Family Vacation Day 3

The next day, Monday, was our Catalina Island day.  You must know that I love Catalina Island!  After enjoying a lovely breakfast we took a chicken-tender over to the island and spent exactly one hour on 2 golf-carts seeing the sights.  The kids loved it!  We even stopped to see the zip-liners and this might be something I choose to do the next time!

After getting back on the ship we tried to get the girls to take a nap.  Although unsuccessful, Stevie did nap while the girls and I played some more mini-golf and had some hot cocoa and treats!

We didn't spend as long on the island as I would have liked.  Maybe next time when the girls are older.  But, rest assured, it was just as quaint and beautiful as I remember.

Family Vacation Day 2

The next morning, Sunday the 20th, was Zack's 7th birthday!  We started with a family breakfast at a local café and then had some downtime before heading to the cruise terminal.  How lucky are we!!

After getting on the ship we got settled in our rooms, had lunch, and explored.  We played some miniature golf and Harper even got a hole-in-one!

There was only slight confusion about our room keys, as we had a weird set-up in order to get the best deal.

Zack's room had been decorated for his birthday with a cake and everything (how did the know?!?), we met our cabin-boys, and got accustomed to being greeted in our rooms each evening by a towel animal.

Family Vacation Day 1

As I mentioned, we just got back from an epic family vacation!  We left early last Saturday and drove to Long Beach, CA.  After checking into the hotel and a short rest, we went to meet Auntie Kirsten, Uncle Jim, Simone, Sophia, Sabrina, Nana, and Grandpa Steve at Yardhouse for lunch.  We were a big, rowdy group but it was a lot of fun and super yummy.  After lunch we went to a little park nearby for the girls to run around and exchange gifts.  A bit later we were joined by GP, RP, Chelsea, Lilly and Zack.  And, a few minutes after that it started to pour!  We ended up run/walking back to the hotel in the rain but it was an adventure and our vacation was off to a great start!

Christmas Eve 2015

Welp!  We just (literally a few hours ago) got back from an epic vacation.  Believe me, I still feel like I'm on the boat swaying side to side.  There will be upcoming posts about the vacation but for now, it's Christmas Eve, the girls are asleep (I think) and we have lots of wrapping in our near future.  So, I'm going to blog!

The girls are clean and have baked cookies for Santa.  They are wearing their new jammies and left Santa's cookies with the Reindeer's carrots and milk.

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone. 

Winterhaven!

We recently took our annual trip to Winterhaven.  This year we did it with the Ratcliff Family and we did a jeep-drawn carriage ride instead of walking.  Turned out to be a really cold night but we all had a good time.
We started with dinner and gifts at our house then got bundled up for the event.  It was fairly short but probably the perfect length for the girls.  I think everyone had fun and it was great to catch up with them and perhaps begin a new tradition!

New House!

 
There will be lots more about this in the months to come (in 2016!!) but considering the purchase happened this year, I thought at least one blog post needed to be done!  We finally found and purchased a new house!  We've been in this rental (thanks Dad!) since February 2015.  Our 2-story on Hartwick finally sold and closed which gave us the green light to find this beauty!  We are so exciting!  THIS will be the "family house" that I want!
Here's what I love about it (in no particular order):
It's on over an acre.
It's in the area of town we want.
The house is about 2200 square feet.  Not too big, not too small.
3 Car garage.
 
Here's what I don't love:
The girls' windows face the street.
 
Here' the work we need to do before moving in (in no particular order):
Build a wall around the backyard.
Paint kitchen cabinets white.
Remove all carpet.  Replace in bedrooms and living room, tile dining room and master bath.
Build a door onto the master bathroom.

Santa!

We recently hosted a Polar Express Night at my school and, believe it or not, Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance!  The kids (school kids, not my own who were afraid) loved it.  Even Stevie wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to visit with the big guy!