Horse Drawn Carriage Ride, Swimming, Presents!

Once we got to the hotel we dropped our bags in the room and headed for a quick dinner. I packed some birthday cake to bring along with us (how can you not have bday cake on your real birthday?!) After dinner we went back to the room to change into warm clothes...Hailey learned her lesson after freezing during the castle tour and agreed to wear her heavy coat, fleecey jeans, and boots! Kai sat next to me and entertained the other carriage riders with songs and Hailey had a front row seat! It was a gorgeous, SNOWY evening! I loved this picture below of the horse against the snow. It had stared snowing while we were on our castle tour and it never stopped even as we drove home the next day (they hadn't had snow in about a month!) It made the ride extra magical!

A video snippet of the cloppety clop!


Checking out the horses after the hour long ride.
Even though it was after 8:30pm by the time we got back to the hotel room we told the girls that they could swim since they had napped in the car from 4:00-5:00. My camera kept steaming up on the pool deck. They also have an outdoor hot tub but it's off limits to children after 8:30. We swam in it the following afternoon while it was still snowing! After swimming and baths Hailey still had the presents from Leevi, Kailee and I to open. She got a tea party basket set (with a Fancy Nancy Tea Party book to go with it), some Polly Pockets and some clothes. When she was packing her PJ's for this trip I didn't think about taking a bday picture of her in Christmas jammies...oh well! :) They are one of her favorite!Finally that busy day had come to an end and we all crashed around 11!!! Happy Birthday baby girl! Hope it was one to remember!!!!!!

Schloss Neuschwanstein

We cleaned up and unloaded from Hailey's birthday party and finished packing for our overnight trip to Edelweiss Resort (the military resort we stay at back in the Fall for the marriage retreat). We woke up on Sunday (Hailey's actual birthdate) and hit the road. On the way to the resort was the Neuschwanstein castle that we knew we wanted to visit during our time in Germany. It's the castle that the Disney Castle was inspired by and it's nestled in the Bavarian Alps. It was a very cold and foggy day so we couldn't really see the castle until we were right up on it. I think it will be worth going back when it's warm. Here's a picture from my phone of the entry ticket. Hohenschwangau was the childhood home of King Ludwig II and he had Neuschwanstein built right next to it. Construction for Neuschwanstein began in 1869 but the King died (drowned mysteriously) in 1886 before the castle was fully completed. The history of both castles and King Ludwig II is very interesting if you feel like googling them! Waiting for our tourKnock, Knock...Once we were inside photographs were not allowed but here is a model of the castle as we were leaving.Once we left the castle we had about an hour drive to the resort...the girls crashed instantly which gave them one last burst of energy to make it through the rest of the days events...to be continued.....

The Birthday Party

Hailey had trouble deciding between a My Little Pony Party or a Disney Princess Party so we combined the theme. I started looking practically after Christmas to see what the stores had here and I didn't have much luck. I had to order things online and cross my fingers that they arrived in time. A few things I had to have shipped to Tiffany who mailed them to me because the company wouldn't ship to an APO address. Needless to say it all worked out and everything arrived. We used Pinkie Pie favor bags that held Disney Princess silly bands and various copies of a Princess paperback book. Amazon.com has great book deals and I was able to buy 3 and get the 4th free to cover all 13 guests. We rented the Community Center a few houses down from us (which is one of the Colonel's houses that was turned into a center for anyone to use for free). It's great because it's larger than our house and I didn't have to worry about cramming 12 kids and their parents into our home. It also has a bounce house that is stored in the garage for anyone to use for free. It was chilly but we set it up for the kids anyway. We had the party in the evening (4-6pm) which was great for families with napping kids and it also gave me plenty of time for food prep and decorating...but it drove Hailey crazy that she had to wait all day! :) The Bounce House and Crown CraftI didn't get a picture of everyone but these are the Princesses who flashed a smile for the camera!Twelve hungry kids (or 12 kids who knew that they had to eat their dinner if they wanted any cake!)She wanted the whole #5 and I felt comfortable letting her have that big of a piece because of course she barely nibbled at it! How many parents does it take to organize 12 kids 6 and under for a pinata bashing? Pinkie Pie was supposed to be a pull string pinata but Hailey wanted to wack her! :) Present Time!Hailey got this Color Explosion Glow Board from Jocelyn and drew a cute picture of herself and a cake with 5 candles! "Happy Birthday to you...."

