Christmas night at Charleen and Dave's

After spending Christmas morning in Falmouth, KY, the kids and I loaded up the Explorer with a lot of their new Christmas goodies and headed off to South Carolina.  We had already seen my parents and grandmother the weekend before when they stopped in Cincinnati on their way back from my sister Amy's place in Kansas.  Mom had been out there for a month to see her newest grand-baby Tatum being born and help out around the house and my Dad and Grandma drove out there to visit and bring my mother back.  My parents are the greatest in the world and would do anything for us.  I horribly regret the years of neglect I gave them over the childish behavior of my wife.  I wish I could take it all back so Hayes could have experienced the love of her grandparents since the day she was born.

I was planning to see them and my brother Chris, his wife Hope and their kids Cohen and Kayla, but the first stop was to see Charleen and Dave Mason.  They are like family and Charleen has been a part of my kids' lives since they were born.  Charleen and Hayes have a very special bond.  Charleen is a kid at heart and she is like Hayes' best friend.  Whenever they are together, they will sleep in the same room together, staying up late talking, giggling, watching TV and eating junk food.  It is good, in a way, that Charleen lives all the way in SC, because I don't think I could put up with cranky Hayes all the time.

Here are a few pictures from our visit.  I love this picture that Charleen took of us, even with my hat hair.

Here we have more presents from Charleen.  Chooj is in heaven with his new Lightning McQueen car since the one he got last year quit making sounds.  Hayes got her own personal fairy who follows her around.

Chooj seems a bit scared to be climbing the stair, even though Charleen said he went up and down them back in October.

Here is my glamour shot after driving nine hours and up late the night before helping Santa with the Christmas presents.

Let the giggling begin.  It is hilarious to get Charleen giggling.  I visited back in November and I thought we were both going to bust a gut.  Oops, I did!  All over the back patio.  Sorry about that Charleen.

While the girls are catching up, Chooj has moved from Christmas presents to his birthday present.

He loves puzzles.

She caught him.

Outdoor fairy time.

Not sure what's up with Chooj.  He is still cute with his angry face.

Charleen and Dave have the most beautiful house!

The previous night's rain cleaned the leaves out of the creek and Chooj is inspecting it or fishing.  I'm not quite sure.

They built this incredible apartment over their garage.  One day I hope I have a house that looks just like this.

The last shot is a panoramic view of the front of the house with the garage and apartment.  I can't wait for the next visit.  I'm hoping the next trip to see Charleen is somewhere south of the border though.   Check out my blog list for Charleen's blog.  She'll show you the best hidden treasures of Latin America.