Winter Adventures.

With William off of school and Tom home for a week we needed to get out of the house and wear some energy off of the kids. I got sick on Christmas morning and that slowed me down for a good 2-3 days. However once I was feeling better we had several jam packed days. Here is a little recap of them:

We played several games of Scene It? the Disney version. A gift from Tom's brother's family and it helped us get through a few days. William loves to play it and actually can answer some of the questions well. I would recommend to anyone with preschool to grade school aged children. We even played a couple rounds with Tom's sister's family. Brandon proved that he knew a lot as he was able to answer every Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe question.

An extended family get together with my dad's family on Sunday (12/28) was a great outing. The kids had fun playing with Leisl and also watching the Vikings play to be in the playoffs. The kids also enjoyed seeing the fish in my aunts basement for the winter. They have a goldfish pond in their backyard during the warmer months.

A trip to Adventure Park was definitely needed. So on Tuesday (12/30) we went out in the snow and had some fun. All four of us went in the morning and ran off some energy. Then after lunch William and Tom went back while Bennett took a nap and I enjoyed a little bit of quiet. William is getting better at adventuring through the tunnels but still really enjoys the big slides. And Bennett has proven to still love the slides.





Can you ask for a bigger smile than that? I think he loves the slides.
Tom's sister and family came into town for a visit starting on New Year's Eve. William was so excited that they were coming. He counted down the days leading up to their visit. We celebrated New Year's Eve with pizza,watching the Gophers lose their bowl game, a Trivial Pursuit game for the adults, and letting the kids (except for Bennett) stay up and watch Pinocchio. We didn't stay until the New Year but made it home in time to say Happy New Year and then go to bed.
On New Year's day everyone came to our house. Much football was watched while the kids played in the basement, played guitar hero and Madden Football on the Wii, and just had a great time enjoying each other's company.
Friday was a day that the kids needed to get out of the house. We headed to IKEA and the Mall of America. We were able to get some shopping done while William and Ella played in SmallLand at IKEA. Then we had lunch at a very crowded food court at the Mall of America. We only stopped for a little bit at the Lego store and then made a few returns. We couldn't stay long as we had tickets for the Omnitheater at the Science Museum at 4 o'clock. The moview was good but I fell asleep for a little bit during it since I was tired from all the fun we were having. William enjoyed the movie as it was his first time really able to enjoy the movie. Grandma and Grandpa stayed home while Bennett took a nap.

Our last adventure during break was going to Home Depot for their kid's project. William loves to go and build things and it is a great way to get out of the house for cheap. The project is free but we usually end up doing a little shopping while we are there. The project this week were helmet bookends. William did a great job on the project and has them setting out on his new shelf in his room.
Bennett even got to help a little.