And p.s. You'll notice that Hailey is wearing the same dress in her bday invite as on her party day...this is her all time FAVORITE dress and she would wear it everyday if I let her. A few weeks ago I hid this dress along with the other 3 that she constantly wears in my closet to get her to start wearing the other too many clothes that she has! It worked and even though she knew I hid them she didn't pester me for them. I let her have the pink striped one for the party and now it is washed and back in my closet! :)

p.s.s. And a special thanks to all of the parents who helped clean the community center with us after the party!!!

The Birthday Bash!

It may take me the next month but I will get through all of the birthday fun that we had over the long 4 day weekend....we kicked it off by counting down Hailey's last days of being four by going to Family Bowling on Thursday night, Kids Inn jumpy place again on Friday, the official birthday party on Saturday, Schloss Neuschwanstein tour and horse carriage ride on Sunday (her actual birthdate), and then sledding and swimming at the Edelweiss resort on Monday. I won't blog again about bowling and Kids Inn but at some point this week (once I catch up on 4 days worth of cleaning/laundrying etc) I'll continue with the birthday party fun!!!!!!! We all had a great time!!! Can't believe she's FIVE! The next morning she asked "how come I'm not taller?!" :) And she said today, "Let's check to see if I have any loose teeth!" :) To be continued....

Buffalo Park

Still trying to catch up....last Monday Leevi was off so we braved the chilly, yet sunny day and biked over to Buffalo Park to feed the animals and play at the playground. Leila came with us on the long walk/ride to meet her cousins, the pigs! :)

I know there are more pictures on here of Kailee but its because she's willing to pose for me...it's like pulling teeth with Hailey! I told her that one day she's going to ask me why there are so many pictures of Kai and not of her and I'll have to tell her that it was her choice! :)

We are still hoping for one more snow! We haven't had even a flurry since early January! The ton of snow we got in December isn't typical for this area so I suppose this mild Winter was a good transistion for us from Hawaii. It's been in the mid-40's for awhile and it's nice to get out and not be completely freezing! Although I will be excited to be over the "bulk" of Winter and the extra 10 minutes it takes to get out the door after bundling the girls up!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Kailee's latest picture face!!!!Not a great picture by any means, but I found it funny that they had the exact same expressionValentine's Day 2009 Valentine's Day 2010 Nothing specifically about V-Day, but I remembered this similar pose from Hailey...

And on another side note...the girls rode their bikes to the commissary one sunny day last week (Hailey is super fast on her bike now and Kailee was on a push trike...it takes us about 20 min. one way) and the second we walked back in the door at home I realized that Tyrone was missing!!!!! Kailee is sooooo good about holding on to her baby or stuffed animal that it's not a big deal for her to bring one everywhere. I felt like the dad from the Knuffle Bunny books (AWESOME 3 book series about a little girl and her lovey) So, I stopped the girls before they got unbundled and we got in the car to drive back to the commissary (grrrrr!) BUT our day was brighten when we walked into the store and a manager handed each of the girls a Valentine's Day balloon (just because....) and also right there on the ground under our same shopping car was Tyrone! :)

