Winter Break with Grandma and Karson!

The dreaded winter break was not so scary this year, because my awesome Mom came out to rescue my kids from a week of misery indoors with Me - and she went even further and brought my nephew Karson out too, yay!! The whole week went by so fast that I kept thinking that we had more time.

My Mom was a real angel because Aaron and I decided to get sick while she was here (she doesn't know it, but we really did plan that :). But really, I can't tell you how much fun we had. And I hate that I don't have all of the pictures on the slide from the whole week, because half of them are on my Mom's camera (so unless someone helps her post them, we won't see them!!:). I am full of them tonight - sorry Mom.

The pictures you can see were from our bowling trip with our friend the Arveseth's. We had so much fun and quickly figured out that Karson is the most competitive one in the group (including me - I am a soft Mommy now)! He was so cute and was not kidding around with the game, and because of that he won!! Unfortunately we were mean hosts and took the sleepy little Karson (because of jet lag) to dinner that night and the poor thing fell asleep on the table - sorry Karson!

Monday we went down to the Museum of Natural History, and even though we go several times a year it never gets boring or old for the kids (which is nice for me). Karson was so funny and cute - I just have to tell you the conversation we had in the Ocean Life room:
*note Dominick was not present
K - Dominick is really smart about fish (with a defeated look on his face)
M - Well, he does get to come here a lot and loves ocean animals
K - Yea, but I don't go here sometimes like Dominick (still defeated look)
M - Hey buddy, Dominick knows a lot about oceans and trains, because he lives by them. But you know a lot about 4-wheelers and mountains and Dominick doesn't know a lot about those.
K - Oh yea, I am really smart and we ride 4-wheelers (totally redeemed confidence look).

He was so cute and I really think I made his day!!

I think Tuesday was our trip to the local mall and Barnes and Noble (probably a let down for most). But, it was really fun and the kids especially enjoyed the books! The next day was an unseasonably warm day, where if you don't go to the beach and take advantage you are crazy. So, we did! And the kids were happy to be there and run races, throw rocks, splash in tide pools, climb rocks and anything else they did - oh and collect sea shells. Even though it was a little warm, it was not warm enough to for Kambree to get completely soaked, but I figured she could warm up later (and she did).

Oh, and the picture of the bird was such a funny part. That seagull only had one leg - or so we thought. When my Mom and I saw it we were kinda thrilled to witness a crippled animal in the wild. Then, to make sure we had the kids start to chase him (we don't actually support torturing poor crippled animals, but we had to make sure). So, after chasing him for a good 30-40 seconds the bird flew and hobbled away with only that one little leg. As we called the kids to stop chasing him all of the sudden another leg comes out of nowhere (not literally of course) and he reveals that he is a totally normal bird - so, he totally faked us out and there was nothing left to do but sick the kids on him again!

The next big adventure was a trip to the New York Hall of Science. We were really excited about going down there because there was a special appearance from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus to show the kids how science is used in the circus. I was laughing so hard at Dominick and Karson, because they are the perfect age for those clowns. They got all of the funny jokes and were laughing hysterically the entire time (that is until the actual science act came out - boring)! No, I didn't think it was boring, just the kids who really don't care about the science and only want the clowns ot perform. Anyway, we will be hitting the circus again this year for sure! We met up with our friends the Meier's there and the kids all had so much fun together.

Now, you have to understand that every time my Sister or her kids come out I assure them of the weather and what to pack - for instance the August trip was a rediculous time to even think about bringing a jacket, long pant or long sleeves. That is all that they wanted though, on the crazy day that temps plummeted into the mid 50's and rained like crazy. This trip, after looking at the weather for the entire week, there was no sign of snow and so I said no boots, snow clothes, hat or such - WRONG AGAIN! Seriously, for the first time this entire season we got a real snow storm and were totally unprepared for our guests. We did make the most of it by layering like crazy and just having fun! From now on, anyone who comes here any time of year - pack for every season!

After playing in the snow for a long time, we braved the unplowed roads (thanks to our non-existent snow removal system in the city). After barely making it out of our neighborhood, we decided the train was the smartest mode of transport into the city. The kids loved it and the only bad part was leaving my umbrella on the train (which would have been useful considering the snow). But, we were able to take the subway down the the museum and only needed to walk a couple blocks in the weather. This Children's Art Museum was a new find for me and I am so glad that gave it a try, because it is so much fun. It is literally a mini art studio. The kids have free reign with paints, crayons, chalk, crafts and more. They have themes to get their creativity flowing, and it is so fun to watch your kids create and be so excited to bring them all home (which they encourage with everything). In the basement or the museum, was a ball pit filled with the big exercise balls to play in and then a really fun green screen with a video camera so that you can watch yourself real time with different backgrounds - the kids thought this was awesome!

Saturday was a play in the snow day and relax at home and the mall. It is always fun when Dad is home and they especially had fun playing with him in the snow. At the mall we decided to take the kids to see the new movie The Spiderwick Cronicles. It was so much fun to relax with everyone here and get ready to say goodby to our family. This was the hardest time for Dominick and he and my Mom had their predictable but sad meltdowns. We love having our family's come so much and we all can't wait to come out in the summer to see everyone else! Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming - we miss you!