Christmas Shenanigans

December flew by, as usual. However, we were able to pack in as much fun as we could in such a short amount of time.

We had a dinner feast with friends.

We took a trip to Busch Gardens with Austin and his girlfriend Mel, where we rode lots of rides and played with the tigers through secure glass of course.

Found time after all of our trips to put up and decorate our tree and place.

Robert took a well needed break from studying for finals to watch a lighted boat parade with me, while we snuggled in blankets on our balcony to catch a glimpse of each one.

This made me want a boat even more than I already do because seriously, how fun does this look? I want a chance to participate in the parade. It looks like fun! Each boat was rocking out to music and having a party on board. Sounds like the perfect way to go on a night boat run. One boat even pulled tubers.

For Christmas weekend, we headed up to Jacksonville, where we in turn took a trip to St. Augustine to see the lights on a trolley ride.

We even got to wear these "cool" spectacles that turned every light into a snowflake. I guess it's the closest thing we have to snow in Florida.

The Fountain house on Christmas morning.

Robert opening his presents with his grandparents.

Christmas was a lot of fun, we went to the movies and saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie, played tennis, went shopping, and spent time with family and friends eating and playing games.

Santa was very generous this year. We received some wonderful presents. To highlight, here are a few of my favorite gifts I received:

1. My beautiful ukulele that Robert purchased for me.

Now I just need to learn how to play it.

2. Magic mouse

3. Jewelry and clothes

4. Backyard games and card table

5. Travel jewelry case

6. Family DVD and pictures

Robert's were:

1. Backstage penguin visit at our local aquarium

2. Framed jersey and other items for his office

3. Shirts and ties

4. Athletic clothes

We had a great time seeing everyone, thanks for hosting us!

Heading home with a loaded down car.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Baseball Winter Meetings - Dallas, Texas

Robert decided to skip out on his finals and head to Dallas, Texas for the Baseball Winter Meetings. Okay, so he didn't technically skip out, but he received special permission to have his finals moved to a later date.

The Baseball Winter Meetings are an annual meeting where all the Major and Minor League baseball teams gather together to discuss league matters. It's a four day conference full of lots of activities like a large trade show, job fair, gala, and other league meetings.

Below is a bat maker at the trade show.

Robert enjoyed seeing Nolan Ryan at the banquet where he discussed many different experiences during his career.

This is what you do when you are at a baseball conference instead of taking finals:

Robert trying to show off his bull riding skills.

Since the meetings were held in Dallas this year, Robert was invited to participate in a tour of the Texas Rangers Stadium, which was a highlight for him during the conference.

The main purpose for Robert heading out to the Winter Meetings was to find a job, which I am happy to report he did FIND ONE! We did not expect him to find it the way he did though. We thought he would spend most of his time at the job fair interviewing with teams, but to his surprise the President of Minor League Baseball personally extended a position to him over lunch that will allow us to remain in St. Petersburg.

As of January 1, 2012, Robert will join the full-time staff of Minor League Baseball. His role and title are still being finalized, but will include serving as a special assistant to the President of Minor League Baseball and providing support to the vice presidents throughout the company as part of the re-allocation of the COO's duties (COO just left the company and took a job with with the Texas Rangers). Therefore, he will be spending a lot of time learning the business of baseball from many different perspectives, including baseball operations, general corporate operations, and finance. In addition to this, he will also be doing legal work for the company, particularly contract review of sponsorships and other agreements that the company enters into. He is thrilled about this new opportunity to work as the President's right hand man! The president wants Robert to represent Minor League Baseball, particularly himself, at numerous types of board meetings and league meetings. So, he will be learning a lot about the game and business of baseball in the coming years. Congratulations Robert!

Texas Thanksgiving

To preface, I know this is a long post, so I will keep the dialogue to a minimum and let the pictures do most of the talking.

For Thanksgiving 2011 I headed to Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately by myself because Robert had to stay home to prepare for his final exams. He spent Thanksgiving at his grandparent's house with his family.

So what's in Dallas you may ask? Well, my brother Jeff and his wife Laura have been living there for the past few years, so we thought it would be a great time to officially "break the house in" Tolsma style.

This was my first trip to Texas and I happened to meet up with some other fun people that I like to call family.

Exploring downtown Dallas.

Dealey Plaza or the Grassy Knoll where JFK was assassinated.

Family stroll through downtown Dallas.

We made a pit stop to visit the Dallas Temple.

Laura had fun activities planned and ready for us to create. We are making our Thanksgiving Day pilgrim and Indian hats.

I present to you our gratitude tree. This ended up being a really fun activity that the kids and everyone enjoyed doing. It's so easy to create and it really helps you appreciate all the things you are grateful for. I think I will have to make it a tradition now.

Thanksgiving Day

Turkey time

Ready for a feast

As tradition, I made my grandma Whitehead's homemade rolls with Kayla and Keaton's help.

Everything turned out to be delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Take two:

Take three:

Kayla that's just gross. :)

What's a visit to Texas without a visit to the stockyards to see some longhorns?

The boys, with no help from the girls who watched humorously from the top, explored their way through a maze.

We didn't do it!

Grandma took Kayla and I on a carriage ride down the Fort Worth Stockyard Station streets.

My next car

It was a perfect time to visit Dallas because everything was decorated so nice for Christmas. I think it definitely enhanced all the surroundings.

Howdy partner!

Mama T bought Kaden and Keaton these get ups that they loved and played in the rest of the trip. They were hilarious.

We continued our Texas themed Thanksgiving by attending the local Fort Worth Rodeo.

Lots of concern for the cowboys on this row. The bulls had the upper hand that night - for the first round not a single cowboy made it 8 seconds.

Before the trip ended, we celebrated Kaden and Lori's birthdays!

I think it was a successful trip.

Trip Highlights Include:

*Talking, laughing and staying up late

*Watching Tangled and Now & Then twice

*Tolsma Fat Camp

*Visiting the Fort Worth Mint (one of the two places where your money is printed)

*Football, Frisbee and backyard games

*Playing tag at the park

*Feeding the ducks

*Kaden's trick on us - telling us he dropped his large coin in the creek (I almost jumped in after for it). He really had us going, we all felt so bad.

*Going to the worst movie ever - The Muppets

*Watching an awesome movie at the theatre to make up for the last - Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series

*Movie theatre popcorn

*Standard traditions like deviled eggs, jello-salad, pineapple turkey, and grandma's rolls.

*Fort Worth Stockyards

*The Grassy Knoll

*Shopping with Laura and my mom on main street in Grapevine

*Rodeo and eating out

*Teaching Keaton to play piano

*Treasure hunting with Kaden

*Birthday celebrations

*Visiting the Dallas Temple

*Crafts

*Eating lots of candy anytime we were out on the road. Thanks for bringing your left-over Halloween candy guys!

*and many many more...