Taghannock Falls

The Taughannock Fall are the tallest falls East of the Mississippi River.  They are located near Ithaca.  It is beautiful here but very hilly. This day was quite warm but I can well imagine it becomes very treacherous when it freezes.

Ice skating

 The three older kids got to go ice skating and did very well considering we only do it once a year. 
The younger two had a good time watching all the people go round and round.

Niagra Falls

 The falls were extremely cold.  The plus side was that we didn't have to pay for parking and there were no crowds to compete with and no lines to wait in.  Our little one in blue was yelling something like "I want to go back to the car!"  The baby just snuggled in my arms and seemed to go to sleep.  After about ten minutes of this I started becoming concerned but as soon as we stepped into the greed house he perked up and jumped down and started running around.

 This is a green house I remember going to when I was a little girl.  It is on the Canadian side.  Now we know our passports work!!  The green house was incredible and such a contrast from the outdoors which was frozen and dead looking.

The kids were all curious what this thing was so we had to get a picture before telephone booths are all gone.  I'm not sure they had ever seen one before.

Christmas cookies

 We spent a fun afternoon making cookies with Grammy.

The girls are very intent on making 'mouse' cookies. Here they are adding the eyes and ears.

Louisiana Arts and Science Museum

 LASM is a great place to go on a rainy day.

 The kids could spend hours with the golf balls in this contraption.

There were all kinds of fun magnetic toys to play with.

Chicot State Park

 We went to Chicot State Park for Thanksgiving.  The older three had a blast!  H and J got cold a good bit I think.  J was scared of being inside the tent which was unexpected because when it was set up in our yard he enjoyed going in and out.
We stayed two nights and were pretty tired when we got home.  It was very memorable though.

 This is the trunk of a cypress tree.  The 'stumps' are the 'knees' of the tree.  The parts of the root that come up for air.

 The lake was down five feet because of low rainfall.

 The older kids really enjoyed the fire.  We cooked sweet potatoes for our thanksgiving meal.  We wrapped them in tin foil and put them straight in the fire.  I wasn't sure how they would turn out or how long they would take to cook.  They tasted better than when I make them in my oven at home.

The Louisiana State Arboretum is in the park.  We took a nice walk through the surprisingly hilly terrain.

Live Nativity

 The three oldest kids singing in the choir.

 Baby "Jesus" was a real baby about a month old.  He did great and didn't cry for the whole half hour this lasted.
The camel was kind of scary.  He wasn't too sure about being around so many people.  The man leading him is a veterinarian and knew what he was doing.  The camel got a snack every few feet.  I am very thankful nothing happened.  This is the first year the camel has come.  The old regulars were also there, the donkey and half a dozen sheep and goats.

This is J trying to take off with the Magi's gift.