Christmas

We had a nice Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Day at my parents place, including having a yummy ham dinner and mini-golf. The condo my parents stay at in the winter has a 18 hole putt putt course in the backyard. First time mini golfing in sandals on Christmas, with tornado watches in effect. But we aren't in Wisconsin anymore.

Christmas Eve, after some last minute shopping and cooking, Zachary got out his Christmas present. A rc helicopter.

His crash rate has improved since then. :-) Queequeg is still pretty intrigued by it, but Diogenes wants nothing of it and hides under the bed when its out on patrol. To him, its a flying vacuum cleaner.

Dickens Christmas Village

I like Christmas Villages. A local museum has a very large Dickens Christmas Village on display currently. I wonder how many electrical plugs there are for this display, as most of the buildings are lit. I didn't look under the table to see.

 Our micro Christmas Village display this year at home. My parents found a box of figurines at a garage sale, so now we have a lot more people and critters in our set.

Quee-zilla has been harassing the townsfolk a little bit, not as much as last year though. I have it on our bookcase instead this time and she has a less cluttered path to get to her window and rule her domain. She makes sure at least one person or lamppost gets it every time she crosses though, just to make sure they know she is supreme.

Ship Launch

We attended our first ship launch a week ago. The company I work for held a ship launch and invited employees and their families to attend. Despite being a rainy and muddy day, it was still fun to watch.

Pre-launch, with the ship up on the blocks. The bridge is not attached to the top of the ship yet. The ship is 302 feet long.

 Post launch splash, with the water from the launch pond flooding the yard.

This is what the Harvey Deep Sea will look like after a few more months of outfitting.

And here is a video of the launch. We stayed out of the splash zone.

Seaside and Rosemary Beach

We visited Seaside and Rosemary Beach today, cutesy coastal towns along 30A. Even the Post Offices are charming.