Nickelodeon Universe Adventures

While in Minnesota, we discovered to the delight of the kids that the Mall of America had transformed the old "Camp Snoopy" into the new "Nickelodeon Universe" complete with rides themed with all of our favorite characters, like Dora the Explorer!

Here are Alice and Mommy, riding Diego's bus:

Our cute nephew, Elijah!:

Waiting to ride the carousel:

The Dora ferris wheel was fun:

We got a great photo of the entire family while we were there:

The mommies and their girls:

The girls enjoyed a ride together in a firetruck:

Alice got really sleepy toward the end of the day, and enjoyed a snuggle with Grandma:

We were so surprised at the end of the day to see the "real" Dora!  Miranda bravely ran right up to get a photo and hold Dora's hand...

True to form, Alice felt a little more shy and waved to Dora from across the barrier:

Here are the rest of the photos from our day at Nickelodeon Universe.

Happy Birthday, Elijah! (And Cousin Tubby Time)

A really fun side benefit of spending the week together in Minnesota during the time of year we were there was that so many of the family members had birthdays within a month or so.  It was a week of celebrations, with each day representing a different person's birthday!

First, we had Elijah's first birthday!  Happy Birthday, Big Boy!  We were so excited to be with you to celebrate your first birthday:

Alice was excited to help Elijah enjoy all his new toys:

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream!:

Alice was impressed by Elijah's cake - specially designed after one of his favorite toys - the iPad!  Here he is, trying to press the "buttons" while Alice looks on, amused:

Mommy worked for about a year and a half on this cross stitch for Elijah and we were thrilled to be able to frame it in Minnesota and give it to him for his birthday:

Once the birthday celebrations were over, Alice and Miranda resumed what became a nightly tradition during the vacation - cousin tubby time with Grandma! 

Here are the rest of the photos from Elijah's birthday party.  Happy birthday, kiddo!

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.