Spontaneity

Friday I got off work early......so being the crazy spontaneous folk that we are....we called Kurt and Melissa to see if they wanted company for the night. They said yes, and off we went! I'm always afraid Aaron's family is gonna think I grew up in the crazy ward with the way we make plans. But we had a good time......a good diversion amidst this splendid spring weather we're having. {said with a sarcastic tone} We even swung by Great Gramma and Grampa's on the way home and got to meet Lyle and Ginger and their kids!

Andrew and Chloe had fun riding in the wagon.....they're only 6 months apart!

They actually cooperated for a trio picture.....aren't they cute?!

I'm sure she's gonna look at me like this someday....

I wish I could look this cute in an outfit like this....

weekend at Gramma and Grampa's

Chloe and I went down to Iowa for the weekend.....Daddy had to stay home and work. Had a great time relaxing and hanging out with the grandparents. We were so lazy we didn't even get a game of scrabble in! We did venture out for a little bit of shopping on Saturday. I got an ADORABLE sunday outfit for Chloe for this spring. Look for pictures in the future! And here is a random sample of the fun from the weekend....

Concentrating on books....

An over the backseat view riding in the car

Look Mum....the snow's melting!!!

Terrorizing poor little Joshua

Princess Rebecca....wore her headband like this all day!

All the kids playing after meeting

Puerto Rico

I know this is overdue....but life has been crazy....bear with me.

So we (Chloe, Aaron and I) went to Puerto Rico Jan 14-20 with my mom, little brother Ben, my sister Wendy and her hubby Mike. My aunt is in the work down there (Ruthie)....so she spent the week with us and translated Spanish for us. We rented a huge house for the week and had a blast in the warm sunshine. Here's a quick rundown of the week....

Monday- arrived in the afternoon....stopped for groceries on the way to the house

Tuesday- Spent all day at Luquillo Beach....Chloe LOVED it....tried to get a little bit of a tan while keeping her out of the sun. Aaron did his usual sand-castle building marathon with Ben.

Wednesday- we hung out at the house, around the pool, etc....while the rest of them went to Culebra Island snorkeling all day (645am-8pm). We figured it'd be too exhausting lugging Chloe around for that.

Thursday- We all went in and explored Old San Juan...saw both the forts (El Morro and San Cristobal). This was Aaron's favorite part of the trip....lots of interesting history. We ended up walking right into the middle of a parade for some neighborhood festival....nothing like spanish culture up close and personal! Went to Hilda's for supper and bible study.

Friday- we hung around the house again- it was a bit cloudy/rainy. Mum, Wendy, Ruthie and Ben went hiking in the El Yunque rainforest for the afternoon. We figured we wouldnt brave the non-stroller friendly hike without a backpack to carry Chloe.

Saturday- Spent the morning at the beach by our house....and then had a bunch of the friends over for a bbq all afternoon. Lots of kids swimming in the pool...and lots of spanish conversations which we couldn't understand!

Sunday- Went to meeting up in the mountains- very beautiful. Lunch with everyone afterwards....and then headed to the airport to return home. We left 86 degrees to return to -5...how fabulous is that?!

Some things we learned? Vacation with a 9 month old is fun but NOT relaxing. :) No such thing as sleeping in like vacation used to be. BUT...it was very fun to see Chloe get excited about the ocean....and visiting the forts...etc. Aaron now thinks that changing the mind of anyone in my family is like trying to pry re-bar from solid concrete. Getting everyone to agree on an activity when you have 7 opinions is not as easy as it might seem. :) Next time we go on a vacation we will both have one day off after returning instead of having to come straight back to work. We didn't get in to Minneapolis until 11pm Sunday night....our bags didn't make it...we had to get a carseat from the airline since that was in one of the bags....take the shuttle to our car.....didn't end up getting home until 2am. I ended up calling in sick since I had a headcold and wouldn't get any sleep.

And now.....PICTURES! If you want to look at all 275, then go here!!- http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=aaronshunnie&AID=5087083

untraditional holidays

I got so sick of people asking me what special traditions we were going to start for "Chloe's First Christmas"....and then the horrified expressions when I told them I had to work all week and was going to miss it! Am I the only one wearied by the materialism of December? To us it was just another week slugging through....But I suppose that's just the way life goes when we both work in industries that are open 24/7/365.

I worked nights all week.....we're talking 6 12hour nights in 7 days. That was GREAT fun.
Nana came to visit all week and play with Chloe. All the pictures of that are on her camera since I was at work or sleeping! We did go shopping together on the one day I was off and had a blast! Mum went wild in the Liz Claiborne outlet...her favorite clothier. And thankfully her flights worked out okay....we had to take her to minneapolis....but she got on the flights she was planning to. Not bad for standby over the holidays.....and she got first class both ways! Hopefully that was payment enough for all the extra you did around here all week....laundry...cooking...cleaning...organizing....keeping Chloe occupied and happy. Thanks a MILLION, Mum!

We went down to Chad and Jill's for New Year's Eve. I'm afraid I was not fun company still trying to recover from all my nights. Next time I'll try and be livelier and actually stay up until midnight instead of going to bed @ 930. :)
Here's a few random pictures.....

Our new vacuum under the couch method....send Chloe crawling underneath and she'll swipe all the hair and dustbunnies on her shirt! :) She crawled under and didn't seem at all distressed by the dark or close quarters.

Check out those teeth! She says " Mum would you put that thing down?!"

Bella's waiting....wishing....hoping that some crumbs will drop!

midwest fog

The glorious fog....

Chloe having fun with her reflection in the window @ Gramma's

Andrew....doing lots of standing, but no walking yet!

Can I have that?!

Love this picture!!! Andrew is FURIOUS....Keitan is doing his fake cutesy grin which beautifully showcases his dimples.

I told him to go put on his pajamas and he came back in swimtrunks....which he loves because "they have underwear built in so you don't have to put any on!"

So Wednesday morning Chloe and I drove the 3 hours down to Kurt & Melissa's (well I did all the driving)....and apparently the west to east current that usually blows across the US has been sleeping this week or something. The fog on the drive down was WRETCHED.....visibility was only about 2/10ths of a mile....looked like you were driving on the edge of a cliff because it was a wall of white next to you. Anyway.....we finally made it safely. Can't say the same for Gramma and Grampa Colson who usually babysit Keitan and Andrew Wednesday mornings...they ended up in the ditch in the fog....but they're ok! Chloe and I hung out with Keitan and Andrew Wed eve so Kurt and Missy could go out to dinner for their 10 year anniversary (Congrats!)....had a blast. 3 kids isn't all that bad to manage.....especially when one's already asleep by the time the parents leave. :) Then Thursday after lunch Chloe and I drove the 3 hours over to Grampa and Gramma Starlings.....and the fog was still wretched and visibility was still horribly limited. At least it's all highway with wellmarked lanes. Spent the night there....did some shopping with Gramma....got 3 Scrabble games in. We were planning to stay until this afternoon....but decided to come home last night since more bad weather was supposed to hit today (so far nothing's happened).....and the fog last night was STILL wretched. So needless to say I'm sick of driving in the fog.....still have a headache from it! When we go down to Chad & Jill's for New Year's Eve...Aaron is definitely driving whether it's foggy or not!


And tomorrow starts my horrid week at work....so there may not be any posting here for a while. I work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.....all 12 hour night shifts. Gotta love the holidays! That's all 72 hours in 1 week instead of 2.....and no I didn't do it to myself....the schedulers did. But Chloe should have fun....Nana's coming to visit all week so I can sleep and work! :)