Puerto Rico (Alternate Title: Not a Bad Way to Spend Mother's Day) - Part I

51 weeks a year, we spend every waking moment trying to give our girls the perfect childhood.  1 out of every 52, we take one back (and refuel for the next 51).  This year we chose Puerto Rico for our destination.  Though I swear it is not a goal of mine to leave the country on Mother's Day, it just so happens that it worked out that way again for the second year in a row (last year we were in the Dominican Republic over the same time frame).  

We flew in to San Juan on Sunday - to this view.  Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Rest assured, it was still there on Monday morning.

Monday was declared "beach day" in accordance with our whatever-it-takes-to-make-Mommy-happy vacation-planning agenda.

Even in Puerto Rico I am a 100% dedicated employee (of course that is the real story and it has nothing to do with the convenience of the container for holding what is obviously water)

After an exhausting morning of lounging at the beach, we required a change of scenery

And finally, some time to relax in the hammock.

We may look happy and relaxed here, but trust me, this full day of lounging around stuff is hard work.

Tuesday was dedicated to exploration of Old San Juan in the morning, followed by the afternoon at the beach.  In the evening, we went to dinner at Texas de Brazil (a Brazilian steakhouse) to celebrate Kyle's great new job with Choice One Bank.  (Nothing makes Kyle feel appreciated quite like half a cow on a skewer).

"Lost" is such a harsh word.  Let's just say we went a little more in-depth with our exploration of the Old City than we meant to.

I have no immediate plans for death, but if I were to be stuck in a cemetery with a view like this, I would be okay with that.

One of two forts in San Juan.  I forget the name in Spanish, but in English I am sure it translates to "The Hottest Place on Earth"

Exploring the stone oven that was this fort

So THIS is what being baked alive feels like...

The fort had its own cemetery, certainly for tourists who succumbed to heat exhaustion while on the premises

Walking down to sea level

Any cooler on the inside?  No.  No, it wasn't.

Heading back to fresh air

No cannons were fired in the taking of this picture

Half dead at this point of our tour, but the view was still pretty spectacular

"No seriously, can we be done now?"

Literally jumped into the fountain after exploring the fort - it was a matter or survival

We found Pigeon Park, which does not appear to be a misnomer - whatsoever

What's left of a gorgeous old church in Old San Juan

Finally, let there be dinner! - and by dinner I mean dozens of different kinds of meat

Megan & Hannah Pics - April/May 2013 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!

While we were in Florida, the Wolverines happened to progress in the NCAA tournament to the Final Four, meaning we returned home to a very happy Daddy...and also that we didn't stay home for long.  We got home from that trip on Wednesday afternoon, and by Friday afternoon Mom & Dad were headed to Atlanta, while the girls were headed for a weekend with Grandma & Grandpa.  Ugh, just reflecting on this turnaround makes me tired, but we did have an awesome time.  Kyle and I had actually been to the Final Four once before in Atlanta, but that time we didn't have any major interest in the teams who made it there, and I was seven months pregnant with Megan - so yes, you could say that this time was a heck of a lot more fun.

And once we got past all the vacationing, we had a lot of "work" to do.  April was a pretty busy month for celebrations around here.  Our pet goldfish (who we acquired as a "gift" from the photographer who did Hannah's two-year photos) turned one...as in one YEAR old.  Had I known that was going to happen, I may have not agreed to the theme of her photos last year, but I digress...  Anywho, it's not everyday a goldfish has a birthday, so we of course used it as an excuse to make him treats and celebrate.  And I won't lie, there are many days where Mr. Rick (totally respectable goldfish name) is my favorite pet in the house, so I didn't mind spoiling him a bit on his big day.  The girls also picked out new pink rocks for his bowl, and a Nemo statue to be his friend (I see no evidence that they have bonded, but I admittedly don't know much about the social behaviors of goldfish).

We also had Teacher Appreciation Week at Megan's school, and since I'm sort of overflowing with thankfulness for her wonderful kindergarten teacher and the kindergarten experience as a whole, we took this event rather seriously.

