Family Fun in Minnesota!

It is that time of year again - for our annual trip to see the Red Sox!  This year our trip was to Minnesota.  Grandma Marcia and Papa Pete rented a big house in St. Paul and the whole family met up to vacation together for the week.  Such a fun time!

Here we are so excited to be flying all the way to Minnesota!:

Alice was so excited to have the chance to spend some time with everyone.  It seemed that every moment was filled with fun!

And did we mention there was an indoor swimming pool in the house??  Super awesome.  We went in almost every day, and it was such a special treat to have in the house:

Daddy's best friend, Shannon, his wife, Mary and their daughter, Teagan, who is a year younger than Alice, came down and spent a couple of days with us.  The fun multiplied!:

One of the most fun parts of the vacation was an indoor playspace that we visited filled with giant climbing structures and massive slides.  The kids and the grown-ups all had a great time:

Alice and Miranda shared a bedroom at the vacation house.  The loved bonding and chatting late into the night.  The managed to get in lots of great cousin time.  Here they are watching the iPad together:

Grandma loved having the chance to tuck the girls in at night, and the girls loved their Grandma time:

Here is Alice, deep in conversation with Uncle Eric:

Cousins!:

Here are Auntie Vicky and Miranda enjoying an escalator ride:

Mommy, Daddy and Alice loved spending time with everyone on vacation!

Here are some additional photos of us enjoying family time during our vacation in Minnesota.

Scavenger Hunt!

Alice and Mommy recently had an especially fun day together when we planned and pursued a photo scavenger hunt throughout the day!

There were 10 items from around town we planned to find.  Here's our cheery girl, excited to get started:

We located a "book about dinosaurs" at the library:

We found "a witch" statue in the center of town:

We found "a firetruck" in the toystore:

At the end of the day, we only had one item still on our list... "a penny on the sidewalk"... we looked all over town but could not find it.  We decided that we would continue to look whenever we went out so that we could check it off our list.  Here we are, headed home after a fun afternoon:

Here are the rest of the photos from our photo scavenger hunt!

Alice reading in bed

Alice has been reluctant to take a nap everyday, but she will lay down for some quiet time.  Here she is during quiet time reading to her dolly Ellalie.

Fun Around Town

We have been in Salem for about a year now, and we have enjoyed exploring our new town whenever we have a chance.  Here are some fun shots from around town!:

One day when Alice and Daddy were walking home from school, they ran into a family that was looking to get rid of this little car, so Alice became a new car owner!

A new restaurant in Salem opened recently, called Life Alive.  Here is Alice, trying rice milk for the first time:

At our neighborhood CVS, Alice found models of our next-door neighbors, Deb and Ed's car and truck!:

Alice always loves checking out the flag display in the center of town:

Firefighter Alice at one of our favorite local restaurants, The Engine House:

One of our favorite activities in Salem is visiting the Peabody Essex Museum.  Here is Alice, checking out the duck she created:

Here she is, magnifying her hand at the museum:

We always love checking out the local music scene.  Salem often hosts concerts in the downtown area and we try to attend as many as we can.  Alice loves taking in the music and often dancing too!

Here is Alice on her new bike, with her little doll, Bobo, on the back enjoying the ride:

Here are some additional photos from around town.

Easter Celebrations

We dressed up and headed down to Grammie and Grampie's house for Easter dinner.  Alice was excited to show off her new Easter dress:

Glamour Shots, anyone?

Alice had a great time celebrating:

Grammie and Grampie's dollhouse even got into the festivities (look close to find the hidden Easter eggs!)

Playing the piano with Grampie:

Playing trains with Daddy and Grampie:

A sweet moment with Alice and Grampie:

Can't wipe that smile off!:

Enjoying Easter dinner:

Baby Mae is not too sure about Alice's affection quite yet!:

 

Happy Easter from the Petersons!

Here are the rest of our photos from the festivities of the day.

Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny came to our house this morning!  We woke up early to find out what she left for Alice!

A great Easter basket, complete with a baseball and bat, a bubble wand, some books and some fruit snacks!:

Then it was on to the Easter egg hunt.  Alice enjoyed running around the house finding the hidden eggs:

Here she is, tallying up her loot:

Yum!  Nothing like candy in your PJs!

Then it was off to try out that bat and ball with Daddy:

Here are the rest of the photos from the morning.

Meeting the Easter Bunny

We discovered that the Easter Bunny was going to be in Salem, so Alice and Mommy took a walk over to Pickering Wharf to say hello.  In typical fashion, Alice was very cautious approaching the Easter Bunny:

This was as close as Alice would get for a posed picture:

But after a minute or so of talking, Alice decided it would be alright to pet the Easter Bunny:

Alice did have a very important question.  "Are you a girl?"...

And the Easter Bunny said yes!  So, Alice settled that one:

Happy Easter to our Furry Friend!