Kids Inn

Last Friday (yes, I'm way behind on posts)Hailey had off from school so we hit up yet another indoor Jumpy Place (4th this winter). While this one is the most expensive (about $17 for the 3 of us) it is probably the best and they don't mind if you bring your own food and drinks. They also don't offer a toddler time so it's best to get there right when it opens at 2:00 and get out before it gets too crowded! It has a similar climbing structure like all of the others along with trampolines, roller mats, ball pits (this one is DEEP) but the extras are over the top: a free train ride, a free carnival type ride, cheap face painting, bumper cars, swings, and free balloon animal making but the biggest attraction is the VOLCANO! It's this this massive tarp like material you climb up with sticky, sweaty feet and then slide back down or go down this super steep tube slide...so crazy and something you'd NEVER find in America....lawsuits would be flying! Kailee could only make it so far up the volcano without help (it gets really steep before you have to reach for the metal bars or someones hand). She was almost there and came crashing down (rolling not sliding!!!) She was crying like crazy when I got her at the bottom but it wasn't because she was hurt it was because she was mad that she didn't make it up! She was yelling at me to put her down so she could try again...she's a monster! We took our neighbor, Andie, with us and met Jocelyn and her mom along with Lauren and her three kids. Collage of around the warehouse...

They also had balloon animals (for free) and face painting (for 50 Euro cent...around $0.70!!!)

And a few video snippets...next weekend is a 4 day weekend for President's Day so we are going back with Leevi to kick off Hailey's birthday weekend festivities (Friday, Kids Inn; Saturday, Party; and then Sunday we are going to stay the night at Edelweiss for swimming, sledding, and a horse drawn carriage ride on her actual birthday) We are also going to try to sneak in a visit to Neuschwanstein Castle on the way down (it's the castle that the Disney Castle is modelled after!!!)

TGIF

Kailee drew this picture of me this morning and it really made me laugh...I'm sure I come pretty close to looking like that at the end of the day (especially when Leevi travels). The girls like for me to "act out" this picture....haha...it's a good stress relief! :)

I told Hailey once that when Daddy gets home from his trip then Mommy is leaving. She took me seriously and the first night that Leevi got home, Hailey said, "Mom, when are you leaving?" I laughed and said that I was just joking and she replied, "It's ok. You can go." :) I guess the feeling is mutual! :)

Passing the Time

Leevi is off on a two week business trip so the girls and I are trying to find things to keep us busy so we don't drive each other crazy! :) Hailey didn't have school last Friday so we headed out Thursday night to the bowling alley for Family Night (kids are free and pizza is $1 off). We only paid $2 for the 3 of us to bowl and then got pizza and played a few arcade games....cheap girls night! Friday we went to the jumpy place that I already blogged about and then Saturday was cheering and grocery shopping and then finally Sunday was church. This week we have school and 2 nights of cheering and are counting the hours until Leevi gets back on Friday!


Bowling pic....Kailee wasn't too interested this time but kept herself occupied by cleaning everything with a wipee! Every now and then she'd come over to push her ball down the lane. Hailey got the only strike of the night!!!!!!Hair Tie Abstract Art by HaileyKailee's new favorite place to carry her animal or baby is zipped up in her coat
I posted on FB earlier this week that I found one dollar bills tucked into Kailee's underwear at dinner one night! Apparently I need to have a talk with her about uses of underwear because the following morning I found these in our mailbox! EVERY single night I have to unload bags upon bags of things that Kailee has collected throughout the day! I let the girls stay up for a movie night on Friday (they picked Barbie-A Fashion Fairytale)Even though it was only in the 30's we spent a few hours in the sunshine each day over the long weekend.

Yay for dirt...boo

Preparing for battle...against me, I think!

Tyrone is her new favorite tagalong

Leila girl being a pain....she gets squirrelly when Leevi is gone!

Hailey's rainbow picture with hearts and baby Jesus in a cradle

Hailey set up a game of War for us and Leila sat down in my spot like she wanted to play

They were playing "airplane" and were on a flight to Hawaii! :(

Old artwork of Hailey's that I brought home after her Parent Teacher Conference...this is a snowglobeFrom Thanksgiving "I am thankful for my family"

A picture of her and Leila in a snowstorm

And lastly, Leila has decided that the tent is a perfect bed for her! She has a bed downstairs and one upstairs in our room but she must have thought this was comfy too! Although it is quite cute it only just adds to my laundry load!!!!!!!