We took the girls to see Disney on Ice. They had a blast! Even though they hadn't seen many of the movies, all three sat intently through the whole show. Poor Anna had pink eye (she was on meds, so it wasn't contagious) but she didn't seem to let that bother her.
Lee sang along with the seven dwarfs, or "high-hoes", as Rosa calls them.
I marveled at how the actors could skate in some of the costumes!
Cinderella's coach was really cool, too.
Anna's favorite was Mickey Mouse. When he wasn't on the ice she kept asking "Where's Micka Mouse?"
Goofy got lots of laughs from the girls.
Rosa loved the princesses. She now loves dressing up like a princess.
Her favorite would become Snow White (maybe because of the dwarfs?).
At the intermission, the girls went down to the ice, and I got a couple pictures of our own princesses:
The show was a lot of fun. The performers were amazing to watch. Some even did spins and flips!
A huge castle was the main prop. At the end all the performers were on it, waving good-bye.
Even Mickey and Minnie made a last appearance, to Anna's joy.
After the show we spotted a Linus from Peanut fame, and had to pose for a picture.
Our place of worship, the local Kingdom Hall, was remodeled. We were so excited to be able to be a part of it. Brothers and sisters from all over the area came to help out. At first it was rather unnerving, seeing the hall all torn apart...
but soon it began to all come together.
The new auditorium looked beautiful!
The boys got a kick out of the safety sign:
Besides getting new paint and carpet in the main hall, the downstairs was tiled and painted.
A new entryway was made, with double doors and a window, so now the weather wouldn't howl in whenever someone entered.
The most noticeable difference from the outside was the new carport.
The Hall looks so beautiful now! It was amazing to see it all come together so quickly.
We were blessed with lots of snow this winter. The kids decided to forgo snowmen this year. Instead we built a snow hill. With each snow the hill grew. Here's the kids on top of our hill early in the season:
And there they go!
Off to one side the boys built a jump. They all loved "catching some air!" Here's Nora:
and Caleb:
and Rosa:
This shot of Corbin on the jump is really cool. It looks like he's on a flying carpet!
What did he think of it? His face says it all:
Somehow I was coerced into trying out the jump.
The second run didn't end so well, though.
The kids loved racing each other. Sometimes the goal was who was the quickest, but more often than not the goal was who could go the farthest. Here's a bunch heading out of the starting gates:
I even joined in a couple.
Lee seemed to enjoy himself as well.
The boys and Nora also tried out their snowboards.
Caleb learned that going on the jump with the board might not be such a great idea.
He didn't mind. He had tons of fun.
Rosa surprised us this year by actually enjoying the snow. She even managed to climb the hill and launch herself without any help!
Anna, on the other hand, appreciated a little assistance. She would wait at the bottom of the hill after a ride until someone would pull her back up.
One of her siblings was usually willing to lend a hand.
One last picture of our winter sledding: Nora sums up the experience with a smile:
Our family is really enjoying our Family Bible Study Night. Here we are dressed up as Bible characters.
Alex was given his first #3 talk over the winter. Here he is with his assignment:
We raided the after the holidays clearance racks and got some gingerbread house kits for the kids to make. Here they are with their city:
We attended an outing our virtual school hosted: snowshoeing at a state park. The girls and I stayed indoors and did some activities, while the boys tried out the snowshoes.
They thought is was a lot of fun. They wandered over frozen ponds and through a wooded area.
Alex thought he would have a little bit of fun with the snow...
Why get Caleb when Dad is a more tempting target?
The girls had fun inside. Here they are with a big puzzle they did together.
Our last early spring adventure was to the Como Zoo and Conservatory. The girls loved the penguins and puffins...
and we also watched the trainers feeding Sparky the seal and his family.
At the large cat building we were delighted to watch two snow leopards playing and pouncing like giant kittens.
One even looked like she wanted a tummy rub!
The lazy lions were all sleeping, but the tigers were out wandering in the snow.
Soon we wandered to one of our favorite parts: the new tropics trail. It has a large aquarium with exotic fish...
and birds that freely fly throughout the enclosure. Alex was able to get some shots of a pretty yellow one:
He wasn't so thrilled when I tried to take a picture of him, however.
From there we went to the adjacent conservatory. It is one of my favorite places to relax and enjoy the wonderful variety of greenery. Grandpa also enjoyed relaxing for a bit.
Anna loved all the water, especially the fountains.
The kids like to smell each flower; sometimes coming up with a rather yellow nose from the pollen!
My personal favorite is the cocoa tree.
The last room we wandered through has a pond with large koi fish. The kids love sitting near the water's edge and watching them swim.
Alex is getting to be quite the camera man, and took a number of photos as we meandered along. Here is a slide show of some of them:
Our last stop of the day was the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum. They had doubled in size since we last visited, adding on even more interactive layouts.
First we hung out at the area we'd been to before. Nora's favorite is the trolley:
The boys were more impressed with the steam engine that puffed real smoke.
Rosa and Anna like ringing the old train bell.
My favorite area is were the paddle boat and river are. Watching the trains reflect over the "water" is neat.
The new addition was lots of fun. The kids all took turns being engineer.
Each layout had interactive buttons we could push to activate something, like a carnival ride or a airplane zooming.
It was hard to pry the kids away and head for home again.
We left with many happy memories and some tired young ones.
A couple days later we took Lizzy to the groomers. The kids couldn't believe how different she looked! Here is a "before" shot with Lizzy and Luigi:
And here she is after her haircut:
We had a great winter, and can hardly wait for what spring and beyond will bring!
