Abby's Chicago Trip

Abby got invited to go to Chicago with Addison this year. Addison's brother Brett had a hockey tournament there and it was over Addison's birthday. To make her birthday a little more fun since they had to be out of town for hockey, they let Addison take Abby along. I was really nervous about Abby being that far away and especially going this time of year when it is prime cold and flu season. I set all my worries aside and we decided to let her go since she would be with Andrea who treats Abby like their 4th child. 

Shedd Aquarium

 Abby had fun visiting such a big city. We have never taken the kids there so all of this was new to her. She was shocked at how many homeless people there were and how tall the buildings were.

They spent a lot of time at hockey games but these 2 girls could keep each other busy forever. They always seem to have a great time and never get tired of seeing each other.

They visited the Shedd Aquarium and got to see a dolphin show which was a highlight for Abby.

This trip took the place of the annual Kansas City shopping trip so they stopped at the American Girl Doll store and got their dolls hair done. It's a little sad that this is coming to an end. They are starting to grow out of this stage and pretty soon they will want to hang out with boys instead of play with dolls. I am really not ready for that!

They tried an authentic deep dish pizza place but our goofy child got buttered noodles instead. 

They had a blast at the hotel pool. Poor Linda, Addison's grandma, shared a hotel room with this crazy duo. I hope she managed to get some sleep!

They ate at the Sugar Factory for her birthday. They all shared the blue ocean drink.

On the weekend they visited the SKY DECK. This looks terrifying to me but they thought it was super cool. They waited in line for about an hour for their 30 seconds of being on the deck. Look at how flexible these 2 are.

Abby had a fabulous 5 days and survived without us. We sure missed her though especially Emmy.

Thanks for such a fun trip Andrea and Bryant!

Happy !0th Birthday Abby!

It's hard to believe that you are 10! Although you have always been mature for your age and acted older that what you really are. You are by far our easiest child. You have a very laid back, go with the flow kind of personality which I really appreciate! You find joy in little things and it isn't hard to please or impress you. You are very thoughtful and kind and have the patience of a saint especially when it comes to Emmy! You love volleyball, dance, tumbling and time to do whatever you want. You are artsy and crafty and are always making some project in your room. You are slow as a turtle when it comes to getting ready and even though your teacher says you have organizational skills I would disagree. Its okay all your other great traits out weigh the fact that you are a mini tornado in our house. I will apologize to your future husband now because I haven't been able to convince you to pick up after yourself in 10 years. I'm not sure I will ever get that accomplished. Happy Birthday Abby! We love you!

Grandpa and Grandma hold down the fort

While we were in Colorado, Bob and Susie watched Emmy and Abby for us and took care of everything here that needed to be done. Bob was with the kids during the week and Susie came down on the weekend and brought AJ. Emmy was scheduled to go to daycare all of the weekdays but one so that Bob could have a break during the day but he is a big softy and when Emmy said she wanted to stay home with him he couldn't say No. If you give Emmy an inch she takes a mile so she didn't attend daycare for the rest of the week and talked Grandpa into going to McDonalds for lunch most days. When Grandma came down on the weekend they all attended the Tumble and Rumble at UNL. It was a wrestling and gymnastics show. The kids had a great time! I'm pretty sure that Grandma and Grandpa were so fun that the girls didn't even miss us. 

Ski Vacation

Bryce and Caleb chose to go on the ski vacation and not get a "big" Christmas gift this year. We didn't go last year so Robb and I were really excited to go too! This year we stopped at Ole's Big Game Bar in Paxton, NE. The boys had never been there and it something to see. It still is crazy to me that 50 years ago it was okay to shoot a polar bear and monkeys but what do I know. 

We stayed at Nancy's cabin by Winterpark again this year. That cabin is perfect for us. I was sad to hear she was selling it after this ski season. We spent all 4 days skiing at Winterpark. The first day of skiing was a bit interesting. We had to really convince the boys that skiing was like riding a bike and it would come back to them. They had also forgot how terrible ski boots feel and there was a lot of whining. After the first day we were a little worried that they were up to the challenge of vacationing with Robb. To Robb there is no rest on a vacation. You are there to have fun and you will be doing an activity constantly. We had pre bought 4 day ski passes so we were keeping our fingers crossed that day 2 would go smoother.

Day 2. We figured out that it worked best if we each took a boy and skied with them for a while instead of trying to keep all 4 of us together all the time. We would take the morning and ski with one of the boys and then we would meet up for lunch and then do a couple of our favorite runs together and trade boys. It was great to have some one on one time with each of them. 

This year for suppers I had premade all of our meals and they were all meals that we could put in the crockpot when we left in the morning so we could have a hot meal when we got home and were starving. This left us more time to watch movies, play cards and rest.

The weather was incredibly cold every morning when we got there but by afternoon the sun would warm you up a little. The best skiing was the last day. It was snowing lightly all day which made for some great skiing conditions but by day 4 Bryce and I were beat. The last day Bryce and I spent half the day inside drinking hot chocolate because our feet hurt so bad. 

One of the nights the boys convinced us to try out the hot tub at the club house. The club house looked like it was closed and it was all dark. We decide that since we had walked over there in the freezing cold weather we were going to try to find the hot tub. It felt like we were sneaking into the place but it was fun to be in the hot tub when the weather is freezing cold. It wasn't so fun running back to our condo wet and freezing cold though!

Colorado Vacation 2019

Our first cavity

Abby was our first to have a cavity. We had had such a good run. Luckily, our dentist is great and with the nitrous gas she tolerated it really well! Hopefully, we aren't making this a thing though!

Croup

Poor Emmy struggled with a cough for a couple days and then started waking up in the middle of the night all panicked that it was hard to breathe and she had a croupy cough. When she started having the croupy cough we took her into the pediatrician and got steroids. Poor little girl was down and out for about a week. No fun!

She thought it was especially mean that they doctors office made her wear a mask! Oh Emmy!

Winter vacation

Bryce and Caleb and I went bowling one of the days they were on Christmas break. As you can see from the scores we are terrible at bowling but we had fun. These guys are growing up too fast and I feel like the times that they will want to hang out with me are going to get fewer and fewer, so I will take these opportunities when they come!

I was also able to take Abby and Addison ice skating. There was one day that was pretty nice outside so we decided to go to the outdoor skating rink in the Railyard. I am always nervous about getting out there on ice skates with all the pins and plate in my ankle but I also don't want to miss out on these opportunities either. We all put on skates and managed to not break ourselves. It wasn't always pretty but it was fun!

Funny side note: The girls were so excited to get there that I had parked at a metered spot and completely forgot to pay the meter. I thought Robb was going to kill me! I came back to the car after skating for 2 hours to a $200 fine. One for forgetting to license my car (crap) and the other for just not paying at all. Not my finer moment! We were able to register my car and get the expensive one waived.

Happy New Year 2019!

This New Years we were short 2 kids. Bryce and Caleb spent the night at Grady's house along with a lot of other boys. The Boden's were feeling brave! So it was just Robb and I and the girls. They had a dance party, they showed off their cool tumbling moves on the new mat and of course we had jello and whipped cream out of a can. The food is a tradition that Robb started! We had a great night. Cheers to another year, bring on the craziness!

The boys had a blast but they each came home and slept for half the day since they partied it up all night!