A Mini Trip to the States

I have a few random pictures to post before our trip pictures.  My cousin and her husband built a new house and this is their bookshelf/library with her husband and my cousin standing in front of it.  I’m in love (with the shelving, not my cousins, although I do love them).  Moving on….

Kiera’s sense of style is one of a kind. She sometimes seriously wears outfits similar to this to school. 

My nephew found a tiara when he was over and decided it would be a good idea to wear it, hee hee!

Kiera decided to dress like a lawyer one day, complete with a pretend cup of coffee.

I got my Grandma’s molasses cookie recipe from my Mom and tried to make them for the first time.  As you can see, they were a complete disaster and turned into crispy little pancakes, but the kids still enjoyed them and fun was had by all.

We started off our trip to the States with a night in Thief River Falls.  We booked a night at the waterpark hotel there for $39 (a February weekday special)! :D  This picture was taken at Walmart.

The hotel from the outside

While we were there we went to a fantastic Mexican restaurant called El Potro.

I really like all of the bright colors.

This was up on the wall beside our table.

 

The kids went into silly/crazy mode

The food was absolutely DELICIOUS!  This was SO not Paleo and I enjoyed every bite of it.  It was their Burrito Mojado which was a 12-inch tortilla with chicken, stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream and then covered with cheese dip.

We had a really big hotel room, with 2 beds, a bed that pulled out from the couch and a fireplace.

The kids favorite part: the waterpark!

Jared, Kiera and I tried out every waterslide.

We were going to stay a 2nd night but changed our minds and decided to spend the 2nd night in Grand Forks.

We thought it was hilarious that Blake fell asleep with his neck warmer covering his face.

Probably my favorite water tower

I so rarely get to watch my kids sleep that when I do, I take pictures of them!

My “baby” sleeping in a fetal position just like a baby. :)

We were thinking about staying at the Canad Inns, but it was cheaper to stay in the hotel across the street and pay the walk-up fee for the Canad Inns water park.  We stayed at the Expressway Suites in Grand Forks, which is about a year old.

They had a pool and hot tub with lights in it that changed colors.  The kids enjoyed that.

The lobby

During the week, they have free supper, so that definitely saved us money.  It was potluck style and after supper, we spent the evening at the Canad Inns water park. 

They had the BEST and biggest continental breakfast I have EVER had at a hotel, which again was included with our stay.  They had everything: waffle batter to make your own waffles, syrup and cut up fruit for the toppings, donuts, fruit, bacon, English muffins with eggs and sausage patties to make your own McMuffins, donuts, muffins, toast, yogurt, cereal and I think I’m missing some things but it was incredible!

They had a very nice games room which we didn’t make use of, but it did look inviting.

Our last stop was Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch.  They had devices to keep the kids entertained while we were waiting for food.

We absolutely love travelling and love going to the States, so it was fun to pull the kids out of school and get away for a couple of nights!

Christmas

Wow, I finally made it to Christmas!  December is always a very busy month with Jared’s work party, school and Church Christmas programs and many family gatherings! Jared and I also managed to sneak away for our anniversary about a week before Christmas and I’m VERY thankful the kids’ grandparents looked after them so that we could have that time together! At the Church Christmas program, Blake was an angel and Kiera was a shepherd. She was originally going to be a dancer but the Sunday School workers asked if she would switch because the shepherds had a singing part and they were a small group. The only picture I could get with Haley in her Christmas dress At the end, Haley dressed up as a sheep and joined the other kids on the stage. We accidentally missed her cue earlier in the program, so we stuck her up there at the end. Part of our community group at our Christmas party I had been eyeing the blue and white icicle lights on Target’s website since the Christmas a year before, so while we were in the States for our anniversary, we found some there!  We ended up going to 2 different Target stores in 2 different cities to buy enough sets and it was TOTALLY worth it!  We bought enough for the top part of the house, too, but it was too late in the year for Jared to tackle those, so hopefully next year he can get those up! We did our own little family Christmas on the evening of the 24th.  Every year I pull out 2 children’s books that I have put away on a shelf based on the story of Jesus and one is from the perspective of Mary that makes me tear up every time: “Tomorrow you will be king, but tonight you are my baby…” and Kiera read the stories this year. Opening up their stockings at home for the very first time, which was also one of my purchases in the States the week before She got exactly what she wanted. She has a whole bunch of those sticker books and LOVES doing them! More Lego…always brings a smile to his face! She enjoys listening to Christian kids music, so I bought her a Hillsong Kids c.d. The best stocking stuffer ever (it was Blake’s): a spider that stuck to the ceiling or wall…except that the sticky, rubbery stuff started breaking off within a few days and then it didn’t work anymore.  It was sure fun while it lasted! A special breakfast for Christmas morning Christmas at Jared’s Dad + Stepmom’s includes a small mountain of gifts every year My sister-in-law’s friend came for a visit in November and then came back again for Christmas, so it was great to have her there!  They met when they were both working in Africa, she’s from England and was going to school this past year in Texas. :) This was my niece and nephew’s first Christmas One of my favorite gifts A little tired after the gift opening marathon She’s got her typical 80’s look going on ;) Holding his little cousin Woohoo! I made it to the end of last year! Christmas was very special with the new members of our family and the fact that I had my health back…you can’t put a price on those! :D