2013 in Review - Jan & Feb

Feeling Thankful

Three years ago today, my Dad has his stroke. 

Today he continues to live on his own and completely care for himself.  Amazing.

He left the hospital needing no therapy and has been on the up-swing ever since.

My heart is so thankful for Dad's health.

Our girls adore Grandpa Tom and refer to our guest room as his room.  He is fun, silly, snuggly, and loving.

So thankful, that God has blessed us with more years with Dad for me and so my girlies get to know more and more of Grandpa Tom! 

Summers Up North

 More like one week in August, but still...

We decided to check out a little of the East Coast on our drive down to Pennsylvania.

Our first stop: a U turn for ice cream at Coldstone.  (too tasty, no time pics...)

Next stop: A little beach in Connecticut with -- a playground.  Score!

PT got in on the fun too ;)

 

My beach babies

 

We made it into NYC the next morning and checked out the Central Park Zoo

Philip and I have a picture like this from many years before these sweet girls were around so I "encouraged" us to take a similar picture...

 

 Initially it didn't go as well as I had hoped...

 We eventually got Kate to put the map down and Audrey to smile

Checking out the animals

As we completed our NYC trip in Central Park we started with ice cream and then explored the park

 The girls loved it and we loved experiencing a little of the city with our girls.

Um, iPhone August

In early August Philip was out of town so I thought it would be fun (and easy) to take the girls for ice cream after church.

We pulled up and Kate excitedly asks, "Did daddy say we could have ice cream for lunch?!"

Nice.  He gets credit for all the fun ;)

We took the girls to Firehouse subs for lunch one day with the coupons they got from the library.

Cute Audj...

The girls summoned us to their room for "The Talented Show"...it was pretty cute.

Not long after we were playing a quick game of soccer in the 90+ degree heat.  Lasted maybe 5 mins!

We flew to Connecticut with PT so that he could work with a colleague and we could squeeze in some family time with my aunt and site see.

We took an early flight and the girls stayed away the entire flight...and then fell asleep on the decent...

My Aunt gave us tickets to a little theme park, Lake Compunce, in Connecticut. It was a fun way to start our trip.

 

One morning when Philip was working I took the girls to a little museum.  I think it was called Kid City.  They could spend ALL day in places like this.  I should have brought book because they were highly entertained!

We left Connecticut to explore more of the North East...but we stopped at Cracker Barrel first.  Comfort food!

The girls snuggled up watching cartoons in the hotel.  I LOVED seeing them like this.

We braved New York City on Saturday morning!

We surprised the girls by taking them to the Central Park Zoo! We thought they'd be over the moon since it is where Madagascar is based off of...

They enjoyed it for sure, but were slightly disappointed that there weren't the same animals there from in the movie.

Audrey is pretty sensitive to smells...she thought the penguins were "sthinkey"  (they were!)

We left the regular part of the zoo and headed to the Central Park Children's Zoo

Our little map lover...

They loved this spider web

We ended up taking a quick walk through Central Park...after stopping for ice cream first

These pics crack me up...frame by frame

  Hilarious...

Naturally we stopped at a playground and they had a blast...

We made it to Pennsylvania to spend the night before heading to Valley Forge National Park.

Hey George!

Cute Kate

Some of the soldier's quarters...

Which Audj found to be "sthinkey"...

We spent the night at Aunt Jill's house and the girls were SO excited to play with her boys' (who are in college and high school) toys.

That following morning we started off with a character breakfast at Sesame Place. 

Abby Cadabby

Audrey not so sure about Cookie Monster...

Big Bird!

 Bert

Audrey *starting* to warm up to Abby

Kate and Ernie

Cookie monster again!

Kate is our little daredevil when it comes to rides...she and Philip are in the 2nd to last car from the back

Cuties waiting in line for a ride w/PT

 Zoe!

Kate drew a pic of she and PT on the roller coaster...LOVE it

On our way out of Pennsylvania we stopped at the Crayola Museum.  

We went on a Tuesday expecting it to be calm, buuuuut it was one of the loudest, most chaotic kids places that I've ever been too.

The girls enjoyed it just fine, but I would prob skip this adventure next time

 

The morning that we were flying home we stopped at one of my favorite spots, Panera!

The girls spent a good hour with this sticker project idea that I stole from my friend Holly. 

En route to the airport we stopped by Mark Twain's house...

LEGO Mark Twain!

We made it home and Kate went to a Hadley's fun princess birthday party where Cinderella showed up!

Kate went with Philip for her 2nd haircut at the age of 4.5

Those two pictures were the before.  The after turned out to be...slightly crooked. The guy does a great job on Philip's hair, but wasn't so terrific with Kate's.  We have yet to get it cut again...