Don't kill me Jesus!!!

Last night we were putting together a Prince "costume" for Zack, and I decided we could make him some sort of vest with an old t-shirt. So I took an old black t-shirt and cut the bottom off of it, since it was too long, and used that as a belt around his waist. Sydney took one look at him and said "he looks like Jesus!!". Then Zack picked up his Prince sword, and poked Sydney with it - to which Sydney loudly replied (outside) "Don't kill me Jesus!!!". Sydney was also very upset to find out that the "jewels" that we attached to Zack's crown (Burger King!) were actually from her school project that she had brought home. oops!

Gymnastics!!

Sydney started Gymnastics last week at the local YMCA. What fun! Her class has 6 other girls in it and for their first night they got to try out all of the equipment - balance beam, rings, bars, and even a trampoline. She was so excited about it, she said she wanted to go back the next night. Zack was a little less thrilled about it all since he only got to watch and couldn't try out any of the equipment - well, until Mommy let him bounce once on the trampoline (which was actually against the rules, but it kept him from whining!)

the Magic show

we went to see a magic show at the library tonight. When I asked Zack what he liked best about the magic show, he told me "cake" which they had after the show! The show was put on by our good friend Andrew Martin. It was a good show. And the cake was good too!

Are you....

going to go outside? Are you going to go in the garage? Are you going to go in the basement? Are you going to work?? What are you going to do right now? But what are you going to do right now?? I love you. Go make some money. Good night.... Good bye. I love you. Go make some money!
Sydney says this every night when we turn off the light at kiss her goodnight. Apparently that one (or maybe two..) times we went outside after she went to bed really freaked her out. Especially when she woke up and couldn't find us anywhere in the house. oops.

My new friend

Today we heard about Zack's new friend - Ian! This is the first school friend that we've heard about Zack playing with. Perhaps it could be a long time friend... like co-worker Chloe!

Zenobia Shrine Circus

The circus was in town this weekend so we took the kids. It was quite a treat for everyone - lions, monkeys, dogs, elephants, hula-hoop girls and much more!! The kids especially liked the light up necklaces that they got... and the cotton candy.

Mommy...

"I want to stay with you forever" (whispered to Mommy by Zack as I carried him to bed)

the Jellybean Tree

I finished up a mural in the kid's play loft today. It's our own Jellybean tree!

Ski day 3 - Keystone

For our last day of skiing we decided to stay right at our own resort. Once again it was a beautiful sunny day - we had to eventually take off part of our coats and put them in lockers because we were getting so overheating on the slopes! That's because we were doing some trick moves at the A51 terrain park. Or maybe not - perhaps we were really just falling off the box that we were trying for the first time - but we weren't afraid of the jumps and had a great time playing around.


Alan "rocking the box" at the terrain park...


For dinner we had some brews and a pizza at Fatty's Pizzeria in Breckenridge.




It was a quick trip, but a much needed break.

Ski day 2 - Loveland

Loveland is an awesome local ski resort that sits on top the Eisenhower tunnel. It's right on the continental divide. We went skiing there on our 2nd day. We go there almost every time we are in Colorado, but I think this was one of the very few times that it was actually warm instead of frigid. With the altitude so high, above the tree line, it can get pretty nasty up there when the temperature is cold and the wind is blowing. We had a great day of skiing, and had some fun wipe outs too!

After skiing we went to the Dam Brewery. Yummy!

Ski trip to Colorado!!

Sure, this is supposed to be a kids blog, but we like to put in notes and stories about other things too. We took a quick ski trip out to Colorado this year and stayed at the River Run condo in Keystone. http://www.vrbo.com/21218 What a great place to stay. This was our 2nd time at this particular condo. You can always get good deals at the last minute if you search for them.

On our first day of skiing, we went to Breckenridge. They got a new gondola since the last time we were there. Speaking of which, lift ticket prices are soooooooo expensive now. We had to pay $172 for only 2 tickets, when almost 3 years ago we only paid $43 a ticket. Ouch!

Breckenridge had great snow, and it was sunny. We even skied the Devils Crotch! (a double black diamond run) After skiing we headed to our favorite restaurant, Downstairs at Erics in Breckenridge. Remember Alan taking that fall on the stairs???

Woopy Woop

The kids take the bungie cords that are in the truck and have them hanging between the car seat and the back of the front row seats. Then they hang the other bungies on them. They now serve as phones, devices to steer the train, and Zack especially likes them when the look like "woopy woops"!

Too many!!

We went to the Toledo Zoo to see to see a performance that the Toledo Ballet was putting on. It was excerps from the Nutcracker show that they put on every year. Well, during the dance of the sugar plum fairies, all of the dancers came out on stage and had the same outfits on. When Zack saw them all, he loudly proclaimed "there's too many!!!" He said it so loud he almosted seemed distressed by their appearance! He got that from a book called "Too many frogs", but I think he really meant to say that there's "alot" of dancers :)

Alpine Valley ski trip

Zack takes his first cruise down the hill at Alpine Valley. He made it all the way down without falling, skiing right next to Mommy. He had a good time and went down the hill 4 times, until he started getting a little grumpy, then he was easily convinced to go enjoy some hot chocolate in the lodge. He said the best part of skiing was going up the hill on the Magic Carpet and he wouldn't stop telling us that he wants to go on the chairlift next time!



Sydney was doing a really good job skiing - especially since it was only the second time she's been skiing! Here she is going down the hill all by herself. She is becoming a pro at going down the hill - very fast - in a straight line. Oh well, there's always next year to learn "pizzas and french fries"
Hopefully we'll get a few more days of snow around here so we can go again - and get Zack up on that chairlift!!

Sledding

Even though we only have enough snow to barely cover the ground, we had to get out sledding. It's really only been snowy for a couple of days this winter. Hardly any snow at all, so this was our first sledding trip of the winter. We went over to Sidecut Metro park close by our house. The hill wasn't really steep, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

On our last trip down the hill, the sled finally gave in to the enormous weight of Alan's butt and a hole was broke through the sled. haha It probably had more to do with the stick they ran over on the way down, but the verdict is still out. :)

Best artwork ever!

Here are the latest pictures that Sydney drew for us. One of Sydney & Mommy and the other of Zack and Daddy!

"Oh my goodness..."

"... it's a Nut Grabber!" Sydney's new catch phrase around the holidays :)

"Oh my goodness!!"

Zack exclaims as we are out for a drive looking at all of the Christmas lights on other people's houses.

Lights at the Zoo

We took a trip to the Zoo tonight to see all of the Christmas lights. The kids loved the "dancing" lights which were synchronized to "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". Zack and Sydney went to see Santa and they told Santa they wanted a train & red race car (Zack) and a ballerina & princess (Sydney).

Don't look now!

We watched the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer last night. Every time the Abominable Snowman came on, Zack covered his eyes with both of his hands!