Spring Break In Minneapolis

Drew, Claire, and Andy all had the same spring break so we hit the road for Minneapolis for a few days.  The weather was great and it was nice to spend time with family.

Claire is in LOVE with uncle Matt!

The spring festival was going on at Como Park.  The park was full of activities for children and it actually felt like spring with the flowers in bloom.

Drew and Claire loved looking at this little guy!  It was so crazy he was so content in the pool and would just stare at the kiddos!!

Drew is doing amazing with his reading and has moved up several levels!!  To reward him we told him we would take him rock climbing!!  We were in good hands with uncle Aric who is a pro!

Drew and Claire blew us away with their skills!!!  

Drew had NO fear at all and went straight to the top!!

Above he is repelling down with uncle Aric.

We were at the gym for over FIVE hours!!  The kiddos could have stayed longer, however the adults were done!  A fun new hobby the entire family can enjoy!

After School Fun

After school this is our standard activity snow boarding and sledding!!  The sledding hill is right on the school playground!  Not only do the kiddos love it, the adults love it as we get an opportunity to visit.  Standard daily there are thirty kiddos having a ball!

Claire making a train with her friends (she is in the pink coat)

Drew has blown Andy and I away with his snow boarding skills!  He wanted a snow board sooooo bad and had never tried one before.  Luckily they were on sale and we bought one for him.  Drew strapped in his feet and he was a PRO!!!  

Devils Lake Winter Hike

This weekend we took advantage of the warmer temps and the sun being out and went for a winter hike through Devils Lake State park.  The park is amazing full of trails and a huge lake.  It was so nice to be able to be outside and not be freezing and enjoy the fresh air!

Where we parked our car it was about a quarter mile of a walk to where the trail began.  Claire I think took three steps and asked to be on Andy's shoulders....

Drew luckily found a hiking stick that someone left in the parking lot.  However, he made it about twenty steps and needed to rest.... Andy and I both agreed... we didn't even know if we would be able to make it out of the parking lot.

At last we made it to the trails!  Both kiddos magically had tons of energy and we were off!

Claire also found a hiking stick and loved it

We hiked for over an hour (which was actually hard as the snow was deep!)  The views were beautiful of the lake and the kiddos did amazing.

Girls Weekend

This past weekend I had a weekend away with amazing college girlfriends.  We met up in our old stomping ground Cedar Falls for one night.  It was so much fun to catch up and to sleep in past 6am!!  Love these gals!

Badger Basketball

On Sunday afternoon we took the kiddos to their first Badger basketball game (as well as our first time!)  Our house is right outside a bus stop that will take us straight to the stadium.  The kiddos love riding the bus and it's a win-win as we don't have to deal with parking or traffic.

We had a wonderful time and look forward to our next game!

Claire and her baby waiting for the bus

Enjoying the relaxing bus ride

Outside the Kohl Center 

Drew and Claire did and amazing job at the game and actually watched it!!!  We were even on the 

jumbo tron!!

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The kiddos loved running into Bucky Badger

Ice Skating

This past week we took advantage of the nice weather and took the kiddos ice skating for the first time.  We went with some friends of ours and brought all the hockey gear!  

This was Drew and Claire first time ice skating and we were telling them that they might have to use the "walkers"  to learn how to skate when they first get onto the ice.  Well.... they proved us wrong and did not need them AT ALL!!!  They went off like they've bee doing this their entire life and we were amazed!!

We had a great time with great friends

Drew and his buddy Rowe enjoyed passing the puck 

Fearless Claire jumped right in and was ready for home hockey as well!

A Perfect Holiday!

This year we spent Christmas with Andy's family in MN.  We were so excited to go back as all of his brothers were home with their families and it's been way to long since we've all been together!

Madison was in the news to be hit by a large snow storm a few days before we were suppose to start our seven hour drive to MN, so we decided to to leave early.  Which was a great decision as as Madison was hit with 20 inches!!! 

As soon as we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's it was total spoiling!!  It started with fresh nail  polish for Claire with in five seconds of being there!

So this is Claire "helping" make the crust for our homemade Christmas Eve pizza!  The best part was Mary Lou (Andy's mom) and I just let her have at the flour and she had a blast in it!!

The cookies are ready for Santa and the kiddos are beyond excited!

Andy in his Christmas jammies Christmas morning

One of our daily activities in MN was ice fishing.  Let me be more specific...one of the boys daily activities was ice fishing!  

Andy's parents have a great set up for it owning two ice houses, so it's pretty comfortable!

(The boys walking out to the ice house on the frozen lake in the photo above)

One of the fishing houses has bunk beds in it and a heater!

The first morning out we caught 20+ fish!!!  

Andy's twin brother Aaron 

Andy could not ask for a better fishing buddy. Drew would fish ALL DAY.  He wakes up at 5 am with the big boys for the early bite and is usually dressed and standing at the door before them ready to go!

Drew caught this one!!!

There front yard is a perfect sledding hill!

Claire looking at the large hill she now has to walk up

Right behind his parents house is about 40 acres of woods!  We would take the four wheeler out and pull the kiddos on sleds

Something kind of sad, however beyond exciting was meeting our niece and Drew and Claire's cousin for the first time!!!  Parker was born while we were living in Spain and is just a year behind Claire.  The two of them were in heaven with each other.  I love the military life, however this is for sure the hardest part!!

Trouble....

To top off our perfect vacation Drew lost his first tooth!!!

Our holiday couldn't have been better