Vacation Bliss

This year, February in Minnesota was miserable. I have never seen such cold weather. While the temps were setting record lows, we were so lucky to have 2 vacations planned that made the month go quick. Our first one was the annual trip to WI Dells with the Eids. Everyone had a blast getting away and playing in the water. It took Kensi awhile to realize that she loved being a water baby, but she got there. And then she was game for it all. She might have gone down more slides than Sienna.

"Hands up Mom!"

Like every other little girl, they are obsessed with the movie Frozen. Lucky for us it was on pay per view at the hotel!

And this game. The weekend was not complete until each family got to bring home a ball.

2 weeks after the Dells, the real vacation came. 5 nights, 6 days in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. 4 adults, no children and SUN!! It was everything we could ask for...after we got over a little scare. I came down with a weird bug Friday night before we were supposed to leave (flying out Sunday) Luckily it was only a 24 hour thing and by Sunday morning I was ready to go. Big sigh of relief as we stepped onto the air plane. Less than 5 hours later we landed and felt the sun warming our faces. 

The week was filled with laziness. Every morning we'd claim our beds and chairs by the pool and take a walk on the beach. The rest of the day was filled with food, drinks, games, laughter, and of course naps. The resort was beautiful and beaches were endless.

Beds by the pools...and a lovely pedicure.

Success with the self timer.

Beautiful beaches.

Yes, the parrots are real. They even nibbled on our hair a few times.

Lots of Catan time! And dirty monkies. Best drink EVER.

It might or might not have taken a few tries to make this. And maybe one that had the wrong year too.

I am still reliving all of it as I sit inside not wanting to leave the house in this bitter cold. Come on spring, you can do it!

Princesses

Sienna has been into princesses ever since we left Disney last year. This year, Papa treated her to a special lunch with her favorites - Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine, and Sleeping Beauty. It was amazing. I have never experienced anything so magical. All of the princesses made my princess feel so special. Before the lunch started we got a meet and greet with Cinderella, who is Sienna's favorite. I wasn't sure how she would react to meeting the princesses since she was a bit scared of some of the characters the day before. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. She was so excited to meet Cinderella. She walked right up to her, handed her the autograph book, and they started talking about Cinderella's mice. She proudly showed her the princess shirt she was wearing and even ended her time by giving Cinderella a hug.

(Kensi slept through the whole meet and greet) 

After meeting Cinderella we headed upstairs in the castle for lunch. Before each princess entered music would started and a booming voice would announce their arrival while everyone cheered. Sienna spent most of her lunch turned around in her seat eagerly awaiting the next princess.

Snow white was my favorite. Probably because she gave my baby a big kiss that stuck with her for the rest of the day.

Kensi wasn't a big fan of the princesses. She cried for all of them and was much happier just eating.

And the food... It was delish. I didn't get many photos of it. This was my dessert. Some mouse with a spongy cake base covered in chocolate. Mmmmmmm.

I think we will definitely have to do this again when both of my princesses are old enough to appreciate it. Maybe even get them all dolled up for the occasion.

FL Vacation '12

We had our annual trip down to FL to visit Rick. This year we took Sienna to Disney for her first time. Weeks before the trip she was talking about going to see "Papa's Castle" and meeting Micky, Minnie, Donald, Goofy & Pluto. Needless to say she was excited.

We spent one of our days at Magic Kingdom. Family pic right before we turned her around to show her the castle.

Unfortunately, my camera didn't take her 20 seconds of mouth hanging open when she saw the castle for the first time. It was priceless to see her expression. She was in awe. As we walked up Main Street and got to the castle, all the characters were putting on a performance. Within her first 10 minutes, she got to see everyone on her list. To my surprise, I was allowed to ride on the rides. Sienna loved going up, down, and round and round on the carousel. 

She also got to meet the real Minnie Mouse and Daisy. She was all talk while we waited in line, saying she'd go up there by herself. As soon as it was her turn to see Daisy she turned and ran the other direction. She cried a little for Daisy, but was again in awe of Minnie. She felt pretty cool afterwards.

The day went way too fast and turned into night. The castle was beautiful as it turned different colors.

We stayed for the lighted parade and fireworks above the castle. Sienna loved all of it and is still talking about the fireworks she saw.

The next day it rained for a bit in the morning, so we opted not to do another park. Instead we spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney. Justin & Sienna rode the train together.

And she posed next to a few of the princess statues.

There was a kids street dance at night that we stuck around for. She had a blast bopping and twirling with the other kids.

 Remember this swing? Had to get the third year in a row with her in it.

The trip went too quick and before we know it we were headed back home. My big girl on the air plane with the seat to herself. Papa was nice enough to give Sienna the Minnie from his house. They have been attached at the hip since we returned. 

