Christmas in Georgia

After being home for two days, we headed off to Athens, Georgia for a southern Christmas with the Reitz'. It was especially great since everyone was able to make the trip. When you get this family together, there is never a dull moment...especially with the brothers. Too many inside jokes, too fast, and once they get going it's a real trick to get a word in (not that you'd want to because you are laughing so hard).
We had a nice Christmas Eve and Day eating and opening presents. In recent years, it's become a tradition for Rick(Corey's Dad) to make omelets on Christmas morning, although the boys are still hanging onto their favorite one, Cinnabons. It was fun for Asher to be able to hang out with his cousins, Austin and Tyler. Asher and Austin are close in age, so they occupied each other a bit, which was nice. I think we will miss Austin's little voice outside our bedroom door in the morning asking for "Dacker." Little Tyler was too sweet with his endless smiles and sweet temperment, what a good baby!! Asher received some "Cars" stuff for Christmas and is an instant fan. I just want to know what secret ingredient Disney uses to get kids to be so obsessed!
We had a great time eating, visiting, and checking out some of the Georgia sites. These are some of the highlights from the trip (Brace yourself, it was a 10 day trip, so there are quite a few pics.):

The Atlanta Aquarium: The largest in the world...and judging by the crowds, its not a secret!

All the pretty fishies.


I held the camera over my head for this one...there were so many people there, complete insanity. This place is not for anyone with even mild claustrophobia. Yikes.

Stone Mountain: A sort of theme park centered around this small mountain, complete with a train, steamboat, tram, shopping village, plantation with a farm, and a waterpark in the summer.


The confederate generals carved in stone.



Stuffing hay into the poor, overfed goat's mouth.

Asher loving 'Billy Bob', a 200 pound sheep. Seriously, this kid should have been born on a farm.

Grandpa, Asher and Corey on the steamboat. Grandma and Grandpa Reitz on the train.

The rest of the happy train riders.





More pics from our visit:

Feeding the psycho, aggressive ducks at the nearby pond (Corey was seriously scared of these guys!).

Opening presents on Christmas morning.

Corey, Austin and Tyler. Bath time for the boys - Jared just put them through the 'carwash' to get them in and out fast! Yeah!

Cute lil' boys.

Our visit to 'The Varsity' - practically an institution for college students there. Burgers, fries, you name it. Notice the chicken nugget in Asher's hand...one of the few things that made it into his mouth on this trip. Ugh.

Our little traveler. I loved these headphones, and thank goodness, so did he!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!