Because this trip was so Epic, I have to give you the big picture overview first. We had friends come visit us from Oregon - yeah! Whoa! (Feel guilty yet, family?) We spent a couple days in NYC with them, then Abi and I flew to Minnesota for a week, we drove to Iowa for a week, we flew through Texas (where James joined us) to New Mexico where we stayed another week, drove to Colorado for a week, drove to Kansas for a few days, flew home to New Jersey.
Phew!!!
Ok, so there are the bare bones of our trip. Here are the juicy details...
First Leg: NY City with our dear friends! Our friends are actually over 8 years old. These are their children.
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| Love this face! |
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| And this one! |
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| Wall Street! |
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| You can't have this kind of advertising and not take a picture with it. |
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| Our view of Lady Liberty |
I ended up not getting very many pictures from this part of our Epic Christmas Adventure which is sad but I think it was might be because ice cubes were periodically falling from the sky making it seriously cold and foggy. We managed to see Times Square, Federal Hall (by accident because kids were freezing and needed refuge and a bathroom), and the Statue of Liberty. We also made time for a board game because these are some of our favorite board game friends! Thanks, Oregon friends, for visiting and playing board games with us!
Second Leg: Minnesota. Our good friends from James's mission days recently moved to MN and they needed someone to watch their kids while they took a well deserved mini-moon to Disney World! So I watched their kids for four days and loved it! My only regret is that they were sick the whole time! Don't misunderstand: I don't regret it because I had to clean up vomit six times. I regret that they didn't have their normal energy or personalities so we spent a lot of time lying on couches watching TV which is easy babysitting, yes, but it doesn't create lasting memories for them.
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| He is totally stuck... |
Even though he didn't quite get it right this time, these kids are amazingly self-reliant! I couldn't help but chuckle at his plight and he was so good to stand still while I got a picture.
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| Soo close, buddy! |
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| Puzzles are a favorite! |
This kiddo and I did several puzzles which was SO FUN! I love puzzles anyway, but teaching kids the tricks of puzzles is even more fun!
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| Decorating cookies |
I had planned to do gingerbread houses with these kids while I was there, but fevers and low energy kicked that idea out. Instead we made cookies and iced them. It was much quicker and simpler which was a good thing because they each did like 2 cookies and then quit. What?!?! I baked 20-something cookies! And then decorated most of them myself. Oh well! I tried to be cool!
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| Decorating cookies |
They were so easy and fun to watch. I love nannying for my friends' kids! Thanks, Minnesota friends, for having me over and sharing your family with us!
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