Welcome 2011!

Happy New Year to all! We are gearing up around here to go back to work/school (for the children and me, anyway) after a 2 week vacation. I can't say I am ready to go back to work, but I am ready for us to be back in a routine...wonder how long that will take?!?!

Over the course of our two weeks off, we spent lots of time together, baked, cleaned, played, and took some exciting adventures.

Right before Christmas, I took the children to the Mc.Wane Center. The secret to going when school is out...get there when they open the doors. We were about the second people in the doors and by the time we left, there was a VERY long line of people at the ticket counter and there were LOTS of people playing.

Piloting Santa's sleigh

Standing in the tornado

This is so fun to see in pictures...it is basically a green screen, where the children can play soccer, play in a band, and be IN an arcade game. This is what you see in person....

...this is what is on the screen. {sorry for the quality...decided not to lug the nice camera that day.}

Carter loved this next exhibit...you roll the balls down the bowl and the water picks them up and lifts them into the air...or you can put them on the water and watch them bounce around. He was having a blast. Callen was a little to short to see what was going on, but she loved throwing the balls in there.

Water play is always a hit

After Christmas, Aunt B called to see if we wanted to go to the Gall.eria and ride the carousel. The answer from Carter was, "I don't want to ride the animals, I just want to ride on the chair." O.K.

Not so sure why he doesn't like to ride the animals, but he never has. Nonetheless, we had a good time riding the carousel with Aunt B in the sleigh.

After that, we headed to Chik.Fil.A for a yummy lunch and with the intention of Carter's playing in the playplace, but he wasn't so into it because there were many other children also playing. So, we headed home, where !!everyone!! took long winter's naps to recover from our busy morning.

Since we wrapped up 2010 with lots of excitement, we were excited to see the Tide usher in 2011 with some excitement, too. Those are the kinds of wins we like to see!

We are looking forward to all the fun and happiness that 2011 has in store for us!