And last, but certainly not least, a certain little girl turned THREE.  (Note:  how in the world did that happen so fast?!?)  She had a great birthday!  We celebrated as a family on her actual birthday.  She started her day with her present from Megan - a Lalaloopsy doll to call her own.  We then made a trip to Meijer in our pajamas to pick out birthday donuts, and she opened her presents from Mom & Dad with a face covered in sprinkles and frosting.  She also happened to start her first big kid swim lessons on the morning of her birthday - after months of being dragged to big sister's lessons, she was very excited to have her turn in the pool!  After her nap (which her mean old Mom still insisted she take), us girls went to a local salon for manicures and pedicures - Hannah's first spa experience, but you would have never guessed by the way she settled right in and soaked it up.  Shockingly, she actually sat still long enough for her nails to dry - I never would have guessed she had that in her.  After the spa, we went out to dinner at her favorite restaurant - Licari's (this is the fabulous Sicilian restaurant that our neighbors opened a year ago - also one of my favorites).  Her day concluded with her first trip to the movie theater with Daddy and Megan, to see The Croods - she also did great there (no big surprise as girlfriend is a total couch potato).  All in all I'd say it was a pretty fabulous birthday.

The following day, we continued the celebrations by taking the girls to an indoor waterpark that's not too far from here.  They had an awesome time there as well.  We returned home, and Mom got serious about the prepwork for her Bubble Guppies themed birthday party the following weekend.  For those of you without preschoolers, Bubble Guppies is a new-ish show on Nick Jr with these strange mermaid type kids that are taught by a goldfish looking type professor - it's pretty cute and very educational, just a bit strange to get your arms around.  Anywho, it's Hannah's fave...  We had an awesome time with family and friends at the party, and rang in her third year in style.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HANNAH MARIE!!

Enjoy the pictures...

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Florida Trip - 2013

Please see the link below for pictures from our annual trip to Florida.  The girls and I had a great time visiting Grandma Dee and Grandpa Don on Anna Maria Island.  We realized this trip that this was Megan's SIXTH time to the island (or seventh if you count the time she traveled with me in my belly) - the gal is pretty worldly for a kindergartner!  On that note, this was the first time that we had to worry about traveling around her school schedule (well, as "worried" as you can be about falling behind academically in kindergarten), but we chose to more or less contain the trip to her Spring Break, and thus found ourselves in Florida for Easter this year!

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Our first couple of days there were pretty chilly (well, by Florida standards.  It was still snowing in Michigan at the time so we were fairly comfortable in our new surroundings).  The cooler temps did not, however, stop my children from enjoying the beach...in their swimsuits...which were damp from swimming in the 66 degree water.  (Has anybody reported me to Child Protective Services yet?)  We did enjoy the beach on Day 1, but took a break on Day 2 and used the cooler temps as an excuse to do some non-beach activities - we played mini golf at this cute place on the island (we went for the first time last year and it really stuck with Megan - she asked us probably 100 times from the point of our arrival when we could go back), and then went to the local aquarium, where we enjoyed seeing the manatees, dolphins, sea turtles and a super adorable sea lion show.

By the weekend, however, we were enjoying PERFECT beach weather (this actually didn't happen too often in Florida this year, so we got pretty lucky).  We spent Good Friday on the beach with our Florida cousins, Lauren and Logan, and had a wonderful visit.  On Saturday the girls had not one, but two, Easter egg hunts.  The first one was on the beach (do you know how awesome that is for Michigan kids?!?), and was followed by a great Easter party in Anna Maria, complete with parade, Easter egg roll and face-painting.  The second one was in Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood, and featured an Easter hat contest for both kids and adults.  Megan won the kid's contest, but she sort of swung the votes, because her face was already painted like a rabbit from our festivities earlier in the morning, making her virtually unbeatable.

Going into the trip, I was somewhat concerned (read: vaguely thought about for two seconds) about the kids having a non-traditional Easter, but around the time they had collected their third basket of Easter goodies from random strangers, I realized they were going to be just fine.  We even found time to color Easter eggs while we were there!  And not only was the Easter bunny able to locate them at Grandma's house and fill baskets for them on Easter morning with all kinds of treats, but we also got to have an amazing Easter dinner at Lauren & Logan's house - and go swimming...OUTSIDE!  (I repeat:  do you know how awesome that is for Michigan kids?!?)  It was a great holiday all-around!

