Spring Break New Hampshire

After meeting Baby Catherine, we headed up to Mount Washington for our second annual stay at the most beautiful haunted hotel ever.

We had high hopes for the week. No blizzards in the forecast, no drops in temperature to the single digits. No sick kids. We were ready for an amazing vacation. And it was perfect. 

On the first night we decided to trek down to the outdoor pool. We suited up for an adventure.

And marched our frozen selves down the path to make epic vacation memories.

But it was just too darn cold. And the thought of hypothermia on the wet walk back killed it.

So, we sprinted back to the gloriously humid heated indoor pool.

This year we were able to enjoy more of the "resort" atmosphere, like ordering coffee and dessert in the lobby while playing checkers by the fire.

I don't understand why we can't just build our own castle like this.

Mom and Dad seemed to have a good time. They are generally happy when we're happy. 

And this week we were soooo happy.

Our favorite parts of the week were getting loaded up with sugar and hitting the hotel game room every night!

Baby Catherine

For Spring Break this year we got to fly up to Boston and meet our new cousin, Baby Catherine! These are our favorite pictures of her from Aunt Joy Joy's Facebook posts.

We loved her instantly after one look at that sweet face.

We loved holding her, especially when she smiled.

We couldn't stop petting her soft fuzzy head.

We are so excited for Aunt Joy Joy and Big Mike. They get to live with this little cutie all the time. We really, really hope they will bring her to Anna Maria Island every year for summer vacations so we can watch her grow up. 

She was very patient with us as we stared at her all night.

She fell asleep cuddled up with Aunt Julie, even with a camera in her face.

Aunt Julie was very happy to have a camera in her face all night, too.

We also got to celebrate Nana's birthday that night with cake and "real New England" ice cream. It was fun to see her surrounded by grandkids! 

 And it was fun to take a trip down memory lane. Here is tiny Kalyn holding tiny Kelsey in 2008. Now we're both holding tiny Catherine. I'm loving all these girl cousins.

And I'm still loving my Kalyn!

Baby Catherine is so lucky that she gets to live near her awesome big cousin.

Pay Attention To The World

This is what a proud parent looks like. She says I am blessed with the best character trait of all: kindness. And a million other wonderful traits, too, but her favorite thing about me is my sweet nature. 

Both of my parents love watching me grow into this curious, confident, funny girl. Mom likes going on field trips as a class chaperone, because she gets to see me being sassy with my friends.

And she gets to send pictures to Dad of my "snowflake" face paint.

They thought it was more "Braveheart" than snowflake, but I didn't get the reference.

What's awesome is that one day I will understand that joke, because I have a wicked good sense of humor. I even laugh at myself in the middle of unintentionally funny moments. Like the time I was telling a story about my friend "Susie Nipple-don't-make-fun-of-it".

I'm also a very good big sister. I love to play teacher and zoo with Ryan. It's getting easier to ignore-tolerate his Hulk-on-crystal-meth moments. And I'm very sympathetic to Mom when he is having a "grumpy day".

Part of being a big girl is trying new things, like swim lessons and piano lessons. Piano lessons turned out to be so much more difficult than simply learning to play songs from Frozen or Taylor Swift. 

Luckily, Tiger Mom understands my tendency to get frustrated and discouraged when I can't do something perfectly on the first try. The best things in life are not easy or perfect, so I'm going to stick with it for at least one year. Some days I hate it, but on the days when it clicks I feel so proud of myself. Mom says once I get over the initial hump I'll start to like it, and then I'll want to keep getting better. Bonus, she says one day I'll look back fondly on the memories of fury at her for making me practice. 

My parents don't want to mold me into a narcissist or anything, but they think I'm a crazy smart, special kid. And I'm growing up fast. I saw a rainbow on the way to school one day and pointed out "you've just got to pay attention to the world". Big girl indeed. 

Chicks and Bunnies

Ryan's teacher has a mini farm at her house, complete with the most adorable bunnies you've ever seen. She breeds them, socializes them, and litter trains them to live in a house like cats.

The kids love it, because they get to help socialize the new babies.

She also has chickens, so she brought an incubator full of eggs for the kids to "help" hatch this spring. 

We would hear "cheep cheep!" in the morning at drop off, and know that a little chick had hatched.

After a day warming up, the chicks were ready for their nursery, where the kids got to feed them. Ms. M was careful to teach everyone how to be gentle. Some kids loved the chicks so much they wanted to squeeze their guts out.

We loved the chicks. But we really loved the bunnies. We have started an aggressive campaign to convince Dad to let us adopt a giant continental bunny. They are 4 feet tall, kind of like a dog. He's allergic to cats, so we think this is a perfect compromise.

First Days of Spring

Mom and Dad updated their phones, which means Mom just got a camera upgrade.

Perfect for capturing an afternoon out back with sugar!

She just needs a reminder that we like each other sometimes.

And we love our 13 year old furry sister.

That sweet face.