Good-bye Old Friend

It was a good 6 years you gave us with many memories. Close to 70,000 miles with adventures to Lake Tahoe, Yellowstone Park, all over Montana, many camping excursions, the beach, the mountains and more. And then of course all the smaller drives to gymnastics, soccer, school, grocery runs, zoo..... I don't want to mini-van bash because you were a great all-purpose vehicle that served our needs well with the little ones. The power sliding doors will definitely be missed and I am sure there will be moments when I am missing all the space you provided. But now I find myself in the car alone so much more of the time and I am DONE being a mini-van mom. So thank you for your years of loyal service, never letting us down even the time we were driving up the mountain with the gas tank on empty and no gas station in sight. But it is time to say Fairwell and for you to fill your seats with a new family.

And now I will keep my loyal readers (if there are any) in suspense with what will be replacing you in the garage. At this moment I am awaiting a call saying it is detailed and ready to go. And I am not being very patient about it, about ready to call and start harassing them. I want it NOW!!! But for now I have a loaner getting me around. So what do you think it will be? A sporty little convertible, a huge SUV or maybe a hybrid? No fair guessing if I all ready told you!

Easter Review

Having a hard time keeping up with everything at the moment, but wanted to get some fun Easter photos posted before it was too late. It was a typical holiday for us - quiet and laid back with good food and lots of relaxing time. It was great to have the grandparents in town to spend the day with us. Even though the weather was a bit questionable we had the egg hunt outside and spread it all around the front, side and back yard. I have to say that we have a very good set-up for Easter Eggs Hunts here and maybe next year we will have a fun hunt with friends, if the weather would cooperate.

Every Easter Bunny leaves a detailed, itemized list for the kids on what to find. Right???

Or do we have the only obsessive-compulsive Easter Bunny in town?
Madison on the lookout for eggs

Thanks Mr. Woodpecker for the perfect hiding spots:-)

Blue Bunnies

Ski Bunnies that is!! Today we went up for our final day of the winter ski season at Crystal Mountain. It is truely unbelievable the progress the girls have made this season from being non-skiers to today conquering some blue level runs on the mountain!! I really doubted it could be done without formal lessons, but they are champs! They battled through rain, snow, wind and cold this year but were always troopers saying they wanted to keep trying. I was really impressed with their determination and courage. We lost count of how many times we made it up this year but know the girls were skiing over 8 times. Gotta love Kids Ski Free at Crystal!!

All ready looking forward to next year's season. Of course, with the amount of snow still on the mountain we may be up doing some spring skiing in the month of May!

Sea World Fun

Day one in San Diego was a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day. The best weather day we had out of the 3 full days we were there. After having a lovely breakfast on the water we made our way to SeaWorld for a full day of fun, fun, fun!! I think the highlight for the girls was the shows. You would think that this guy was the favorite

But the girls favored the silly "Sea Lions Live" show instead. And the Blue Horizon Dolphin show was quite amazing. It was full of amazing dolphin and pilot whale tricks, along with acrobats, divers and other performers. A true theatric event. We went to that one twice in the same day. We went on the "Journey to Atlantis" ride, which was a bit scary for me but I think the rest of the family enjoyed it! And we got DRENCHED on the Shipwreck Rapids ride and spent the rest of the day trying to dry off.

And then we did ALOT of walking all around checking out the animal exhibits and smaller rides and entertainment. After 8 full hours we decided to head back to the hotel. The girls woke up on day two and decided instead of going somewhere new, they wanted to return to Sea World for more fun. We had a multi-day pass so it "saved" money on paying admission somewhere new and this trip was letting the girls be in charge so away we went and spent another full 5+ hours. We returned to the SeaLion show and also caught the impressive pet show that we missed the day before. Tom and the girls braved the Journey to Atlantis ride again. We also splurged and got to feed and pet the dolphins.

Overall, we had a wonderful and eventful two days at Sea World. My very first experience at a Amusement Park in my entire life:-) Still not sure if I am ready for DisneyLand but it was a great experience.

Fun with Filters

Nora is home sick today, the first sick day of the school year for her (or either kid for that matter!). After way too much tv time we had to find something else to do so pulled out the coffee filters. Since the only time they get used for their true purpose is when Grandma and Grandpa Kimmet come to visit, we usually find all sorts of other uses for them. We were able to kill a good hour of quiet time making creations while listening to Geronimo Stilton audiobooks on ITunes.

First we made snowflakes and painted them with watercolors.

On other filters we used washable markers to make dots, blobs and other shapes. Then used an eyedropper to add water drops to the colors to have them spread together.

A fun project you may want to save up for some of those rainy days in our future! Poor Nora went and curled up between the couch and the wall on the heat vent with her blankets and fell asleep. You know your child is sick when they fall asleep in the middle of the day in very odd places! At least she is getting some rest.

San Diego #1

We are back from a fantastic family get-away to San Diego. We packed alot into our 3 days there and it all focused on kid fun! The activities may not have been what Tom or I would choose as top vacation activities but we still had a really great time as a family. We had to remind ourselves a few times to look at things through the girls' perspective instead of ours. It was great to see their joy over some of the more simple things. Like when Grandma Margie asked what her favorite part of the trip was, Madison answered, "Feeding the ducks, birds and fish." Though that does make us wonder why we bothered with huge admission fees to the big attractions:-)

Our hotel location was perfect. Practically right across the street from Sea World and minutes from the airport, yet you felt you were on a tropical island away from the rest of the world. The girls were thrilled with walking along the paths, climbing the lookout tower, swimming in the pool all three days (even when it was barely 60 degrees out one of those days), having breakfast outside next to the water with a night crowned heron for company and having smores on the beach for dessert.

April Fool's 2011

I certainly do not have a prankster personality and wouldn't think April Fool's Day would hold much interest for me. But the date is very significant in our little family's journey on where we are today (read that old post here). And then 2 years ago I did this brilliant prank on Madison.

The only problem with this prank was that Madison has expected mommy to top it. Last year I completely failed and came up with NOTHING much to her disappointment. A HUGE thank you to Dawn for saving the day for this year and giving me this idea yesterday. I would love to be in the classroom today when Noah and Madison both open up their lunches and find these pranks. It should be a big hit!!!

Fruit Cup Prank

Begin with the fruit cup cans with the pull top lids. Make sure they have flat bottoms that can be opened with a can opener.

Open the bottom of the can with the can opener and pour out contents. Rinse and dry the can. Fill the can with some treat or goodie. I packed it with tissue paper so it wouldn't rattle around and give it away. Then pack it in the lunchbox as normal. I threw in this plastic banana with a note so Madison would think that was her prank and not be expecting anything else! SUPRISE!!!!