Sandy Lake

We had our annual trip up to Sandy Lake last weekend. This year we brought the kids along. The kids might be our good luck charm for great weather. Most years we go it's very cold and rainy. This year it was hot and sunny. You couldn't ask for it to be any better. It definitely wasn't as relaxing as other years but it was so fun to see how much Sienna enjoyed the lake. I think she wants to be a fish in her next life. She spent most of the weekend doing this:

Fill, spill, pour, repeat.

This was also a big hit.

She went up and down the slide countless times.

This was not a hit.

The life jacket made her fall over every time she tried to walk. It did it's job though and made her float on her back. She was not a big fan. She also had her first boat ride. She liked it the idea of it but wasn't too sure when she was actually on it. She kept saying it was windy.

Mallory also loves the water. Brent put the slide at the end of the dock and she went down it all afternoon.

As always there was lots of food. We all enjoyed some s'mores.

The adults even got a few minutes of alone time on the big 8 person raft while the little ones napped and the neighbors kept an eye on Mallory. Thanks Eids' for a great weekend!

AZ

I've been a little MIA, but I had a good excuse! We were out visiting my parents in AZ at their house. It was Justin & Sienna's first time out there. We had a great long weekend enjoying the warm weather and seeing some family friends. Too many pictures to post them all but here are a few of the highlights.

Sienna picked fresh tangelos off of their tree. They were so juicy and delicious. She loved them as the juice ran down her arm and kept saying, "messy! messy!"

We hit up the Phoenix Zoo. They had a lot of African animals and ones that you can't see at the MN Zoo. My favorite was the giraffes. Sienna and I just made the cut, and were the last people to get to feed them before they took a break. Their long tongues curled around the lettuce in our hands and slurped it back in. It was really cool.

We spent most afternoons outside enjoying the warmth and having happy hours.

Sienna even had a special outdoor chair with her favorite Minnie Mouse on it.

We enjoyed a dinner with Ron & Diana, who live in the same community as my parents. 

We also went to Roger & Sues' house, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that get together. We stayed at their house for a couple hours and then went to Scottsdale for dinner. Since there were so many of us we caravaned to the restaurant. Whenever Sienna is in the car, she always tells the person driving to Go!!  Especially when you get to a red light - she doesn't like to be stopped. Justin was driving, so she kept saying "Go, Daddy. Go!" We told her that we couldn't go any faster because we were following Roger and got her to say "Go, Roger. Go!" instead. She said it the whole car ride there, the whole car ride home, and every time in the car for the rest of the trip. Even now if you say the name Roger, she says, "Go, Roger. Go!" I think that might be stuck in her head. 

We found a fun park right near my parents house, with 2 big play gyms and a splash pad. 

My big girl on the ride home. We were so lucky and no one sat next to us on either flight.

The Jovle's take over Florida

As promised I put together a little slide show from our FL trip. This trip not only did Justin, Sienna, and I go visit Rick, but Amanda, Travis, Izzy, Sami & Janis were all there as well. They went down the week before we did and we overlapped for 2 days. It was a lot of fun to see them and let the kids play together. Sienna already idolizes Izzy. All weekend "Ze Ze" was her favorite word.

I was very nervous about flying with a 15 month old. She doesn't like to be confined and not moving. I was pretty terrified of having THAT screaming kid on the flight. When we got to the airport they offered us a great deal for a first class upgrade so we took it. That eased a lot of my fears. She had tons of room to run around between us. It was my first time in first class too - soooo nice! Never want to go coach again!

We kept our trip cheap and did all the free Disney stuff - walked the boardwalk, toured hotels, looked at the Christmas decorations, and shopped at Downtown Disney. The weather was great and stayed in the 70s. We even got a little pool time in.

Here's the picture highlights.

Pictures Can Be Deceiving

Enjoying some sun

Taking a swim

Lounging after the pool

Hamming it up on the plane ride home

Looks like we had a great time doesn’t it?? Too bad those are the only pics I have from our vacation since those were the highlights. I started feeling achy and weak Sunday morning. Sienna had a runny nose the previous week so I figured I was coming down with a cold. I powered through the day and we arrived in FL. Come Monday morning I woke up with a temp of 101. Our plans to Disney were canceled and I didn’t move from the couch all day. By Tuesday Sienna and Justin were both sick as well. Doh!

Sienna spent most of the rest of her vacation like this

The only good part to all of this was Papa Rick got in lots and lots of cuddle time which was really the whole point of the trip. We did enjoy a few moments of sun and nice weather here and there.

Sienna did great on both plane rides, despite not feeling well. She is such a little flirt. Anyone that met her eye was greeted with huge grins. Everyone around her just ate it up. Multiple times she got referred to as “The Gerber Baby”. You’d think those chubby cheeks would start to hurt from smiling so much.

Our house is finally on the way to recovery. I had to take Sienna into the doctor this morning and found out she has a double ear infection. Explains why she wouldn’t let me put her down yesterday! Let’s hope by the end of this weekend we can rejoin the world again.