Fun with Family

From Tuesday afternoon till Saturday morning, aunt Bahar and uncle Lee (Derrick's brother and his wife from California) visited with us. The kids were so excited to see their aunt and uncle to play with them and the adults enjoyed hanging out with each other, watching football and cooking dinner together. 

 

Enjoying some delicious Kurdish dinner Bahar cooked for us:

Look-a-likes: Brothers:

While Derrick had to work on Wednesday and Friday, the kids and I went to the hotel to have breakfast with Lee and Bahar to celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary with them.

On Friday afternoon, we took our guests to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel for their Country Christmas to look at all the wonderful Christmas lights (more than 2 million). Despite being early, it was very crowded. But nonetheless, we enjoyed all those pretty Christmas decorations and the cold air made it feel like a Winter Wonderland. 

Group picture:

Inside the hotel, they had set up all kinds of decorations ranging from Santa's sleigh, to a picture Op with Santa to a gondola ride on the little 1.3 mile waterway, and lots of different Christmas trees. 

  
Christmas lights in front of the hotel:

The outdoor nativity display featured special lighting effects and an audio rendition of the birth of Jesus.

There is so much to see and do at the hotel from the Elf scavenger hunt to baking with Mrs. Claus, carriage rides and other (pricey) adventures, but we just kept it simple and enjoyed all the free stuff like warming up at the fire pits and the kids visiting Santa to tell them their wishes (Elliot wants the Imaginext Pirate ship and Amelia a Barbie Dreamhouse). We had a great time but before we could make any dinner plans, the kids were ready to head back home. We said our goodbyes to Lee and Bahar and can't wait to see them again soon. We really loved having them here.

Just a couple of streets from our house, there is really festive decorated house and we stopped because Santa and Mrs. Claus were outside handing out candy canes. The lights at this house are synchronized to music and we enjoyed watching the show from our car.  

When we came home, the kids enjoyed their dinner and milk in front of the fire place watching the Grinch. The perfect ending to a full day. 

What a wonderful day it has been and I'm so thankful for spending it with family and these two crazy kids.