My Winter Break, So Far

Well, after a little bit of fighting and learning that some of the pictures I was trying to load needed to be renamed to work, I got some pictures up. Some of them, though, just refuse to load--regardless of whether I rename them, move them to a different file, etc. So this isn't quite what I wanted it to be, but almost. The next paragraph starts the entry I started working on a few nights ago...

Since I finished my last final, I've visited San Antonio, and also parts of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Needless to say, this has been a welcome change from the intensity of law school.

The San Antonio trip was lots of fun, as trips to San Antonio usually are. Staci, Melissa, and I left the Friday morning after finals (December 15th), and spent that day in San Marcos at the outlets. That evening, we made our way to San Antonio for the rest of the weekend. Saturday was pretty relaxing--Beth, Melissa, Staci, and I got to go out for lunch, see The Holiday, and take a short walk around Trinity. Then, after Staci and Melissa left to spend time with their respective friends, I enjoyed seeing and catching up with the San Antonio crew. On Sunday, we made our way back to Houston. Again, the whole trip was great fun, and I enjoyed meeting some of Staci and Melissa's friends.

I didn't do too much the following couple of days. My activities mostly included cleaning the apartment and shopping for and making some Christmas presents. Then, Thursday the 18th, my family left for the mountains of northern Georgia. And this time, when I say "my family," I mean my parents, my sisters, me, and my sister's fiancee. This made for some interesting car (okay, mini-van) time--with six people and their luggage, things can get a little crowded.

We got to Georgia on Friday evening, and mostly just ate and enjoyed time with family. That was also the evening we were assigned to one of the three cabins--there's no simple way to explain exactly who was placed where, but suffice it to say that I think the "older cousins" ended up in the nicest cabin. And I think we made it the most fun cabin as well. At the times all of us were there, eight of us slept comfortably--all of us on a bed (or pull-out couch), and no one on the floor. There was no reason to use even one of the fifty-two (yep, using my license to exaggerate) blow up mattresses various families brought. When we weren't sleeping, we were relaxing, playing games, watching movies, spending time in the hot tub, attempting to figure out how to work the fireplace, learning about how hot air rises and basements are cold, etc.

And when we weren't in the "Cousins' Cabin," we could most often be found in the main cabin eating, talking, shooting rocks with our brand new slingshots, decorating the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, playing with the younger cousins, rocking in the rocking chairs, watching movies, playing games, and putting together puzzles, and when we weren't there, we were probably hiking, taking trips to nearby parks, or taking trips to town--usually to buy food.

And that about summarizes our time on our Mountain Christmas Vacation. Other fun things that occurred: Uncle Lewis' surprise arrival despite the fact that he had just returned from Iraq and told Grandmamom he didn't know if he'd be able to make it, the men's return with the uprooted Charlie Brown Tree, various compilations of past family events, a short but sweet Christmas Eve production, and an awesome trip to watch an NHL game in Atlanta.

The pictures:

The cabin just up the road from the one I was in. It is, from the outside, a good representation of what the cabins typically looked like.

A few people on our walk on a trail near the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Tennessee. I'm not sure what Sarah's doing--tickling Millie? Behaving strangely because she's scared of licking the slimy rock?

People in the Ocoee lake. Or river. I'm not sure which it is.

The Charlie Brown Tree, pre-decorations, just after some of the men brought it back.

Decorations in process. We had fun with fake snow, glittery construction paper, and glitter pens.

The Charlie Brown Tree after decorations.

People playing with slingshots. Slingshots are way cool. Once I hit a tree with mine. I'm talented like that.

Sarah, Kelsey, and me, when we were almost done with our Christmas Eve hike down and up (and up and up) the mountain.

Kelsey and me--again on Christmas Eve, but on a different trip down and up the mountain. And don't worry, we were watching out for bears.

Cousins in a hot tub. After the cousins came back to the cabin on Christmas Eve, we spent time in the hot tub, and the girls watched Pride and Prejudice. Does it get any better than that?

Dad and Kelsey at the entrance of the Smoky Mountains National Park. We couldn't go too far into the park, though, because the road was closed due to ice and snow. According to some articles I read after the fact, a couple of cars and rangers got stuck up top the day we were there because conditions were so bad!

But we did get to walk a little way up Smokemont Mountain. And there was snow! So I threw a snowball at Kelsey.

Pretty snow picture.

The family.

The family and Ben. We don't really know how I ended up next to him and Rebecca didn't. That's just the way it worked out.

We got home from Georgia late Thursday night (I think we decided that the drive was about 16 hours on Thursday, and then I had to come back to my apartment), and I spent Friday doing...well, not much of anything. I didn't like that--apparently I like having things to do that keep me occupied. But then Beth came on Saturday, and we had a good time seeing Alicia, having a Christmas/New Year's celebration with my dad's side of the family, enjoying a nice New Year's Eve in (this involved eating pasta and garlic bread, watching a movie, then watching the ball drop on TV), a long walk on New Year's Day, and just generally doing what we do when we're together--being a little silly. Fun times indeed.

This week, I've been to Sugar Land a couple of times, helped Melissa get ready for a very exciting interview, cleaned, and run errands. Oh, and I started watching the first season of 24 today. I didn't think I was the type to get addicted to the show--but I'm afraid I can feel the addiction coming.