Road Trip!

Michael and I are members of the Great Lakes Science Center, and love taking the kiddos there every couple of months. It has fun, hands-on exhibits, a cafeteria where we can eat our (packed) lunch and a great play room for them to burn off their final bit of energy before we head home. It also has an imax theater and this year we splurged and upgraded our membership to include imax tickets (ok, not really a "splurge" so much as a renewal perk ~ they roped us in by offering a discount if we renewed by a certain date and we took the bait ;)). We've seen some REALLY cute imax movies, and if you get the opportunity I'd suggest "Born to be Wild".  My mom went with us to see that one, and both of us are wondering how you get the job of "orphaned wild animal sanctuary director" :)

One of the bonuses that comes along with membership is getting *free* admission to tons of other science centers.  We've taken advantage of the COSI reciprocity, and this past weekend decided to take an impromptu road trip to Pittsburgh where we went to both the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and the Carnegie Science Center for FREE! Both places are awesome and I highly recommend anyone with kids check them out! 

Side note/pro tip: you have to join the science center that is closest to your home...if you try to just get whatever membership is cheapest, you don't get the same reciprocity.  They check IDs.

We also took advantage of a nice day a few weeks back and went to the zoo.  We unwittingly exposed all of our friends to "the throw ups" as Milo got sick pretty much immediately when we got home...oops!

Pictures:

I thought he was just tired...

The best of the bunch...kudos to anyone who can get a good group shot of toddlers and preschoolers!

 

"Moms Together" playdate at a local gym...so fun!

 

At the Children's Museum, rolling out some clay.

Fantasy vs. Reality

I'm working on a longer post, but I wanted to share this :)

What I think I look like on a treadmill:

What I'm sure I *actually* look like on a treadmill:

To be fair to Maya, this was her first attempt at a treadmill.  She also was not wearing her "running shoes" :)

New Year's Resolutions

I'm glad that my New Year's Resolution wasn't to blog more frequently, cause that certainly hasn't happened!  It's also good that "don't get the throw-ups" wasn't on there, cause the whole family was hit last weekend.  And "take more pictures"?  Nope, not on the list.  Though I *do* plan to take more pictures...gonna start on that tomorrow ;)

Actually, my only resolution this year is to run 1,000 miles by December 31st, and so far (2.5 whole weeks into the year!) I'm right on track.  I was already running 4-5 days/week while training for various races last year, so it definitely feels like an achievable goal.  It won't be easy ~ for those who don't like to do math, it's about 19-20 miles/week ~ but I'm excited for the challenge.  A friend and her husband are running 2,013 miles together (so 1,006.5 miles each) so I have a little bit of accountability/competition, which I think is a good thing :)

I don't think I've blogged since Michael switched jobs, so I thought I'd tell my followers ~ Michael switched jobs!  He's now working for OverDrive Media as a programmer, and is loving it.  OverDrive is a digital media distributor that works with schools and libraries.  You know how you can check out an e-book from the library to read on your Kindle?  I'm not sure how exactly, but OverDrive is a big player in that process. Rovisys (his former employer) was amazing and we both miss him working there, but he was ready to move away from the type of work he did there (also as a programmer, but on different types of projects). We both feel extremely blessed that this opportunity arose.

So far 2013 is shaping up to be a good year.  I'm confident that we're not going to get sick anymore (ha!), my house will be spotless and company-ready every day (double ha!), and Michael and I will have a great year with our 3 awesome kiddos (that one's for real :)).

Of course, pictures:

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Charlotte at her preschool Gingerbread House Party

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Christmas with my dad

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Katie with Ms. Annabella

Maya reading the book that she wrote and illustrated all by herself notthatI'mproudoranything

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Christmas with my mom

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My sister's dog Annabelle, playing the role of Rudolph :)

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Christmas at Larry's

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Christmas at Penny's

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I found these when I uploaded pics...I think Chris and Milo were trying to get a shot together :)

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New Year's Eve

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Random

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I love these two so much.  So. Much.

Are you dying from adorableness?

Maya and Isabella being silly :)

first good snow

Milo wanted to like the snow SO BAD.  But it was up to his waist and he couldn't walk, so he lasted on our deck for about 32 seconds :)