Saying goodbye to Jake

Saying goodbye to Jake

January 26, 2017

In January, we had to say goodbye to our first family dog.  Jake was such a great dog and had been with us for 13 years, longer than any of our kids.  We had been seeing obvious signs of old age over the recent years, but when we took him to the vet to check his back legs that seemed to be bothering him, the last thing we expected was for her to tell us he only had about a week left.  :(

Out of the kids, it was definitely hardest for Easton, our animal lover.  It was heartbreaking to see him so upset.  

Before Michael left to take Jake to the vet, we went outside for our final goodbye and I snapped some pictures for our family to remember.  

Girls Weekend in Austin

Girls Weekend in Austin

January 21-22, 2017

Ella was scheduled to have a soccer tournament in Houston and she and I were going to head up with Megan and Addison and make it a girls weekend.  When the tournament was cancelled due to rain, we didn't want to give up our girls weekend, so we switched gears and headed to Austin instead.  

We had a full 2 days exploring downtown Austin and introducing the girls to the wonderful city!

First we checked out some of the famous murals downtown, ate lunch at a fun burger hot spot on Congress and then decided to show the girls the Capitol!  We wondered why it was so crowded....had no idea is was the day of the HUGE women's march!  With no parking, Megan dropped off me and the girls for a quick look at the capital and then we got out of the there before the girls saw too much on some of the protestors signs.  lol

We explored town lake, checked out the awesome graffiti park and then topped off the day with an amazing dinner at Hula Hut.  

The next morning we took the girls to the University of Texas to check out the longhorns.  It was so much fun and we look forward to an annual girls trip!!!  Addie declared that next year we are going to A&M!    

I can't wait to re-create the UT campus pics one day if/when Ella is a student here! ;)

Day 5: Our Condo and Saying Goodbye!

Wow! What an amazing family vacation.  I really didn't know what to expect with the kids since this was a first...however ALL three of them far EXCEEDED our expectations and left me wanting to come back for more every single year in the future!  I'm not even a skier, but it's funny how things change when we become parents.  The joy that I felt watching my kids not only embrace something new, but to love it and be good at it was indescribable.  There was so much skiing, but yet I felt totally relaxed and had ample downtime as well since I got to relax with Asher half of the time.  I felt like it all ended up as the perfect set up.  

One of the best decisions we made (with 3 younger kids in tow) was to splurge on a condo that was truly ski in/ski out and was just a few steps away from the mountain, ski rentals and ski school.  I found it on VRBO and not only was the location ideal, it was also newly remodeled and extremely comfortable for the 5 of us.  A kitchen was a must for a ski trip since I knew we would want to relax in our condo and cook dinner at home at least a couple of times.  Little did I know that this would become a full-on SKI vacation where we did nothing but ski and then rest for the next ski day and eat all of our meals in the condo other than lunch since we ate on the mountain or it was provided with ski school.  Besides the travel days, the only clothes we wore was literally ski gear and pajamas, and an occasional swimsuit for the hot tub!  It was perfect!

The kids loved their bunk room and separate bathroom.

Our favorite kids show "Wild Kratz" seemed to be on whenever we had downtime in the condo which was perfect!  The boys were Chris & Martin activating their "creature power suits" and pretending to be different animals all week as they ran around the condo. 

We had plenty of room for all our gear and below is the view and location after walking down about 10 steps and then out the door from our condo.  

Our last night, we had cereal for dinner, and snacked on anything else that was left in the fridge from our initial grocery run.

As with every vacation, we were truly sad to be leaving, but also happy to get home.   Asher was the most excited to get home as he couldn't wait to see all of his transformers.  :)

On the way home, Ella and I were siting together and she asked a million questions about airport security and "what ifs" related to bad guys entering the airport or getting on a plane.  I would answer her questions and she just kept coming back with more! :)