Florida trip

At the end of January, we enjoyed a relaxing trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida, with my family.  My parents rented a house a block away from the beach, and we were just an hour and a half drive from Disney World, so it was perfect!  The girls were excited for the plane ride, and it went really well.  We were lucky to get a newer plane with free entertainment on each seat, so the girls were able to choose their own movies to watch.

We soaked up as much sun and warmth as possible while in Florida!  Even though the weather was cooler by Florida standards, it felt amazing to us!  The girls loved digging in the sand at the beach and looking for shells.  I loved sitting in the sun and reading at the beach during naptime.  The house had a backyard pool, and if the sun was in the right spot, it (sort of) felt good enough to go for a swim--we did that twice.

On one of the cooler days, we went on a tour of a fruit farm.  Along the tour, they also had a little mini petting zoo/rehab facility for animals, so the girls were able to pet and see some interesting animals.  We all loved the fruit and fresh-squeezed juice/lemonade samples in the store inside!  We also had a yummy lunch there.

Early Tuesday morning, Dave, Abby, Norah, and I got up and drove to Orlando.  We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom.  Unfortunately, we didn't discover until lunch time (and after waiting in line for 2 hours to see Anna and Elsa) that Greg had hooked us up with unlimited Fast Passes...meaning we could have Fast Passed the 2-hour Anna/Elsa line...  Oh, well!  Once we figured that out, it was a game changer--we could just walk on to any ride or to any character.  We were able to do and see so much!  Another bonus that day was that after the fireworks, they announced that they'd be keeping the park open an extra hour.  It was a long and busy day, but we all had so much fun.  Abby even went on a few roller coasters...her least favorite being Space Mountain, which was her first ride of the day, too...she was not a fan!  She did go on the Seven Dwarfs mine ride twice, though!

We spent the night at the All-Star Music Resort, where they had put us in a suite, even though we had paid for a regular room...another bonus!  It was a quick night, though, and we were up and ready for Hollywood Studios on Wednesday.  We enjoyed all of the shows and multiple rides on Toy Story Mania that day.

When we got back to Anna Maria Island, my brother, Greg and aunt/uncle had arrived.  We enjoyed the next several days with them, spending more time at the beach (where we saw our first dolphin, just swimming along the shore), visiting a few shops, and donuts at the cute little donut shop in town where you choose your toppings.  We took an excursion on a boat with my dad and sister, where we chased after several dolphins and stopped at a a few sandbars to find starfish and other sea creatures.  We were able to bring back some starfish, sand dollars, and some really neat shells that we found.

The week went fast, but we packed a lot in and were still able to relax and enjoy the nice weather.  We are so thankful for this wonderful trip!

First dentist visit

Norah visited the dentist for the first time over my spring break.  She did great--better than I expected, since she can sometimes be clingy and stubborn.  She was so excited for her bag of goodies afterward...new toothbrush, floss, and prize from the prize basket!  Abby unfortunately had her first cavity, but they said it was due to how her teeth are close together in back and not due to bad brushing.  She, Dave, and Norah went back the next week on a day she had off of school, and she did great with her first filling.  She didn't even need any novocaine and it didn't seem to bother her at all!  Crossing our fingers for no more fillings!

Winter Break/Catching up

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged!  Once again, I'll try to work my way backwards to catch up on what we've been up to since August...

I can't believe winter break is already over...I say that every year, but last year was nice and EXTRA long with our two free "cold" days that were added on.  Don't think that's going to happen this year, but a girl can dream...

We started off winter break with Dave and Norah on the tail end of influenza A.  Norah and I made a not-so-quick stop at the "express clinic" only to find out that her fever/cough could last another week, but did get drops for an outer ear infection.  The next day, Dave had to work, so the girls and I went to see the new "Annie" movie.  We all loved it so much!  We came home, put Norah to bed, and bought the soundtrack on Itunes.  Abby was totally into pretending we were foster kids from Annie and cleaning up the house while dancing to the music...she was even scrubbing toilets and mopping the floors!

