The halfway point

We met the Goin family in Alexandria, MN this weekend for a quick winter getaway. Alexandria is the halfway point between our homes and we had heard about a family resort in the area, so we thought we'd give it a shot.

We are so happy we did. We might never make the drive all the way to each others' houses again. This place was a blast. It's called Arrowhead resort and if you have kids it's the place to be.

The kids settled in right away and took charge of the hallway (like all kids love to do while staying in a hotel). They were like the Reservoir Dogs of Arrowhead. That's what this pic reminds me of.



Although each room had 2 beds and a hide-away bed, of course they all had to pile into Nora's pack-n-play.

Anything a kid would like to do, they had at this place. You name it. Sledding? Yes. Water park? Check. Treats, games, a separate pool, a basketball court, ping pong, tennis, popcorn, s'mores, campfires, movies, poolside cabana? Yes, all of the above.

Ross and Gus raced down the sledding hill a few times and Gus won every time.

Nora took it easy.

Gabby was adventurous. At one point, she was going down the hill so fast, and experiencing so much turbulence that her light-up snow boots were lighting up - while she was seated in the sled. Now that's extreme sledding folks.

This was our first family-wide sledding event and we loved it!

The Goins, on the other hand, are seasoned sledding pros.

They had a little campfire burning near the sledding hill which worked great as a quick warmer upper for everyone. You can't see the fire because it's behind us warming our tooshies.

We spent most of our time at the neat indoor water park. All of the kids l-o-v-e-d it, even Gabs who dreads getting water in her eyes.

Gus attacked each of the kiddie slides right away and started to cry when he was 2 inches too short to ride on the big slides. Next year, buddy.

Water buddies!



Before we left, Gabby hosted one final Cheetos picnic in her room. What a great ending to a splendid weekend.

And if anyone out there is ever looking for a family to meet you at the Arrowhead resort in Alex, call us. We're there.

Happy Birthday Dad

January 27th is Ross' birthday. The kids love birthdays (any one's, really) because they usually get asked to help open gifts if gifts are involved. There were gifts this year, and they ripped right in!

Later that day, Gus kept the helping coming by blowing out Ross' birthday candles.

What is a birthday in Fargo without a meal at Paradiso? Here's Nor and Will enjoying a Mexican food specialty item, the chicken strip basket.

Gus got to try his first umbrella drink and he loved it.

Happy Birthday, Ross!

The way basement

We've been in our new home for just over 1 year now and many of the updates and home improvements that we hoped to have done are still on our to-do list. Although Ross has made some amazing progress and is quite the DIY'er, we're not getting to the list as quickly as I thought we would (rookie - I have no clue what DIYing it really takes). But what's the rush? We have nothing but time because we're not moving again for a loooong time!

One area that we have dedicated time to is the basement. The way basement, as Gus calls it. Our house is a 4-level split so once you head down the second flights of stairs you are now in the way basement. While house hunting, I remember walking around the corner and heading down to the way basement and immediately thinking, 'this is it. This is the house. This room single-highhandedly sealed the deal.' My dream of having a room that could be full of toys and a mess, with a door, came true.

We love it and we spend many hours down in our way basement.

This is a typical evening.






Aaand so much for the peace and quiet that exists while Nora is playing. Here comes Gus.



Nora, thinking 'save me'.
Then finally cutting loose and going with the flow. I'm sure this scene did end in tears, however.
I just didn't post those pics.




On this particular evening, Nora got into Gus' costume collection and was very serious the whole time. She really got into character with each mask. She believed she was a super hero/racecar driver/yo gabba gabba.

Here's our failed attempt at extending the costume fun into a family photo. Turns out my camera's auto-focus doesn't work on self-timer, and clearly the beeping on that timer needed to be louder because we had no clue when the actual picture was about to be snapped.

It was another jolly day in the basement for the kids, and when it was all over, I hit the lights, skipped up the stairs, and ahhh...shut the door. A win-win for everyone.

Slowly improving

Gus is making huge strides at skating lessons. In week 2 he fell fewer times than in week 1, but I also noticed that he stayed on the ground longer after the fall so I guess it all evens out. At least he's not scared to fall.


Hey, where's this kid's helmet? Bad mom.

Getting the hang of it! Go Gus!

Form a line, please

Whoa, Scheels in Fargo the day after the Bison won their National Championship was like a scene out of the news footage you see for the hottest Black Friday sales. I did not see anyone waiting in tents on the sidewalk, but there was a need for a few of those Scheels folks to be dedicated strictly to crowd control. It was crazy! I nearly lost Gus in the herd. This city is bursting with Bison pride and it's neat.

The warmest winter of our lives

We are loving the record-setting temps this winter. I believe it was 55 degrees last week, on the 4th of January. That is amazing, and we love it.

Nora and her neighborhood BFF, Peyton, sat in sleds in the garage. Where the heck is the snow?

Leave it to the guys, Gus and Caleb, to find the teeniest (and only) patch of snow on the block to sled in.

When is the last time you could slide down a slide in Fargo, ND in January without being frozen to it?

Never, in these kids' lifetimes!

Will decided the line for the slide was too long, and opted for the swing.


After playing outside for about 30 minutes, it was time for hot cocoa.

Will and Nora loved their first taste of this creamy, chocolatey treat.

You see Christy sporting her Green and Gold, right? That's because just hours before this photo was snapped, the NDSU Bison football team won their first Division I National Championship. We ate junk food and cheered them on from our couch.