The Holidays. Part Dos.

The day after Christmas is always my favorite day of the Holidays.  You just get to chill out with your family...So that's what we did.  My parents live about 1 mile from The Black Hammock at Lake Jesup.  The lake is rich in Floridan history and has more gators then any other lake in Florida.  Years ago people use to dump all the gators in the county in this lake.  There are 1000's of them in the lake!  We love to The Black Hammock  because of this old, old gator called Hammy.  Plus the people watching is out of this world!  You can go on airboat rides and eat lunch at The Lazy Gator.  If you have never tried fried gator, you should, its really good.    My husband bought a 11 foot gator head to put in his office.  What a great conversion piece for a business man in SoCal ;)  

(thought this was a cool looking pic)

(W with his prized Gator Head.  He is telling people he killed it)

(My sister and bro. in law with Lily)

My family has been in the citrus business for 100 plus years in Central Florida and has groves on Lake Jesup.  After we left The Black Hammock we went to cruise the groves and pick some oranges.  It has been such a long time since we have done this as a family.  The day reminded me of my childhood. We even drove past a place deep in the groves where we use to party in high school. My Dad loved that! 

(My fam. in grove.  My dad was showing us where the state is pulling phosphate out of lake. Guess its a money maker. Who knew?!)

We are off to Chicago to visit my sister in a bit.  Say a prayer for safe travels.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  PEACE AND BLESSING FOR 2010!

xoxo, Lily's Laundry

www.LilysLaundryBoutique.Blogspot.com

www.LilysLaundryBoutique.com

The Holidays. Part Uno.

We are just back from a short but busy trip to Florida.  It was a whirlwind and W. and I are off to Chicago tomorrow  for News Years, so life is busy.  We traveled the state in a Toyota minivan.  My husband was trying to persuade me it was a cool car...I mean don't get me wrong, it is very functional but I am not a functional type of person   I told him look "you married a high heel wearing girl and a minivan to me is more like a  good pair of flats."

We started off by going to South Florida where my husband's family lives.  First stop was his mothers house.  She and her husband are one of the largest orchid growers in the country.  Their property is amazing.  It is  like an orchid wonderland!  Lily loves it too because there is so much stuff to do outside.  We cruised through the greenhouses, rode on the "Gator," fed all the birds...

The next day we got up and went down to Jupiter to W's sisters house for Christmas Eve Day where the girls played with their cousins and ate dinner....

We then get back in the "functional"  minivan and drove 3 hours north to my parents house for Christmas Eve Night so the girls could have Santa on Christmas Morning.

Time frame here is about 24 hours...We are all SO TIRED!

Christmas morning we always go to my Grandmother Claire's house and exchange gifts with my Dad's side of the family.












Then everyone comes over to our house for Christmas dinner.  We then finished the night off with some sparklers left over from our wedding (8 YEARS AGO.) They still worked and Lily LOVED them.

To Be Continued...

oxoxo, Lily's Laundry
www.LilysLaundryBoutique.com