That night, we had our family Christmas with just the four of us.  We had some favorite snacks (taco dip, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, etc.) for a meal and opened presents.

The next morning was the girls' Christmas program at church.  Unfortunately, Dave's mom wasn't feeling well, so his family wasn't able to make it.  My family came to the second service.  It was quite a marathon morning entertaining the preschoolers and trying to get them all situated on stage!  The girls both did great, and Norah went up on stage each time except for the last song.  She was too busy putting stickers on her paper (a great way to entertain preschoolers during church!) and just didn't want to.  We went out to lunch with my family afterwards.

Dave and I ended up with a couple of free days on Monday and Tuesday--Abby had school Monday and the girls had a Christmas party at daycare on Tuesday.  You would think we would have gotten a lot accomplished in those two days, and I did do a little schoolwork and cleaning, but it was nice to have a true "break" after a busy few months at school.

On Wednesday, we drove down to Iowa to start the Christmas celebrations.  Lunch, gifts, and homemade ice cream/treats were at my grandma Carlson's farm during the day.  Abby, Joe, and Sam were excited about the "Grinch" that showed up outside, while Norah and Trice were not so thrilled.  My cousin's husband and uncle Dave tried to trick them a few times before Dave revealed it was him.

After church, we drove over to Miriam and Scott's, where the girls got ready for bed and put out their stockings and cookies/milk for Santa.  We had a fun evening playing games.  Abby was up the earliest on Christmas morning, but waited patiently for Norah to wake up before opening presents from Santa.  This year, Abby had asked for an American Girl puppy and kennel.  Norah had originally wanted Anna "dress jammies" but had changed her mind and decided on Elsa.  She ended up with both...   We had a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls and when everyone was up and back at the house we opened presents.  This year, we drew names and came up with a theme for our person.  Each person had 3 or so little gifts leading up to a more "main" gift that had to do with the theme.  It was a lot of fun to try and guess the themes!  We spent the rest of the day playing games, entertaining kids, eating a delicious meal of ham balls, playing bingo, and looking at pictures from Greg and Rose Mary's trip.

Our family headed back to Rochester late the next morning.  That evening, we celebrated Christmas with my parents, siblings, and Greg's girlfriend Rose Mary.

Greg and Rose Mary had to leave the next morning and Dave had to work a short day, but the girls and I stayed in Rochester.  My high school friend, Debbi, came over to my parents' house with her two girls and we caught up while Abby, Norah, and Iola played.  We also did some sledding and playing in the snow--it was the perfect day for that!

We decided to just spend the night in Rochester, and headed to Albert Lea the next day for Christmas with Dave's extended family.  We got together at Gerald's assisted living place and had a nice meal in the party room.  The kids opened presents and we had Christmas treats.

After all of the traveling and Christmas celebrations, we were pretty happy to just be home for a little bit!  We enjoyed the Children's Museum on Tuesday with Kristina, Rhua, and Abby's friend Olivia.

On Wednesday, we hosted New Year's Eve with my parents and aunt, uncle, and cousin.  Some of us went to a fun event called "Escape MSP", which is a fun mystery/problem-solving thing in Minneapolis.  We even won at the last second!

We had a fun evening with lots of yummy food, fun games, party hats and noisemakers.  Of course the next morning, Abby and Norah were up before 7!  We spent the day at our house and then all except my mom and Norah went up to the Timberwolves game that night.  Even though they lost, we still had a blast at the game.  Mara, Bryan, and Connor stayed up in Minneapolis that night and my parents headed home after we came back.

We've had a quiet few days at home ever since our company left--in the meantime, the girls and I put together Norah's new toddler bed and took down her crib, we took down our Christmas tree/decorations, and did some rearranging in rooms.  We've been watching lots of movies, playing, reading, and just trying to soak up every last bit of break.  Just thinking about going back to school tomorrow gives me lots of anxiety, but we have another Christmas to look forward to next weekend (Dave's parents are coming up to stay for the weekend) and Florida in less than 3 weeks!