A Quick Getaway

today is looking like this:

we've gotten around two feet of snow over the past three days and it's still coming down.

there have been two snow days and one two hour delay, many mugs of cocoa with marshmallows, one batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies, one snow ball fight from behind two forts and one sledding adventure.

last week looked like this:

jon and i cruising around montecito, california by ourselves with the top down.

four days of fabulous sunshine, a morning of scones from jeanines, many quiet dinners out, two yummy coffees from trader joe's, soaking in the hot tub every evening and one flat tire in the rental car.

QUIP O'THE DAY
i've never seen the wizard of oz.

Alma Mater

well, we're down in texas.  after an uneventful 16 hour drive, we landed a day before we took jack to summer camp at the pine cove towers for the first time.  i say uneventful, but the truth of it is, i had a horrible virus that felt like strep throat and double ear infections so i slept the entire way...which of course means jon drove the entire way.  good man.



yesterday, hallie and sadie drove out to waco with the boys and i.  we met our sweet friend kristen (who's expecting #2) (who also went to baylor) and her little lady georgia. 

i had these lofty visions of strolling the boys around campus, telling them about the buildings, running on the lawns.  but after a three hour drive and a painfully longer than it should have been lunch...we spent the entire time with four children breaking down in the book store.

been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.  literally.





it was after all in the 100's.



baylor is a beautiful campus.



our tour of baylor.
at least of the carpet in the bookstore.





worth the trip :)











sic'em.

Rowan in Wrapping

howdy folks! i'm sitting here with the fiesta bowl on in the background.  half of the room is sleeping.  we're in indiana visiting jon's family before his little sister's wedding, and we've been taking in a lot of college football.  football and shopping.  it's what we all do best when we're together :)  i realize that it's already past the new year, but i have just a couple of christmas pics that i just have to get in here.  then i'll move on.  promise.



i didn't take many pictures christmas morning.  sometimes it's nice to just be in the moment.  i love this one of rowan amidst the paper aftermath.



we decorated sugar cookies the week before christmas.   it's always such a mess!



no matter what they look like, they always taste amazing, no?



the floor was covered in sprinkles, but luckily one of our students just passed this along to us when he moved...





we've killed two of these things, but this is my favorite one yet.  a dirt devil powerstick that plugs in.  it's only $15 and worth every penny.  our other ones all had rechargable batteries, and this is way better just plugged in all the time.  it's like a dust buster on a stick.  awesome.



tuesday we got to chicago and spent the day at legoland with my sister-in-law and two nieces.  even though we had tickets already we had to wait quite a while in the chicago wind to get in.  they were passing out hot chocolate and lego magazines. 





chicago made out of legos.  pretty sweet.

Last of Vail

we started off our chilly mornings with a warm cup of cocoa  from mommy, and a warm fire courtesy of daddy.

 
warm.
fire.




the second morning, i believe i begged jon to just drive us around in the car with the heat blasting, but really the fire helped a ton.



the boys did spend a bit of time warming in the car.



this furry fella was tortured with love, and i'm sure regretted being discovered.





goof ball brothers.



we wrapped up every day with a mess.
s'mores.
s'messy.



i prefer my melted sugar in it's purist form.
not tainted by chocolate and grahams.



the pinky flair.
the only way to properly partake of a s'more.



the second night i remembered that i packed a stash of "hot hands" and "toasty toes"
they...helped...



half the reason we went to vail was just to get mango's fish tacos again on the way home.



we waited in the car while jon ran in.





fair well majestic mountains and flowering fields.

A Hike

a few more bumps and ditches up from our campsite was this gorgeous lake and trail.



seriously?
seriously.





our flip-flop clad children hit the trail through the wildflowers with us.















flip flop boats.





that sign says wilderness.
why yes, it is.