"Spring Break" The Dells/Minneapolis

It was "Spring Break" during what Minnesota calls "The Big Thaw" so we headed north. The St. Paul temple is going to be 15 miles away from where we will live this summer.!!!! YAY

Kate and Spencer went down the tube slide like a billion times. Die Hards.

Jess and I had fun playing everywhere in the park

We went down the lazy river a lot.  

We let them watch cartoons in the morning and eat on the floor- a real vacation since we don't have TV and we don't eat in the living room. 

Little Mermaid

There was this creepy attraction with the White House upside down, mashing cars etc. It's supposed to be an alien abduction. 

Roma with snow :)

This Hotel at the Wisconsin Dells turned a room into this cook kids room

We found a REAL Mexican restaurant in Minneapolis. Taqueria La Hacienda. They had Trumpo just like Mexico. Yumm Al Pastor.  

We went to the Mall of America and the girls were dying to see there was an amusement park inside.

It was so cool because accompanying adults are free so we let the girls each pick a ride $6 each. We had a ton of fun and only spent $12

Jess was dancing while we were waiting for Spen and Kate on the Roller Coaster. It was a huge Greenhouse so it was totally warm. We haven't felt warmth like that in a long time. It was amazing. 

Some lady told Jess to get on for Free, she was loving it. 

Is this totally stealing?  

The ride of terror, Jess hated it and cried and I felt so bad. It lifted her up and dropped and lifted and dropped and her headband kept falling and she didn't want to let go to fix her headband. It was so sad.  

Lego Store. Yes, Jess is wearing pajamas. She LOVES them.

Lego Displays

Swimming again. 

Right when we got home Kate was so excited that the snow melted and it was 55 degrees, even warmer then the "Big Thaw" in Minnesota.  She made her pants shorts, found a short sleeve shirt and ran out to play and ride her bike. She got little kisses from the sun on her cheeks. 

We made some Melanzane. They girls look like they are so miserable.  

and my Dad's Sauce...yum it simmered for 5 hrs.  It was perfect.  You know that part in Ratatouille  where the critic tastes the Ratatouille and he is taken back to his childhood? That is how I felt eating this sauce. 

The sauce for the pasta was scratch but the sauce for the  Melanzane I cheated (shhh) 

We played lots of PBS Kids and Starfall on our Break.  

Catching up. Winter in Madison.

As winter draws to a close (yeah, right), it's time to write a bit about what we have been up to. We will be leaving for a summer internship in Minnesota in about two months, so we need to get in the habit of updating more regularly.

Fall was wonderful, and the weather was really nice literally until December 1st. Since then, we've had a couple blizzards (one canceled church, the other canceled school for Spencer & Kate), -25 degree wind chills, 18" snow storms, freezing rain, normal rain, etc., etc. (said like Yul Brynner).

The following pictures are in no particular order of importance or of chronology.

We both had birthdays, this is Spencer's cake & cupcakes

Remnants of the blizzard. No, we don't disrespect our bikes like that.

Digging out.

Roux came to visit! Twice!

The girls loved the snow. 

They got tired pretty quickly.

At our birthday dinner.

Lisa.

Yummy pan-seared whitefish. Whatever that means. It was good. 

Kate has fun on the sewing machine.

So happy!

Kate is really learning at school. She is so smart.

Her first violin lesson from an AMAZING artist.

Jess started preschool. She won't go to kindergarten until fall 2013. Long way off. 

Jess' rosy cheeks after playing outside. 

Some Christmas fun.

Ice skating!

Watching the boys play hockey

A Bobcat with rotating brush to clear the snow.

Kate is learning to balance well.

Sledding across the street from Kate's school.

Our nativity. What a mule.

Grandma Di came to visit for a month or so. Something like that.

She spoiled the little princesses.

We took a trip to the Chicago temple. This barn was along the way. Lisa's favorite. 

Chicago temple.

Christmas tree support. It's a rear bike rack and a ratchet strap.

We went to the children's museum. They have so many fun things for the kids to do.

Kate was kind of freaked out by this.

Our new year's eve celebration. It was 8 PM or so. 

To the movies w/ Grandma Di.

She failed the entrance interview. Beyond their skill set.

Yummy food from Monty's Blue Plate Diner.

Kate's spotlight day at school. She wanted to show everyone the "silly" bike.

Breakfast at Wisconsin Dells.

The pool at Wisconsin Dells. We'll be back.

Kate loved the slides.

So much fun in February!

Spring break is next week, and we plan to go back to Wisconsin Dells for a couple days, then on to Minneapolis to explore where we'll be living for three months during summer. Oh how we long for Spring!