Great Wolf Lodge

The day after Thanksgiving, our family headed to Great Wolf Lodge for some fun vacation time! It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! They have a 3-story indoor waterpark with slides, sprayers, a lazy river, wavepool, & more. The room was really cute, too, with a bunkbed for the boys inside their own little "cave". They also had a great little arts & crafts room, storytime, an arcade, and some great places to eat. It was crazy fun for all of us - Bryson loved the kiddie pool & slides and never wanted to get out. Carter was just barely (on the inch!) tall enough to do the big waterslides, so Kevin & I took turns doing those with him. We all loved spraying the unsuspecting floaters in the lazy river. I felt like a little kid again! This is going to have to become an annual tradition!

Fall Leaves

On Thanksgiving Day, Kevin blew & raked the leaves from our yard. Of course the boys wanted in on the fun!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, Carter's pre-k class had a performance and feast. They sang turkey songs (sooo cute!), and wore Pilgrim & Indian hats made from construction paper. His teacher had reminded the class the sing, "loud and proud", and Carter did! He sang more loudly than any of the other kids and did a great job. I got it all on video, and it is so sweet. After the performance, the kids had a feast in the cafetorium. I'm loving this fun phase with my boys!

On Thanksgiving Day, my parents came over to celebrate with us, and we had a feast of our own! I love my moms' cooking - Oh, it was soooo good!!!

Carter's Birthday

Playing games at Incredible Pizza

Bryson loved bowling!

At the birthday party

Our little ice-skater (future hockey player?)

Blowing out the candles

Opening gifts

I keep saying it - I CANNOT BELIEVE HE'S 5!!! Everyone says "they grow up fast", but it really does not seem like it's been 5 years since my sweet baby boy was born. Still, at the same time, I can't really remember life without him. Carter is such a joy. He brings so much wonder, love, and purpose into my life. He's sensitive & compassionate and crazy like a tornado all rolled up into one boy - God's wonderful creation.

For his birthday party this year, we went to an indoor swimming pool and had a blast. He enjoyed eating pizza & cake, getting fun presents, and swimming with his friends. Since his party was not on his actual birthday, we celebrated twice. On his birthday he chose to go ice-skating and to Incredible Pizza. It was a fun-filled week!

Halloween

The Hillbillies

2 Military Men, 80's punk rocker, & a flower!

Sleepy-heads & Spiderman

Breaking the pinata

Gavin in his way-cool Monsters Inc. costume!

Spidey Asher playing balloon pop

Throwing pumpkins for prizes

Bobbing for apples (all at once!!!)

Ready for the caramel!

This year, we threw a (1st annual?) Halloween party! We had games and yummy food, and all our friends came dressed up to enjoy the day with us. Kevin & I dressed as each other, and I have to say, he makes a much nicer looking Kevin than I do!!! Carter was a fireman, and Bryson was supposed to be a dalmation but chose to dress as a firefighter instead ("just like Carter!"). Our friends were great sports and also came all dressed up as Dora & Diego, hillbillies, sleepy-heads, a military man, and an 80's punk rocker! The kids were adorable all dressed up in their costumes too, and had fun playing games & collecting prizes.

In the evening, we went Trick-or-Treating for the very first time (Bryson finally wore his oh so cute costume)! We went to the houses in our cul-de-sac, then to a few houses in Mimi & Pop-Pop's neighborhood. Good fun & great memories!

Pumpkin Patch

I love this picture - Bryson is pouting because he didn't get to sit by Carter. :-)

Bryson LOVED feeding the goats - he squealed each time they licked the grain from his hand!

I know - so pathetic that I'm blogging about the pumpkin patch in December! - but I don't want to skip out on recording these memories, so....

Just before Halloween, our church group went to the pumpkin patch for the 2nd year in a row. Again, we had a ball! The kids loved climbing all over the pumpkins, feeding the animals, and riding the camel and hayride. Afterward, our group headed over to Macalester's for dinner - yum! This is one of my favorite fall traditions!

Hockey

Recently, Kevin was invited to join the volunteer staff of doctors for our local hockey team. In exchange, the team provided our entire family with season tickets and staff parking! We were so excited because we really do enjoy hockey games. We bought tickets to a couple of games last year, so it's such a treat to get free season tickets! Kevin thinks the parking is the best part - instead of paying $10 to park 1/2 mile away and walk in the dark, cold, (a little bit scary) downtown area, we get free parking by the door! :-) We took the kids to the first game of the season, and we all had a blast. Since then, Kevin & I have been to one other game (with my dad) and can't wait to go to more!!!

Zoo

I was so proud of Bryson for riding an animal on the carousel! (He usually chooses the "couch", a.k.a. bench!) Even so, this giraffe didn't go up and down like the other animals!!!

Getting way too close to the poison dart frogs! There was no glass!!!

Brushing the goat

Brushing the goat's face ;-)

Bryson was tired of me taking his picture - Here he's yelling, "CHEEEEESE!!!

A few weeks ago, our Mommy & Me group went to the zoo. I absolutely love the zoo, and it was fun to be with friends and enjoy the beautiful weather. Casey led us to a new part of the zoo (well, not new - but new to us) which included a tropical rain forest and a petting zoo. The kids loved the petting zoo - and I did, too! Unfortunately, our visit was cut somewhat short because the zoo didn't have running water that day (no concessions, no lunch, no potties, no hand washing @ the zoo = ewww)! Still, it was a very fun trip!