Islands of Adventure: Toon Lagoon and Marvel Comics

Morgan measures 4 1/2 Wimpy burgers, which is exactly how old she is!

Hold on to Marmaduke Morgan!

Kathie, standing underneath Cathy's :)

Patrick and Wolverine

Islands of Adventure: Seuss Landing

Our final stop was Seuss Landing, Morgan's FAVORITE part of the park. I am sure you can see below how much fun we had! We even got to go to the front of the line at The Cat in the Hat thanks to a very nice park employee, met the Grinch, and read about the Star Bellied Sneetches.

Orlando, here we come!

We're on the road again, on the way to Orlando for the Champs Sports Bowl pitting WVU against NC State. This is our Christmas present from my father, and we are so excited to be going! We'll have an extra day in Orlando and we are planning to go to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I feel like a little kid, excited to be going to an amusement park for the first time. Patrick and I have not been to Orlando since our honeymoon 7.5 years ago. The only thing that is slightly dampening our trip is the weather. Believe it or not, it's COLD in Florida and isn't supposed to be very warm over the next few days. But we won't let that stop us....we're used to cold weather!

The team hotel, and Mountaineer Headquarters

Our room

Our welcome, on the phone in the room.

We are so excited to be here, with the team and the loyal Mountaineer fan base. Let's GOOOO Mountaineers! We've already gotten an autograph, seen many of the team members, and taken tons of pictures :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Morgan was the first one up, and tried to be patient while the rest of us were rousted out of bed.

My father was able to join us via Skype from Saudi Arabia.

New Roller Skates!

Patrick got a few very nice things, including the Maltby 3 Wood golf club above and a Kindle!

My "big" gift, a new Shark steam mop (and yes, I asked for it!)

A serious Hungry Hungry Hippos tournament went on between Big DB, Cecelia, and Morgan.

Morgan painting her wooden dachshund, a gift from Aunt Cecelia's sister, Jenny.

We had such a wonderful Christmas. So many presents, tons and tons of laughs, and a great day with family. I can't remember the last time I was so relaxed and had a such a great day.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for the gifts, and more importantly the love and friendship you have given our family over the past 12 months. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas!

Waiting on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! It's that time of year, the final countdown to Christmas. As you can see, Patrick is less than happy about having to wait to open presents (his family opens their gifts Christmas Eve, my family opens gifts Christmas morning).


We have prepared our hearts for the birth of Christ, and are now off to Christmas Eve Mass. I pray that all of our friends have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.



With Love,

Patrick, Jennifer, and Morgan Tenney

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Happy Birthday to our first "baby"! Our Christmas Eve baby is 10 years old today. Even though she's getting to be an old gal, she's still pretty spry. She loves to play her version of fetch, run around with Pfeffer, and she loves her nightly puppy snuggles with Mommy. Tonight she'll have a special birthday dinner, but gifts will be retained until Christmas. Ah the perils of being a Christmas Eve baby :)

Morgan and Santa

This is the best picture we've gotten of Morgan and Santa since 2006! Morgan happily sat next to Santa and when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, she said "I don't know"!?!? Silly kid. I guess that makes it easy for Santa to bring her presents :)

What we've been up to...

It's been a week since we pulled out of our driveway in Small Town USA. Since then we have logged over 1,000 miles, spent 16 hours in the car (not consecutively thank goodness) and arrived at my parents' house Monday evening. We've done a bunch of things since we last Friday, so I'll take you quickly through the past week.

We started our trip in some nasty weather headed to the in-laws. Thankfully Patrick is an expert driver and got us safely to Braxton County. We joined up with the Tenney clan for an early Christmas celebration. The whole crew was there, minus our brother-in-law, Chris, who was busy doing Toys for Tots as part of his Marine duties. We missed him but he was doing an awesome thing for the Charleston community. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Tenneys.


This little guy is walking like a champ (Kole, not Patrick). He gets into everything and is so much fun to be around!

Patrick taught both girls how to play MarioKart. They had a great time!

Patrick got two of the same sweater, which was hysterical.

After presents were opened and all toys dislodged from their extensive packaging, most of the family bundled up and went outside to enjoy the snow and new sleds the girls got for Christmas. Amy, Julia and Morgan even found enough snow to make a snow-woman.




Sunday morning we jumped back into the car and continued our trip south to Melanie and Patrick Strain's house. We were packed TIGHT. Thank goodness for portable DVD players, snacks in the car, and a book on CD for the adults.


As we got closer to Charlotte we got the opportunity to stop in Spencer, NC at the North Carolina Transportation Museum for a train ride with Santa. We met up with Melanie and Ethan and got the opportunity to see our friend from grade school, Jennifer (Magoon) Tate and her daughter Maggie. The train was fun and gave us a great opportunity to catch up. Both of these gals are very special to me. As a military kid I haven't retained many friends from early in my school career. But Jennifer (who was in our wedding) and Melanie (Morgan's Godmother) and I have been friends for over 20 years! That may not seem like a long time for many, but if you consider that in that time I have not lived in the same state as them and have had 8 different addresses since moving in 1993 I think that's pretty awesome.

3 friends, 20 years, 3 kids (Ethan not pictured)

When we got to Charlotte, Melanie and her little shadow got started baking cookies. Melanie is so good with Morgan. She indulges every one of Morgan's fantasies and is such a good sport when it comes to playing with Morgan.


We celebrated Christmas with them as well. Sadly, little Ethan was so tired he fell asleep before we could get to the presents. Morgan had enough fun for both of them though.



Monday morning we got up and completed the last leg of our trip to sunny Florida. It was a very long day, but we were happy when we finally got here. Tuesday Morgan and I were invited to a gingerbread house decorating party with the Panama City Play Group. Morgan's Florida friend, Jackson, was there and Morgan had a fun time playing with Jackson, jumping in the bounce house, and decorating her gingerbread house.


Yesterday was a gorgeous day, around 70 degrees and sunny. We decided to hit the beach for the morning. The surf was great, the water was COLD. Morgan and I had a wonderful time hunting for seashells. Morgan got soaked, but it was so fun to see her running around and laughing in the water. Patrick even found a sand dollar!

Today we took a lazy day and went to the movies. The mall here has a cheap movie theater that plays second runs of movies. We got to see Despicable Me for $1.50 a person. I think Patrick and I might go see Red there before we leave.

So that catches you up with what we've been up to since our vacation started. It's been busy and relaxing at the same time. I am looking forward to a few very lazy days coming up and celebrating the Lord's birth with my family. I am sure I will be posting over the next few days, so come back and see what we've been up to. You can also visit Morgan's website to see more pictures about her adventures on vacation.