade

We really enjoyed the parade this year... had great seats in front, scored lots of candy, saw the lights and floats, and had a fun time with friends. Too bad the parade won't be downtown Naperville next year. Boo Naperville...

Secret Santas

Sophie and Abby were all smiles after Daisies today when they received their Secret Santa ornaments. This was a great way to teach gift giving and receiving-- and SOME of the kids actually kept the secrets!

The Holiday Cruise 2016

The performance of the season was seeing these two cuties sing, dance, and act with their buddies in a small play at School of Performing Arts called the Holiday Cruise. They sang famous Christmas carols and learned words that Mommy didn't even know existed! We are very proud of our little performers. Abby did an especially great job with her animation and projection on stage. Sophie had a "solo" at the end of the show (but got a bit angry when a fellow girl forgot and started to sing it along with her!). Both girls and their friends did great in front of an audience of family AND their teachers! Happy holidays from the holiday cruise....