More holiday traditions

This week started out stressful and hectic at work.  There were long days of work, skipped lunches, far too many meetings, and plenty to do.  I made sure to get the dogs out for our daily walks, but they were often late in the day.  The beginning of the week was just a daily grind.

By the time we reached Thursday, I was ready to take a break and do something fun.  So after my day at work, the girls and I got into the car and headed to Marshall. 

Every year, the Calhoun County Fairground in Marshall sets up a Holiday drive-thru light display, the Merry Mile.

Over the years the light display has gotten better, and it's become a tradition for us to make the trip every year.  

With lights twinkling and music in the air, we made the slow drive through with the windows down so the girls could stick their heads out and take it all in.

After driving through the Merry Mile, we drove into downtown Marshall to visit the Holiday house.  

I parked the car about a block away and then got the girls out of the car for our walk.  We walked up and down the streets around the neighborhood enjoying all of the beautiful light displays.   The girls had a great time and we walked nearly 3 miles.

Before leaving town, we walked down the main street, I got a picture of the girls in front of this igloo, picked up some food, and then started our slow drive home enjoying all of the lights along the way.  We got home late, but it had been a nice night and a good adventure. 

Friday after work, I decided to make the drive to Davison to enjoy a walk along the trail of lights at the Robert Williams Nature Center.  This was the first time we had visited this event.

The wooded trail was beautifully lit, but fairly short so we were able to make the walk around it a couple of times.

This was the perfect dog-friendly event and the girls thoroughly enjoyed all of the new smells and getting some time in the woods.

There was hot chocolate, the local high school choir performed Christmas carols, and there were bonfires for keeping yourself warm.

And at the end of the trail, we made a quick visit to Santa.  We really enjoyed our time.

On our way home, we took a short detour into Corunna to visit the Corunna Historical Village.

I love this place all decorated for the Holidays.  It is such a magical place.

We walked around the village enjoying the lights and made a stop at my favorite little church.

We took a nice walk around McCurdy Park to enjoy the light display there as well.  

We had some snow for the drive home, but luckily the roads stayed mainly clear and we made it home safe and sound.

Our Saturday started off slowly and quietly.  Mina slept in so we all got to sleep in, which is a rare occurrence. After our slow start to the day, I had brunch with a group of local geocachers and ran a couple of errands before heading home to pick up the girls.

We had some snowy weather which caused the sidewalks to be slippery, so I decided to head out to a couple of parks where we could walk and avoid sidewalks.  We did a little geocaching and Mina was having the best time.  She seems to really love the snow.

After our walk, we headed to Soldan's for our official annual Santa picture.  The Santa that visits Soldan's every year was a GSP breeder and hunter, so he understands their crazy energy and seems to be able to get them to look their best for pictures. 

While we waited for our Santa picture, the girls enjoyed Cookies and Goat's milk.  This is a fun holiday tradition that we have enjoyed for years.

After our photo with Santa, we walked around the store to do a little shopping.  Peaches was overly excited about our visit and wouldn't hold still, so I stopped in the middle of the store and did a short training session with them.  Peaches was just so happy!

It was nearly dark when we got home and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home.  

My plans for today included some cleaning and starting to prepare for Christmas next weekend.  Surprisingly the girls have been really good all day.  They spent some time outside playing, Mina followed me around as a did laundry, we have played fetch, and we have snuggled.  I still have things to get done, but overall it has been a good day.  Honestly I needed a quiet day like to recover from.the week I had.

I can't believe we are just a week away from Christmas and tomorrow Fiona will be 8 months old.  I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with family and enjoying Fiona's first Christmas with her.  Here she is in the GSP holiday pajamas that I bought for her.  

I still have four and a half days of work left this week before getting the week off between Christmas and New Year.   Here's to hoping for a quieter work week this week.