Wrapping up 2013

Sixteen consecutive days off... and counting. It's been a wonderful vacation with family since the last day of school back on December 20. That seems like so long ago, and it was. It was last year! Boy, my body sure has had enough - too much eating, drinking, partying and staying up late. But that's what vacation is all about and we sure have maximized it! There were four days of Christmas, 13 days with Aunt Kristi, hosted too many dinners to count, a handful of play dates with friends, one New Years Eve bash, one Rose Bowl party, and three days of up north fun with friends. And now one snow day! As if sixteen days off in a row wasn't enough, I really did need one more day to recover from my vacation and I got it! It's a snow day for me too today! Starting tomorrow I will be ready to have some routine back in our lives. The routine kicks in right away for Kayla and Khloe tomorrow - Khloe begins the Big-n-Little gymnastics class for 3 year olds and Kayla begins piano lessons!

So here's a little summary of our last week of vacation:

Because they will go into withdraw if they don't see each other, we had a mid-vacation play date with Addison.  It's fun to show off all your new gifts to your best friend!

Then, before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve and we went out to dinner one last time as a family in 2013. Only we forgot to get our last 2013 family photo so it had to come as we were about to leave with all of our coats on.

We went on to celebrate NYE at a restaurant downtown, Khloe celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma (not really, she was in bed at her normal bed time) and Kayla celebrated at her friend Abby's home with Kristi. Kristi brought her back to Grandpa and Grandma's a little before midnight and she stayed up to watch 2013 turn into 2014!

Without a moment to sleep in or recover, we were up early to get ready for our Rose Bowl party on January 1st with 25 Spartans! (And even some Wolverines who were Spartans for a day). Our home was decorated with every Spartan accessory that Aaron could dig up and with two dozen red roses. There was a lot of voodoo going on during the game, but I think we finally found the winning formula. It involved me wearing an ugly purple Christmas sweater, foam hats circulating, everyone waving a rose in the air, and Aaron watching certain plays on a different floor. The formula worked - it was a Rose Bowl victory for the Spartans!

 Two Wolverines in disguise as Spartans. Shhhhhh! We promised we wouldn't tell anyone. The kids and I wore sparkly Spartan tattoos on our cheeks, but Gabby was reluctant to wear one. She let me put it on her as long as I promised not to tell her teacher or her friends. Haha!

The next day it was off to Mark and Lindsay's cabin for swimming, sledding and snowmobiling! It took some digging in our memories, but we figured out it was our fourth trip to their cabin. It's been awhile since that last trip because there were lots of pregnancies and babies between then. It was fun to have all the girls play together this time!

When there's sub-zero temperatures outside, you go swimming inside!

Aaron and I had just one request while we were up north - visit Shorts in Bellaire. It didn't disappoint!

The girls did get to go for rides in the Commander!

 The last day the temperatures did warm up so that we could finally play outside in all that snow. We went sledding and for rides on the Commander and on snowmobiles. It's a winter wonderland paradise for boys that like to have big, loud powerful toys.

Mark took Kayla for her first ride on a snowmobile! He said he got her going 60mph, but he waited until he was out of sight of mom. Smart move. I would've been freaking out; obviously he knew that. Kayla loved going fast and said she preferred the trails through the woods because they were bumpy over the road trails. Thanks for the awesome experience and memories Mark!

It was someone else's first snowmobile ride too - Aaron's! He and Mark went for a 30 minute ride getting up to speeds of 100mph across a frozen lake. Aaron was in heaven! And thankfully, there are no broken bones.