Christmas Vacation

This year I made a New Year's resolution that I would write at least two blog posts a month.  How do you think I'm doing?  And actually it's only kind of my fault.  For several weeks the browse button on the picture loader was down so I wasn't able to load any of my pictures.  However that problem has been fixed for the past couple of weeks and I'm only just now getting around to doing my posts now that the month is over half-way through.  So now I will be playing catch-up for the next few posts and hopfelly then I can keep up.

Our Christmas break was really nice.  We stayed close to home and mostly just enjoyed the slower pace and spending lots of time together.  My cold finally abated somewhat and so we decided to take the kids to a kid's museum in Ann Arbor that we had never been to.  Last spring we purchased a reciprocal membership from our local kids museum thinking that we would be going to New Jersey where we always visit their museum there.  But plans changed so we are hoping to visit some of the various museums in Michigan before the membership expires.  Especially because we learned that they are changing the benefits next time.  Not only is it going up in price but now instead of free admission to the various museums it's only half-price admission.  So this may be the first and last time we visit some of these places.

This one was really nice and had three floors to explore. 

My favorite was this cute little general store that was full of old fashioned items and old cash registers for the kids to play with.

Spencer remembered all too well his experience on a stretcher in an ambulence in New Jersey...

Kendall and Spencer enjoyed a game of checkers by the old time-y "window" in the store.

Kaya was ecstatic to find that her best friend from preschool was there with her family that day too!

A trip in the ambulence.

After several hours in the museum, we took advantage of the location to do some shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to help kick off our resolution to eat healthier.  This was our first trip to Trader Joe's and we loved it.  We found lots of great items that were allergy-free for Spencer and lots cheaper than Whole Foods or the health food store in Battle Creek.

For New Year's Eve we spent another evening at home which is what I love best.  We enjoyed playing some of our new games that we got for Christmas and some of our old ones too.  The night passed so quickly and before we knew it we were ringing in anothe new year! 

The kids love their new game called Fibber.

We had a fun Fast Track tournament.

After the New Year, Kalen had to get back to work but the kids and I were fortunate to have an extra week before school and babysitting resumed.  I had been told about a fun indoor playground in Chelsea awhile back and I decided it would be the perfect activity for the kids to get out of the house but stay out of the cold.  I decided to surprise them.  It was so funny because it is located in a shopping center and the lot was pretty full so I had to park in front of an Ace Hardware store.  Spencer took a look around and said: "What?  You brought us to a hardware store???"  They were pretty excited when they walked in and found themselves in a big playland.  We ended up spending quite a few hours there and the kids probably would have been content to stay even longer.  I actually wouldn't have minded either since the place has a ton of overstuffed leather sofas and chairs for adults who get tired of playing before their kids do.  It was really fun and we'll definitely go back.  We did miss Taylor though.  Apparently he is getting too old for things like this.  (Even though I do think he would have had fun there--even I played on the equipment and the slides were super fun!).

One thing that Taylor did do over the break was to go on his first date!!!  He doubled with another kid in our branch and they took a couple of the girls (also in the branch).  He had to be talked (coerced) into it but ended up having a ton of fun so we're hoping that he'll do more of it. 

The day after our trip to the Chelsea Treehouse, I came down with a lovely stomach virus and spent the last few days of the break feeling miserable and kind of mad.  Between my awful cold at Christmas and the stomach virus, I was sick for most of the break.  By the time I was better, it was back to babysitting and the crazy days of kids back in school.  I guess I would rather that than trying to babysit while sick, but still.  I am grateful for the break and I am looking forward to summer already.