We returned to beach life, and perfect weather, on Monday, as well as preparations for a SURPRISE first birthday party for Oliver.  A special bonus of this trip was that we got to visit (albeit briefly) with Aunt Kimmy, Uncle Ryan and baby Oliver, who arrived the next day.  Oliver turned 1 on April 18th, and since Grandma Dee and I were unable to make it to his completely, ridiculously adorable mustache-themed party in Virginia, we decided to throw him a surprise beach-themed party in Florida while we were all together.  It was a ton of fun, and a big surprise for Mom & Dad.  The girls had a great time helping me prepare, as well as playing with their tiny cousin.  He is quite possibly the most adorable little dude on the face of the planet.

We returned to Daddy on Wednesday after 8 days in the sunshine state.  It was an awesome time, and both kids are already asking about next year's trip.  Of course, we owe a HUGE thank you to Grandma Dee and Grandpa Don for spoiling us with awesome beach accommodations and airport transportation - this trip means the world to us Purdy ladies and is one of the biggest highlights of our year.  One day, we vow to drag Daddy along with us, too!

Megan & Hannah Pics - February/March 2013

Please see the link below for *recent* pictures (stick with me here, people, and go back in time a couple of months).

http://purdyfamilyest2005.shutterfly.com/pictures/470

The theme of this time period was snow, snow, snow, more snow...and snow days.  Winter came late to Michigan, but when it started snowing, it never really stopped.  Between January 28th and February 28th, Megan had FOUR snow days!  (For you non-math folks, that's an average of about one per week)  Throw in mid-winter break in mid-February, and there wasn't a whole lot of kindergarten happening during this timeframe.  And though it threw a major wrench in Mom's work schedule week after week (after week), I'd be lying if I said I didn't get as excited as she did when we heard school was cancelled for the day.  We had a lot of fun, and made some new traditions, such as going out for a late breakfast.  Ironically Megan's favorite thing was the time she ended up in my office for three hours when we got caught off guard by a snow day, but I'm sure as time goes on she will become less enamored with office life.

As we were knee-deep (literally) in the stuff, it is fortunate that the kids love the snow as much as they do.  Even Mom begrudgingly embraced its existence eventually, and we enjoyed a few fun nights outside, making forts and sledding down the cliff that is our driveway (this is a very convenient sledding hill for lazy folks who hate cold weather, as it turns out).

Hannah made some great strides in the potty training movement, and Megan took her reading expertise up a notch - independently reading to Hannah, Mom, Dad, our pets, etc.  It snowed.  We continued to count down the days until our annual girl's trip to Florida to escape the never-ending winter, and cursed the Groundhog and his blatant lies and broken promises for an early spring.  It continued to snow just to spite us.

And there you have eight weeks of our life, in a nutshell.

Megan & Hannah Pics - January 2013 (Great Wolf Lodge)

Happy New Year!! (because it's definitely January and not May - that is my story and I'm sticking to it)  Please see the link below for *recent* (remember people, it's January here) pictures of the ladies:

http://purdyfamilyest2005.shutterfly.com/pictures/415

We spent the days post-Christmas heavily invested in potty training our little one.  This was a battle of epic proportions.  Very, very dark times for our family.  If, hypothetically, I was writing this in May (which I am obviously not, since these pictures are all from January), I could happily report to you that the heavy lifting is done and we are more or less free of all of the nonsense that goes along with potty training, but since the date of this post is the end of January, I am only able to say at this time that things are touch and go, but trending up, and that we will definitely never be having another child to go through this with all over again - E.V.E.R.

The highlight of our month was our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor waterpark in Traverse City.  Megan had been mostly apprehensive about the water until last fall, but something suddenly clicked with her and between November and January, she turned into a fearless little fish.  She had a random Thursday-Friday off of school later in the month, so we decided to make a long weekend of it and give the place a try. They L.O.V.E.D. every minute of it.  Hannah, who has never shared her sister's fear of the water (she is confident about her swimming abilities, to a fault), had mastered all the water slides her height permitted her to try within minutes of our arrival.  Megan was able to do all of the slides with a parent, and wasn't the slightest bit hesitant on trying them all, approximately one million times.

