Knotts Knews: Christmas Vacation!

This will be a LONG post with TONS of pictures.
I probably should have just made an album,
but it's done now!

REMEMBER: You can always click on any image below to see the picture in all it's big-ness and colorful glory!

Wow, what a BUSY Christmas Vacation we've had! I wouldn't have changed a thing, though... except maybe make the vacation longer, of course! I'll begin with Christmas day, last Monday.

We began our adventures in West Lafayette to spend the morning with my dad, brother and sister. Danny hadn't seen Zachary since he was about two weeks old, so I think Zachary's size and ability at interaction surprised him a little. Zach got some good bonding time in with Danny, Dad, Linda, Julie, and Julie's fiance, Dan.

We ate lunch at my dad's and then made our way to Peru for Christmas Dinner at Grandma Sullivan's. That is always good fun, but since most of the evening is spent eating and playing board games... I once again got no pictures. Hopefully someone else in the family did! Anyway, here are a couple more shots of Christmas day.

Zachary is taking in Dad's clock that plays music and moves at the top of the hour. You can tell by his expression, that Lil' Z was amazed by it!

Zachary loves hanging out with Grandpa!

Linda keeps Zach occupied while presents are being opened.

Marcus spent Tuesday and Wednesday at work (it may be a holiday, but there are still people to sue!). I spent those days trying to get the house in order, errands run, and my van serviced before we left for Wisconsin. Zachary and Kali spent a vast majority of that time getting in the way of my house-ordering, errand-running and van-servicing plans! But with the help of my Dad, I was able to get everything done!

AND...
I went through and tried on every single item of pre-pregnancy clothing I own, and if it didn't fit me, it went to Goodwill! It was sad how much didn't fit, but Goodwill got some really good clothes for the cause. I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 105, but my body shape has changed so much, I know I'll never fit into those size 2's ever again!!

On Thursday afternoon, Kris, Stephanie, Tait, Lehna, Marcus, Zachary and I loaded up into two vehicles and headed off to Cheese Country to see Marcus' mom and step-dad.

On Friday, Marcus' step-dad tried to take us and his mother to the Miller Beer plant, but it turned out to be closed for the holidays. We were a little disappointed about missing it because it's supposed to be really interesting, but what can ya do, right? So instead, we decided to visit a church! Obvious train of thought, from beer to church...!

We visited a Catholic Church, Holy Hill - National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. What an amazingly beautiful place!! It is a huge complex built in the mid-1800's, on top of a very large hill. It can be seen from great distances. I was in awe of the church, and the beauty of the interior took my breath away. I found it to be a very moving place of worship. Pictures won't do it justice, but here they are!

The church from the highway in the day time

Part of the outside

Marcus & Zachary walking into the sancuary

The alter

Marcus was telling Zachary the Christmas story...
Zachary was too busy taking the place in!!

More details of the sancuary

The Nativity

Kris, Zach & Marcus

When we returned home, we spent the remainder of a lovely evening watching Purdue get pummled in a Bowl game... again.

Before the game started...
We had such high hopes. Sigh.

Saturday, we went to the Jelly Belly factory for a tour and to basically un-do any maintainance dental work we have had done in the last year by injesting LARGE quantities of candy! The "tour" wasn't exactly what we were expecting... But we did get to ride in a little tram/train, wear funny hats, and saw video about how Jelly Belly's are made. Zachary did not like this part AT ALL. He had a full diaper, and we couldn't change him during the tour, so he had to wait.. And our train car had to suffer! Besides that though, we had a good time!

Lehna's ready for the train ride!

A cleaner and happier Zachary, with Grandpa Terry

Kristopher... already suffering from sugar-shock

After the tour, we went into the store to saciate our need for the beans! We all got bags of "Belly Flops" or, irregular Jelly Bellies that taste fine, but are funky shapes and sizes. They aren't pretty beans, but they taste good. We also pretty much camped out at the sample bar, tasting tons of flavors of candy... Including some "exotic" choices. And by "we", I mean the men did. The women just watched. What kinds of flavors, do you ask? Well... Here is a partial list;

-Grass
-Sardines
-Earwax
-Soap
-Vomit
-Dirt
-Earthworm
-Rotten Egg

If you have ever read the Harry Potter books, you know that the children of Hogwarts have a popular candy called, "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans".

This fictional candy contained jelly beans that tasted great, but since they contained EVERY flavor imaginable, there are some bad ones. Jelly Belly has since been producing a line of jelly beans under the Bertie Bott's name, and the flavors are interesting, but not appitizing!

How bad are they? Pretty bad! Just take a look!!