Kelsey and Ryan

Bye Bye Arctic Circle

Our trip to The Snowiest Winter Ever was lots of fun. And flying on a plane was awesome.

We were ready to get back to our short sleeve shirts and 70 degree days, but sad to leave our favorite person in the world.

We love this girl.

We'll miss "real" ice cream at Friendly's,

and falling asleep holding hands in the hotel bed.

Dad will miss his all time favorite 15 year-old real wool sweater. Apparently, Mom was not supposed to wash it in water.

A beach day after a week of snow helped Dad cope with his loss.

Ski School

Ski School is basically God's greatest gift to Moms and Dads on family vacation.

For four hours, they get to have a play date on the mountain. They take selfies and ski poses of each other in scenic spots. They sneak over to the kids' side of the mountain and spy on us having a great time, then promise to take ski vacations every year.

It's a great deal for the kids, too, once you get past the laborious task of dressing in a thousand layers of poofy snow gear.

The ski instructors are really nice.

Except when they call you "Cassidy".

No worries, my own great-grandmother calls me "Kimberly", so I can own that joke. The instructors taught us some great moves, making it all good in the end.

The basics of skiing include making your skis line up like French fries to go fast, and closing them in the shape of a slice of pizza to slow down and stop.

Ryan was proficient in the super speed French fry part. But every time he came bombing down the hill we could hear his teacher shouting "PIZZA, RYAN, PIZZA!", until he eventually just slammed into her.

We asked him if he knew how to do pizza skis, and he said "Yes, but I like to go fast".

He liked ski school a lot.

But said it made him "widdy widdy tired".

He and Mom usually headed back to the hotel after lunch, while I got to stay and show Dad my new moves.

We have to do this every year. Forever.

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.