NH for Easter

Tuesday I had surgery on my leg for my varicose veins which have been a loathsome presence since sometime late college... or maybe right after? They've been on my leg for such a long time I really cannot remember a time after high school where I was like, "yeah, I can totally rock this pair of shorts because I don't have any lumpy blue things on my leg!"

My mom came to watch the girls and I have to say, aside from some nausea from the pain meds, the actual procedure was pretty easy and I got to catch up on some TV watching.  Overall, a nice break.

Fast forward to the middle of the night on Tuesday when I thought someone had surgically implanted flaming tennis balls into my leg.  Extremely sore.  But hopefully will be well worth it.

By Wednesday mid-day I was feeling a lot better and we decided to take off for the Easter weekend right after MiniM.E. got out of school.

And here were are!

we're where??!?

sister play time

"what? there's no more snow?"

Gymnastics

MiniM.E. has been taking gymnastics at the YMCA since she was two.  Of all the activities we do, it is definitely the one she loves the most.  I try really hard to get some good photos, but now with a baby in tow it's pretty tricky.  Also, with stuff for two kids in my diaper bag there isn't room for my fancy camera so I've only been using my phone so we'll call these photos "action shots"-- you know, because I really wanted you to feel the movement ;)

And here's a baby in a sun hat:

Photos With the Easter Bunny

I have to say I have never really understood how the Easter Bunny came to be a grown man in a bunny suit at the mall.  Or the enchantment of a giant bunny somehow coming into your house to leave a basket or hide eggs (do you leave the door unlocked or does he break in?).  I always thought it would be cuter if the Easter Bunny was, in fact, a bunny.  Maybe one that pooped chocolate eggs?  

Well, someone finally got it right.  Healthy Living partnered with a Eagle Ridge Farm to bring live Angora Rabbits to the mall for Easter Photos.

Cutest idea ever.  The giant floppy rabbits loved being held and all the kids got a kick out of it.  The line was so long it went through half the mall.  

Fortunately, MiniM.E. was so excited that she kept pestering us to leave so we got there half and hour early and beat the crowds.  UNfortunately, it was a little stressful to sit the girls up with a bunny seeing as how LittleL.G. is still pretty new to the sitting thing and they had the girls sitting on metal chairs on a tile floor.  I really wanted to snap my own photos but it was a quick sitting and I had to be on top of LittleL.G. so we only got the photo they snapped and printed.  I don't think they did a very good job editing, but it's still a pretty cute photo of the girls with a bunny.

Happy Easter!

Indoor Water Park

We have an indoor water park less than half an hour from our house.  After going to Tropical Islands in Berlin, Germany, we knew it was inevitable that we would visit the Great Escape Indoor Water Park.  I have to say, it was no Tropical Islands, but it was a water park and it was inside and most importantly, it was WARM!  After the winter we've had we were in desperate need of a warm vacation.

It ended up being cheaper to stay at the hotel than to just buy day passes, so we planned to leave right after MiniM.E. was done with school on Wednesday, play that evening, sleep in the hotel and then play all day Thursday.

In retrospect, I most definitely would NOT have stayed in the hotel with a preschooler and a baby if I could have just driven us home for the night.  A. We had to pack half our house to be prepared for an overnight in a hotel.  B. Both kids were either really excited or really freaked out by sleeping someplace different and stayed up much later than usual.  C. See (B.) and also woke up at 5 and 5:30 leaving us four and a half hours in the morning before the water park opened to find things to keep the girls occupied.

Other than the fact that we probably should have chosen to sleep at home (how were we to know?) the girls had a great time.  Most of the water park was a little to old for MiniM.E., but she tried a few water slides and spent most of the time at the kiddie area.

LittleL.G. testing out the water

kiddie slide!

loves this place!

MiniM.E. was so excited the first day at the water park and played really hard until she was exhausted (she lost a lot of sleep the night before because she was so excited).  Little L.G. couldn't even wait until we left the park to crash:

Once we were in the hotel for the night the girls got a second wind and played for a while:

where's the baby?

Early the next morning we woke up and immediately at 5:30am MiniM.E. wanted to go to the water park.  Only four and a half hours to fill!  So we took our time getting dressed and having coffee in the room and then drove to Denny's for breakfast.  Before it was even time to get ready to go to the water park, LittleL.G. was already on nap #1 for the day:

Finally the water park opened.  Thursday we spent a lot of time all together in the Lazy River.  Even LittleL.G. swam with us in the water wrap.  It really tired her out!

 We only lasted about an hour and half on day two- MiniM.E. was running on a severe lack of sleep from being so excited Tuesday night and not sleeping much in the hotel.  There's only so much Lazy River and kiddie area you take I guess.  Some of the stuff for older kids seemed really awesome and in a couple years MiniM.E. is going to have a blast!

It was a semi-successful but overall enjoyable trip and it was so nice to be warm for a couple days!  We really tired out the girls!

Just Some Photos of Our Week So Far

Sunday we had a playdate with a friend and the girls went on a pretty awesome sled dog ride:

LittleL.G. took her first sitting bath:

(MiniM.E. took a sitting bath too, but that's pretty old news)

We went for a walk outside since it was sunny:

And LittleL.G. loved it so much she fell asleep

And then Wednesday after gymnastics we ate lunch at Dunkin and LittleL.G. did some intensive car watching while MiniM.E. ate.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I almost forgot it was St. Patrick's Day because I usually associate it with spring and it certainly doesn't feel like spring yet.  Our celebration entailed dressing the girls in matching shirts and going out to lunch with friends after an eye appointment.  Oh well... I think it's more of a drinking holiday for grown ups without kids...

This week we also did a lot of inside playing:

And I took the girls to the TreePaad for the first time just the three of us.  MiniM.E. did a lot of solo sliding (which I was really proud of her for, since she usually requires me to climb and slide with her)

And both girls spend a lot of time in the toddler area:

I guess both girls were pretty tired this week because this happened at 6:30 while we were watching a movie last night: