5 on Friday

1. Sorry I missed last week's "5 on Friday" post--- my computer is having some troubles so I am a little limited.   Speaking of--- trying to put together Christmas cards and holiday gifts without a computer is very difficult.  I love my iPad and it works great for on-line shopping, but uploading pictures is not as easy.   Hoping my techie hubby can fix the problem... soon.

2. We had an amazing week Thanksgiving week.  Nick and I took the entire week off and we took a family trip to the Mall of America (MoA)/MN mountain biking trails.   Nick and I have taken Thanksgiving week off every year since we started dating--- I love our little tradition.  Unfortunately, next year Ellie will be in school through Tuesday of Thanksgiving week so we will be unable to take our annual trip.

3. Back to the trip to MoA... we stayed at the Radisson Blu, which happens to be connected to the MoA.  I snagged an amazing rate through Hotwire since I was a little unsure about staying in a one-room hotel room with the kiddos (we have been very spoiled with suites and condos during past vacations) and didn't want to regret paying full price.   After staying there once, I am not sure I could stay anywhere else when planning a vacation around the MoA.    The rooms were super clean (and new), the staff was amazing (even when we arrived and Neve was crying), the lobby was fun (cute chairs for the girls to hang out in while Daddy was getting a few extra minutes of rest) and being connected to the MoA was absolutely perfect.  Seriously, we wore our coats once during the entire vacation--- and that was when we were running into Subway on our drive up and it was freezing outside.  

4. The first day of vacation we hit up the stores the girls wanted to visit--- The Disney Store and the American Girl store.   Then we grabbed dinner, played with Legos and went back to the hotel for a swim.   The next day Nick went mountain biking while the girls and I checked out Toddler Tuesday, had lunch at the American Girl Bistro (with their Bitty Babies of course) and did a little Christmas shopping.   We ran back to the hotel so the girls could take a nap and then we were back to the mall for some ride time!   Toddler Tuesday is a great deal because kids eat free with a paying adult and they have reduced ride passes for the little ones (and adults ride free for certain rides with height restrictions).   Bonus was that they had a deal going on that if you spent a certain amount at the mall (including food) you got free all day passes for the rides--- so our ride passes ended up being free!   We ended the day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe followed by a quick swim at the pool.   The next day we got on the road early because the weather was not supposed to be the greatest... that was an understatement.   A couple hours into the ride I told Nick we could pull over and get a hotel for the night, he told me I should have suggested that the night before (WAIT, I could have had another day at the mall?!?!--- totally taking advantage of that next time).   Six hours of driving and we made it home safe and sound.  And we now know the girls can handle six hours in the car with no trouble (we stopped once the entire time, even with Neve who is in big girl undies).

5. Since we cannot do our Thanksgiving trip to MoA, I am already planning a Back to School shopping trip up there in late July/ early August.  Nick has given me the go ahead (as long as he gets to bike).

6. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Nick's family in Ames.   Nick's brother made an amazing glaze for the ham (in addition to the turkey of course).  Yum!   I love getting together with family--- it was so cute to watch the girls interact with their older boy cousins.  Despite their age, the 13 year old boy still got down and played with the 5 year old girl.  So cute!

7. Friday we put up the Christmas tree--- Ellie loved helping put the ornaments on the tree and was quick to identify which ones were HERS.  It reminded me of when I was young and I had MY ornaments to put on the tree... who am I kidding, I still have MY ornaments.

8. Ellie helped me wrap presents (after I had done a few the night before)--- she is a good little helper and next year I am not starting to wrap without her.  All of our presents are wrapped and under the tree, except the ones still arriving in the mail.  And I am almost done with Christmas shopping, the girls and I just need to make a stop at the bike shop to get something for Daddy.

9. Christmas music... I love it!  Nick gets a little tired of it.

10.  Since I missed a week I made up for it this week with a few extras!  We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving and are having a wonderful Christmas season.