Oh-Bla-Di

A month (!!) ago, we took off on a spur of the moment trip to Chicago to meet up with the Caspers clan. With less than 24 hours between ticket purchase and take-off, we really had to speed up our planning/list-making. But, the rush was worth it because we had a great weekend and got to see Uncle Michael before he deploys later this month!

We took off on Noah’s five month birthday, and got to Chicago in time to have dinner with Grama Peg & Grampa Clete before checking into the hotel and hitting the sack.  We were up bright and early on Saturday morning and picked up some Dunkin’ Donuts before meeting Sue, Steve, Michael, Whitney & Maureen at the house.

It had been two years since we’d visited Chicago, so we had to update this picture from our first visit.  Same kid, same snack, two years later.

Of course, on this trip, we had a new baby to shop around too, so we got several photos like this one…

…and these.

We had a great time with lots of playing in the snow…

…and Ava even found a good ride.

Of course, there was plenty of other good fun while we were inside during the weekend.

Since it’s a rarity that the whole Caspers clan can get together, we made sure to document the occasion to its fullest.  We’ve got some video of the paparazzi for these next few shots and it’s amazing the amount of noise and the number of camera shutters clicking in the background.

And, finally, the whole Caspers clan (minus Sarah & Carl).

Great trip!  See you next time!

A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of the beautiful weather we were having here in the Vegas valley to take the kiddos on a hike at Red Rock Canyon.  We’ve done quite a bit of hiking at Mt. Charleston to escape the summer heat, but Red Rock is too hot in the summer.  Turns out, that makes it perfect for “winter” in Las Vegas.

So, we loaded up the van with gear, kiddos & the dog and hit the road.  Red Rock is about 45 minutes away from our house, so it’s enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee on the way.  We packed a picnic lunch so that we could stay into nap time if things were going well.

This was Noah’s first outdoor adventure and he had a great time in the backpack.  He loved looking around at everything and didn’t even fall asleep on our trek.  Ava chatted up everyone we met on the trail and loved to lead the way – unless she was too busy stepping on each and every larger-than-her-foot sized rock in the path.

We hiked a trail that was plotted as a kids’ discovery trail so there were neat caves and fairly simple terrain to keep Whoozers feeling both proficient and entertained.  We did take a detour mid-trail to follow another path that led to some waterfalls, though.  They were running under a sheet of ice, and we thought they were worth the extra time and walking.

We ate our picnic lunch on a deck overlooking a stream near the end of the trail.  Is there much that’s better than a peanut butter & jelly sandwich after a nice long walk?

We’ve decided it’s pretty fun to have weekends to ourselves again.  Now that I’m not doing homework, pregnant or taking care of a newborn, we can finally get out and about to enjoy our weekend time a little more.  Maybe those other things were only excuses, but now we’ve got nothing to hold us back!  I’d imagine Red Rock will be seeing a lot more of the Caspers before the temperatures start to climb again!

I have a ton of pictures to share of Christmas Day around here.  So, rather than typing thousands of words to describe them, I’ll mostly let them speak for themselves.  Suffice it to say, though, that we had a lovely day.  Ava was thrilled to find that Santa had brought her the purple present that she asked him for, and Noah discovered that he could blow raspberries on his very first Christmas.  Thanks to the magic of Skype, we even got to open presents with both sets of grandparents.  Highlights for me were watching Ava try out her new dance stuff (girl’s got some moves!) and watching Ava & Matt play with the new RC boats in the pool.

Here’s the photo recap of a really great day:

Noah woke up super early, so we got some good cuddle time in before Ava woke up.

Whoozers slept in on Christmas Day.  7am!  Clearly she doesn’t quite get it all yet.  

Thrilled to find her purple present,with a bow, that turned into candy!

Opening her stocking.  She eventually opened all of them for us.  Such a good helper.

Twizzlers for breakfast.  Whoozers is truly her mother’s daughter.

All mornings should start with mimosas, I think.  LaCroix is a great champagne substitute for Ava’s drink.

Happy baby boy on his first Christmas!

Noah’s first bear from Mommy & Daddy.  His is named Jack.  Ava’s first bear was called Jill.  

Trying on her new ballet shoes

Dr. Who T-shirts for everyone this Christmas!

Both kids received a bunch of books this Christmas.  Every time we opened one, it had to be read immediately!

Opening presents is tiring!

New tap shoes!

Pretty ballerina

We spent the bulk of the afternoon enjoying our new toys and just hanging out.  Matt and I never got out of our pajamas!  We played several rounds of Ava’s new Memory game and spent some time putting together a new Playmobil set.  (Special shout out to Cousin Laura, who sent this great Christmas set all the way from Germany!)

When we were all played out, we settled in with some popcorn to enjoy one of Ava’s favorite gifts…Beauty & the Beast!  Thanks to several viewings of the movie in the last couple of days, her “Belle” skirt from Grammie is now getting lots of use.

Settling in to watch Beauty and the Beast.  The perfect end to a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

We have a lovely tradition going for Christmas Eve.  We fix an awesome steak dinner (completed with twice-baked potatoes & green bean casserole), invite some lovely friends to join us, and then, as we sit down to the table, finally take the big sigh that means it’s really and truly Christmas.   There’s something cathartic about this meal.  After all the rushing around this season sometimes brings, once we sit down to the table on Christmas Eve, we get to hit the pause button on our lives.

Also?  It’s when all the picture taking starts.  

After we enjoyed watching the carousel go round and round (very popular with the 16 month set)…

…we wrangled the kiddos for our obligatory Caspers/Hoffmans kiddos in front of the tree photo.  Here’s last year’s.  How time flies.

Since it’s just the eight of us for dinner, we get to stick with just dinner and then break up the party in time for each of the families to do our own traditions at home.  After the Hoffmans left, we set out cookies for Santa and read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Then it was time to nestle our children into their beds to wait for the big guy to come for a visit.  With a baby in the house, there was no long winter’s nap for us and Christmas day started early!  More soon!

Out of the blue last week, Ava said she wanted to go ice skating.  Seemed like the perfect time, so we found a place to go.  Surprisingly, for this being a desert, we had several choices!

We showed up at the rink just in time for an open skate, rented our skates, and got ready to go.

The rink was pretty crowded, but we were able to use some of their toddler walkers to help Ava get a good start.

Eventually, though, the walker ended up being more trouble than it was worth, so we moved on to just holding hands and working along the boards.  By the fourth or fifth time around the week, she was really starting to get the hang of it.  Whoozers was even starting to let go of everything and just scoot on around.

Ava had a great time skating and was a huge fan of “going fast” when we would push her around the rink.  She was totally wiped out afterward, but woke up the next morning asking if we were going again.  I think it was a hit!