The resort has other non-water entertainment as well, including a nightly story time with their woodland creature themed friends.  We also signed up to have milk and cookies delivered to our room each night we were there by aforementioned woodland creatures, which was kind of fun.  We had warned the girls what was going to be happening each night.  Hannah answered the door to Violet the Wolf on night 1 (who she had just met and hugged at story time about a half hour prior), but her gut reaction to opening the door to a wolf - even a wolf bearing milk and cookies - was to slam the door right in her face.  I suppose I can't fault her that one... Thankfully Violet stuck around long enough for us to open the door, profusely apologize, and collect our bedtime snack.  We will definitely make a return visit, once we have lived down the shame of this one.

Megan & Hannah Pics - November/December 2012

Please follow the link below to the most recent pics of the little ladies. We have been a busy bunch, as I'm sure is the case with the rest of you. The holidays were wonderful, but I, for one, am doing okay with them being behind us. We had a great time celebrating Christmas, but holy crap, did we celebrate Christmas... a lot.
 

http://purdyfamilyest2005.shutterfly.com/pictures/217
 

We spent Thanksgiving in Fremont, enjoying a low key gathering with Kyle's family. We even got to spend some time with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Larry, who traveled all the way from Connecticut. It was so great to see them! Megan's school has an annual kindergarten feast on the last day before the holiday. Each kindergarten class (there are 4) made something to contribute to the meal, and each parent is asked to donate a small item as well. Megan's class made cornbread, which is her favorite food on earth (comes with the Purdy genes), so she was especially excited to be a part of this.
 

We again opted to visit Santa at the John Ball Zoo in GR. We find him to be the most genuine Santa look-alike, and also not a total scheister like those losers at the mall. The zoo does an annual Christmas with the Animals party - zoo admission is free with a "present" for the animals (treats for them like peanut butter, jelly, or other little items) and the whole zoo is decked out for Christmas, with Santa and Mrs. Claus there and plenty of activities for the kids. We look forward to it every year.
 

We began a new Christmas tradition this year for the girls - the Elf on the Shelf. After hearing for a couple of years that this was right up my alley, curiousity finally got the better of me and we took the plunge. The basic premise is that the elf (who our girls promptly fell in love with and named Sparkle Teddy Bear - no, I'm not kidding) arrives from the North Pole to be Santa's eyes and ears on the ground (she appeared on December 1st). She disappears every night after bedtime to report back to Santa on their behavior, and reappears in a different place each day - until Christmas Eve, when she returns to the North Pole with Santa. We had so much fun with it. I've got pictures all saved up for her activites each day, which I have high hopes of eventually turning into a blog post, but as I suck at keeping the blog current, I would not recommend that anyone hold their breath).
 

We had a trip to Chicago planned for the second weekend in December. We had tickets to see the play Cinderella while in town. Cinderella was being played by Uncle Ryan's little sister Missy, so there was no way we wanted to miss this. With Megan's big wish from Santa being an American Girl doll, and a trip to Chicago already in the works, Sparkle Teddy Bear convinced Santa to deliver a couple of special gifts to the girls a little early (that is our story and we are sticking to it). On the morning we were to leave, two presents, a note from Sparkle Teddy Bear and a note from Santa to each girl appeared on our fireplace. Santa brought Megan her doll and Hannah even got a Bitty Baby (American Girl infant dolls), and Sparkle Teddy Bear arranged a tea party for them at the store that very afternoon. They were beyond thrilled!
 

We had great weather for the trip, and made it downtown in record time. We had time for swimming and relaxing before heading out for our tea party and to explore the store, which I will begrudgingly admit is actually kind of an awesome place. We then headed to Lincoln Park Zoo to catch the Zoo Lights (approximately 40 billion Christmas lights strung throughout the zoo). The next morning was the play (which was great!!!) and then we headed to the suburbs to visit with Aunt Becky and family for the afternoon/evening. It was so great to be able to see them, too! We hit Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier before leaving town the next day. It was an awesome trip and such a fun way to kick off the holidays.
 

