Bridges Bay Waterpark

In our household, we have been counting down the days until February 15th since Christmas. So, this past weekend was a big deal.

This past Christmas, instead of filling our house with more crap, my parents decided to give my children (and us) the gift of a night at Bridges Bay to enjoy the waterpark. The kids have been very excited about this trip, and they couldn't wait to go.

The trip did not disappoint. We left home on Saturday morning after breakfast and packing up. The kids bothered us about when we were leaving all morning. We got to Okaboji around 1:00pm. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we changed into our suits and enjoyed the waterpark. The waterpark was really nice, the kids could touch throughout the entire waterpark, so that helped relieve a lot of stress. We still had to keep a close eye on Elliott, but it was nice that we didn't have to be right next to the kids the entire time.

Emma was pretty much independent the entire time, and she loved it. She went down the tube slide, body slide, did the lily pads, and was pretty much everywhere all the time. That little girl played her little heart out.

Elliott also had a ton of fun. He was too small for the big slides, but there were plenty of other slides for him to go on. And he loved the lazy river. He would switch between riding on a tube or just "swimming" around in the lazy river. He swam himself tired over the two days.

After a few hours of swimming, it was finally time to check into our room. We got a suite that had a common living area, and then had three bedrooms coming off of the living area. We had one bedroom, mom and dad had another bedroom, and then Rachel and Elena shared the last bedroom. It was a really nice setup. There was plenty of room for the kids to play, and we all could be together, while still having our own space.

I think we decided that we will be doing this again next year. Everyone had a really good time. Mom and dad even went down the tube slide which was pretty impressive. We all also enjoyed the beer and snackies back at the room, and just being able to relax and hang out.

On Sunday, we went swimming for a couple hours in the morning, and then it was time to check out. We ate lunch at the hotel and then we parted ways. We joined Mom and Dad at a brewery in town, and then we headed home.

It was a really fun weekend with a lot of family time. The kids are already talking about when we can go back. I would consider that a success!

This week is another crazy one. I am still spending any free time that I have studying for the CNOR exam. We also just got done with week 4 of the Financial Peace University Class. This is a Dave Ramsey class about how to better manage our money, it's really interesting and super motivating. Also, Emma has to get some teeth pulled on Wednesday, so that will be interesting. And then this weekend Elliott is going to a birthday sleepover and Hannah is coming to our house for a sleepover, so there is a lot going on. Whew!!

Happy Valentine's Day 

Hotel Snuggles 

Ready to swim 

February Flurries.

Another couple of weeks have flown by, and I really don't know where they went. The weeks have been really busy between work, school activities, and just the normal hustle and bustle.

John and I are taking a Financial Peace University class right now, which is a Dave Ramsey class about budgeting and paying off debts. It's really interesting, and it's motivating us to ty to pay off some of our debt. That is occupying our Monday nights for the next 7 weeks. The kids love it, because they get to play in the gym with the other kids while we have class.

Last Saturday, Emma and I volunteered at the Lifescape Mall Walk. We ran a photo booth where people could take fun pictures during the event. We didn't have a lot of people who wanted to take pictures, but we had a good time. Emma was volunteering for hours for 4-H, and I was using the hours for professional development at work. It was a fun morning. After the mall walk, we headed to Great Life for a member appreciation party they were having which involved inflatables, kids golf, free bagels and door prizes. After the activities, I worked out while Emma went to the kids area. We also had a lunch date at Fizolis, which Emma thought was amazing.

While Emma and I were having our girls morning, the boys worked on Elliott's Valentine's Day box. They made an awesome Captain America Themed box, and Elliott is very proud of his box.

In the evening, John stayed home with the kids, and I went to a coworkers gender reveal party. It was a really fun evening, and we found out that Nicole is going to have twin boys, so that was exciting!

Last Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. We enjoyed a nice party at the Polzins' house. It was a nice gathering of church friends, and we had a great time. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, so that was pretty cool.

This past week, was pretty uneventful, but busy. On Tuesday evening we had Parent-Teacher conferences, and heard mostly good things about how Emma is doing in school. Both teachers had good reports, and we are very proud of our second grader. We also talked about Kindergarten roundup for Elliott, which is coming up in a couple weeks. I can't believe he is going to be in Kindergarten!! He is so ready for school.

We spent Friday evening cleaning the school, and then we have actually had a kind of quiet weekend. On Saturday morning, John took the kids to the Bethel basketball scrimmage while I stayed home to study for my certification exam. I am trying to squeeze in study time whenever and wherever I can. After lunch, we took the kids swimming at Great Life, which they thought was pretty fun. Then we headed out to Jim and Barb's house to celebrate Jim's 60th Birthday. We ate a nice supper, and then had some ice cream cake. It was a nice celebration.

The kids begged to stay the night, so we got to go home to an empty house. Today was a typical Sunday. We went to church (without kids!), I taught Sunday School, and then we spent some time cleaning and organizing the house since we didn't have any kids at home. I put in a little more study time and then we headed to Famous Daves to have supper with Jim, Barb, Jeff and Sam, and to bring our kids back home. It was a delicious supper, and we finally got the kids wound down for bed and we are relaxing and watching the Oscars.

This next week is going to be another doozy. We have some fairly busy evenings this week, and then this weekend we are going to Okaboji to stay at an indoor waterpark with my side of the family. This is the Christmas present that my parents are giving to the kids (and really to all of us). The kids are super excited, and have been counting down the days since Christmas. I think it's going to be a fun weekend, and can't wait to go!

Happy 60th Birthday Jim!