Riding into the New Year

For New Years, we usually don't do anything really big, but this year we went over to Josh's cousins house. We had some dinner and it was nice to sit around and chat. Josh's cousin Hannah is really into riding horses, so she let me ride one of hers for a little while. It had been a while since I had been on a horse, but still, no matter how I tried, I could not make it move! So I wasn't on the horse for long! Then we went to the Bowling Alley with all of Josh's brother and sister - we were super tired but I love bowling so it was a great time!

A little Light Show in Bradenton

We flew down to Florida after visiting Mary and George, and flew down into Sarasota airport. It was so nice to fly into the close by airport and be so close to home! It was also nice to drive by the place where we got married! We really didn't do too much in Florida, but we did do some shopping, and saw some of Josh's family and his grandma had a party. I ended up

getting a new camera really last minute, I saw it in the store and I looked it up and it was really easy to order in White. So, 2 days later, we went to Best Buy and picked it up. We had a great time with some sparklers, trying to make light trails. In the end, we were able to make our names, and spell out 2016! It was super fun to try!

In Ann Arbor

Because we really wanted to stay in Michigan so we got to see Mary and George, Rachel and Ryan, the day after Shelby's birthday, we travelled down to Ann Arbor to see Mary and George. We only got to spend one day with them, but it was still super fun. They had made Shelby this cute little cake, and we went out to a nice Japanese restaurant.

The next day we went to Starbucks - it was super nice to be all together at one of my favourite places. And then we went to Somerset Mall - I didn't end up buying anything in the end, but I still love being in the mall with Rachel and Mary. The mall was super nicely decorated for Christmas and these are the cute photos that we took!

Home for Christmas

We headed home after Traverse City, and Shelby and Mummy arrived right before Christmas. It was really chaotic around Christmas, becuase I didn't feel ready with all my presents, and I didnt actually get any time to wrap presents! But Christmas went nicely, and we had a lovely Christmas morning, but I still, cannot get up late on Christmas morning, it is just inside me to get up early and want to unwrap presents!

This wasn't Josh's first Christmas with us, but it still feels really super special and exciting to know he is there for Christmas. Mummy bought us new stockings too! I was super excited, because on the day after Christmas, we went out to do some sale shopping, which was really fun. I even found some great new Pottery Barn stockings for Josh and I for next year!

Traverse City Brewery Tour

Traverse City has become known for its local beers and some really cool brewing places that have started to pop up all over the city, so one afternoon, Linda decided Josh and I should do a little brewery tour, so she took us to some cute places around the city. Josh liked the beer at all of them, but I was most excited by these oatmeal and

pumpkin ice cream sandwhiches. Pumpkin anything is my favourite, and so I was just desperate to try some! We had a really nice time with them downtown, going to the Pie company for lunch and going into all the little shops in town. My favourite was the one that had free "Grandma's apple cider" outside...how cute is that! It was so nice to visit them and travel a little while we were home in Michigan!

Christmas with the Dornbush's

Linda's house is really great for the holidays, we wore Christmas jumpers and listed to the Micheal Buble Christmas soundtrack and we maded cookies - lots and lots of cookies. It was so nice that Krista and Jed came over and we were able to sit and decorate cookies one afternoon. It just felt so Christmassy, and I really needed a day like that! After we made the cookies, we went over to Brandon and Char's house, because he had made pheasant for us for dinner!

Walking Hemmingway in the Snow

We finally flew home for Christmas, right when a new snow storm came in. So Grammie and Papa picked us up at the airport, and I rode 3 hours in the car with my giant suitcase on my lap! We arrived a few days earlier than my family, so we headed up north to Traverse City to stay with the Dornbushes. Kara and Dan have a cute little dog, Hemmingway. She is adorable, and since we got some snow, and I had yet to play with her, I was first to volunteer to take her out for a walk!

Star Wars returns!

The very last day before Christmas break, Star Wars came out. And to avoid the spoilers, we went on opening night. It's not often we get movies the same time as America, and it was such a big deal to Josh that noone spoiled it for him. I love the movies mainly for the popcorn but it was really good! As we were leaving, the cinema had brought out Stormtroopers!!! I was so excited and we had to have our photo with them! It was too cool!

Cassio visits for Christmas!

It had been a while since we saw Abel and Sinead, so we arranged to meet up in Frankfurt this time. Sinead and Cassio arrived on Friday night, and Abel came Saturday morning. We spent a lot of time going to the Christmmas markets, and having bratwurst, gluwein and cheese Fondue. Cassio really liked our little Tanuki that we have in the hallway too. He's getting big so fast, he can walk around and all sorts now. I had to grab some photos of us all together while we all had on our cute Christmas jumpers! It was such a nice weekend having them here!

Frankfurt's Christmas Tree

The Frankfurt Christmas Markets started in late November, but I didn't really get a chance until now to go and explore them. They have the same stuff every year, lots of yummy snacks, and my favourite - the cheese fondue stall! This year, they had a much better Christmas tree - and it looked so festive in front of the beautiful Town Hall in the Romer platz!

Making Millions of Cookies

One of the best parts of visiting Kerstin is helping her mum to make cookies. Her mum goes all out on the cookies and makes thousands upon thousands of these little tiny cookies, but in like 20 different varieties too. She always saves some for us to help make, and she sent us home with a huge container of them!

Visiting Kerstin

Not long after I got back from London, I got to go somewhere a little closer to Home, to visit Kerstin in Germany. She lives north of us, about three hours on the train. Last time we stayed with her parents, and this time we stayed with them. We ended up with a super late train because of a delay, but since our train was delayed, we visited the Christmas market near the train station, and I got my favourite things, poferjies.

I'm not sure how they are spelt, but they are amazing. They're little baked pancakes covered in butter and powdered sugar. They aren't very good at the Frankfurt market, but all the others I've had are great. We hung out in the Starbucks too - where Josh told the guy his name was Helmet - because Joshua was too hard to spell! On Saturday we had a great breakfast with them, and hung around their apartment playing board games.

I love hanging out with them, they are so much fun. We also visited the Christmas market in Braunschweig, which is super cute and lovely. We had nice hot chocolate with our favourite Liquor 43, which tastes a bit like Milky Bar! Josh was happy because he could get his favourite hot dog thing he likes. Seriously, Braunschweig is the only place that has these hot dogs apparently.

It's such a cute little town, and it was nice and sunny so it was great to hang out there, and wander around the Christmas markets. We went to another one too, where they make the most amazing candied nuts! Basically, it was a weekend for eating, because after, we went to Kerstin's parents house to have Raclette, which is kind of like a yaki niku grill on the top and little pots under a burner underneath. It's a super cute idea and super yummy!