Twin Cities Road Trip (February 2016)

In honor of the kid's "winter break"  we decided to trek over to MN for a few days of fun in the Cities.  We stayed in a hotel room poolside, which suited our three little fishes.. I mean, kids, ate at our favorite restaurant in the area, went to the Mall of America (the kid's first experience there), and stopped at IKEA.  You will notice there are no pictures of IKEA because at the point in the trip mletdowns were prevalent. 

I happened to come across a blog post by MinneMama Adventures on "Kid Friendlifying the Mall Of America" and it was a huge hit with my kids and made navigating the mall with kids in tow super helpful.  I may have printed it out and carried it around the mall with me.  It was all I could do to not bring a pen and check each item off the list!  A fantastic time was had by all!  We love visiting the Twin Cities. 

Best Western Hotel Lobby- let the fun begin!

This girl LOVES to swim! 

Late night snack sharing in bed

Best Black Bean Burger and PB Burger you will find!

Our little artist

Abby Girl sure loves her Daddy!

MOA stop #1- The Aquarium (free stuff)

The America Doll Store (which Ethan refused to go in but clearly got over it pretty quickly)

Ninja Turtle Statues at Nickelodeon Universe

Peeps Store stop = free samples galore

Lunch break!

Lego Land!!!!

He needed a stool

Watching the princesses appear in the Disney Store mirror

Winter (January-February 2016)

In between the usual winter flu bugs this year, we managed to have some fun.  Paul turned 32, all the kids are now officially cross country skiers, and Valentines Day came with it's usual amount of glitter and crafts.  We also had the opportunity to tag along with Daddy on the "big kid's retreat" to Camp Forest Springs and had a blast!  And...only in WI does February decide to end with an unusually warm day so we took advantage. 

Naps are the best when you are feeling under the weather!

Smiles despite feeling yucky!

Love our library

First time on the new ski's

Can you find Ethan?  Let's just say winter slides are fast.

The day Ava stuck her tongue to a metal pole at school.

These two are so silly together.

Birthday banner for Daddy

Happy Birthday Paul!

Coffee Date with Ethan Boy

Cross Country Ski Lessons!

Valentine crabs- "sending a pinch of love your way!"

Monopoly Junior- Ava's new favorite.

Fun surprises in the mail from sweet friends

Filling out our school Valentines is a task to say the least

Kid pile before school

Valentines money puts our kids over the top

Guess having kids means you get an upgrade on your "camp lodging"

The game room was hit

Traveling around camp in style!

The camp candy store was memorable

You are never to young to learn how to play Settlers, right?

Abby was busy making "cards" for all the students during free time.

February you say?...

Breaking out the bikes.