My Travel Tree

This was year two of my smaller Travel Tree. I put it up in my reading room (formerly the dining room we never used), and it contains all my ornaments from my travels. Along with a few I can't resist grabbing at World Market or Pier 1 or Pottery Barn.

Its been a habit of mine since I was in college to always pick an ornament as a souvenir when I go on a trip. So I've happily accumulated quite a few over the years. Here's a closer look at this year's additions:

Christmas Village

So its a bit late. But here is how our village assembly crew (Ryan, my mom, and myself) set up my inheritance snow village this year.

Downtown was over here.

The suburbs and countryside were over here.

And the ski resort was over on this mountainside.

And underneath my Travel Tree, we placed the train and train station.

(ignore the boxes and bags - I didn't think to take pictures until we were right about to pack it up)

Alex's Stonehenge

Alex had to create a diorama for school on a "phenomena." This Anglophile Mama was pretty stoked when he picked Stonehenge to research and recreate.

After much familial debate, he decided to make his model of Stonehenge when it was completed, rather than how it looks now.

Carl helped him cut and saw the wood to make a lot of little pieces.

I was in charge of finding our grass and paint color for the stones.

I also gave myself the job of finding some small sheep to include.

Stonehenge needs sheep, as my photo from 2012 demonstrates.

Unlike the Science Fair project (which I loathe), this was one homework assignment I can get on board with. Especially when it involves me thinking of England.

Lost Maples State Park

On our way home from Concan after Thanksgiving, we took a long route home and went to Lost Maples State Park.

I don't believe I had ever been there before, which is a shame, because it was SPECTACULAR. The only thing that made me sad about our visit was that we were probably about a week past the leaves prime time, so I've made a note to monitor it more carefully in future years and try and time it better.



Take a look at the beauty we saw.

Thanksgiving in Concan

We spent Thanksgiving once again with my family in Concan. I didn't take many pictures of the weekend's activities, per se, but I did drag the boys out to the river while we were dressed up for Turkey Day for a few pictures.