We spent the next several weeks wrapped up in school parties, neighbor parties and family parties. Last year Megan and I started a new tradition in the neighborhood - the 12 days of Christmas cookies, where we baked and delivered one cookie per family member for 12 days. It was a hit, and this year the other neighbors were all interested in getting involved. There are six families back in our little area that are close, so we divided and each took two days for treat delivery. It was a ton of fun, though we are still detoxing from 12 extra days of holiday sugar intake.
 

The girls were very successful at being spoiled again, which will probably not shock anyone. It was a very Merry Christmas.
 

In other non-Christmas events, we have kept Megan active in swim lessons since September. Something has seemed to click with her, and all of a sudden she is swimming like a little fish. She has progressed two levels of swim classes since the fall (this was after stalling out at the same level for a couple of years!!), and Kyle had her at the Y just this past week, where she surprised him by swimming almost exclusively under water! She has come such a long way in such a short period of time! She will start her next lessons next weekend, and we booked a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (indoor waterpark in Traverse City) later in the month when she has a random two day break from school. Because she has been so cautious about the water, we didn't think this was something she would have previously enjoyed, but I'm certain it will be a whole different story now. She is reading with gusto and keeps a very busy social calendar - the cold weather does not seem to have deterred the neighbor kids from seeking each other out to play, though this is not the case for the parents - oh well, the kids are getting older now, right?
 

Hannah is busy, busy, busy as ever, keeping up her reputation as wild child. We started a third attempt at potty training last weekend - though we got off to an awful start, I am pleased to announce that the kid has now caught on and is doing absolutely awesome! We are looking forward to sending her back to school next week with these new skills - she cannot wait to show her teachers her big girl underwear. :) I have cautioned her that in today's world she should probably be careful with how she approaches this, but I assure you it's all innocent.

 

 

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Elf on a Shelf

We jumped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon for the first time this year.  To be honest, I had no idea what to do with the thing after I purchased it, but I had a ton of people tell me that it was right up my alley, and I caved.  Thankfully the children's book it came with was enormously helpful in clueing me in to what exactly needed to be done. 

The basic premise is that the elf arrives from the North Pole (where else?) on the same date every year - we chose December 1, though the day after Thanksgiving is rumored to be another popular choice.  The elf will disappear each night to report on the child's (or childrens') behavior, reappearing in a new spot the next morning.  I may have taken liberty here with the author's intent, but in our case, we told the girls that if their behavior was less than desirable, the elf would stay in the same place.  On Christmas Eve, the elf returns to the North Pole with Santa until the following year.

We (of course) had a girl elf.  She appeared first in our playroom - see below.  The girls absolutely LOVED her.  They named her Sparkle Teddy Bear, which was a group effort (Megan contributed "Sparkle" and Hannah came up with "Teddy Bear").  They were SO excited to get up each morning and see exactly what she was up to.

Here is a peek at the various places we found her:

She had a tendency to be kind of naughty, this elf.

We took the girls to Chicago in December for a pre-holiday weekend getaway.  Megan's big wish from Santa was for an American Girl doll.  Since we were going to be so close to the store, Sparkle Teddy Bear thought it would be a good to idea to arrange for an early delivery of these gifts from Santa.  Here she is with the gifts - straight from the North Pole - and all packed and ready to go to her friend Zeze's house while we were away for the weekend.

Hanging out with Zeze - Claire's elf

She stowed away in the girls' bags when they spent the night in Fremont -
they caught her the next morning enjoying the hot tub

We got to host Zeze for an overnighter when Claire's family went to Chicago. 
Zeze is a rather handsome boy elf, so Sparkle Teddy Bear wanted to look her best.

Zeze's here!

Alas, the time came when we had to say our goodbyes. They were so bummed to see her go, but thankfully they had a small mountain of Christmas presents to ease the blow. We are looking forward to having her back next year!!

She left the girls a special goodbye note - being sure to include Hannah's current
 favorite expression, "see you 'round like a doughnut!"