The Alguire Family: Winter Break

The kids were excited about our mini vacation up north. Here they are in these silly hats they gave us.

They made there way to the dress up bin.

Allison had a few days off last week for her Winter Break and Craig took two days off from work, so we tried to cram in a few activities for the kids. On Wednesday morning Craig and I exercised and then decided we would make a day trip to Ann Arbor to have dinner and see Meg, Madeline, Tess and baby James. We walked around our old stomping grounds, grabbed a coffee and then hung out with Meg and the kids at the downtown library. It was a lot of fun to catch up and the kids were thrilled to see each other. Watching Connor and Tess together really is a trip! After the library our family went to our favorite hamburger joint in AA, Bagger Daves. They have great veggie burgers and fries and the kids love the train that travels nonstop around the restaurant. Very fun! Thursday we hung out at home with the kids. Ran a few errands and then went to Grand Haven after Ella's nap for pizza with both of our parents at Clover Bar. Friday we exercised, took the kids swimming at MVP and then we were off to Shanty Creek Resorts near Traverse City. Craig had a conference there and the docs bring their families each year, so we decided to make a family trip of it. He was at the conference until 1:00 and then the rest of the day was free. I took the kids swimming in the morning at one of the other lodges. It was much older and pretty disgusting. It is always a lot of work taking three kids to the pool and it didn't help that the dressing areas were built for a two year old and the floor was beyond disgusting. Not to mention Connor, who is in the process of potty training, left a nice big surprise in his swim diaper for me. He has had no problem with peeing in the potty, but with the constipation issues he has, and the laxatives I have to give him, getting the poop in the potty has been a "challenge" shall we say . Although it is getting much better, I have cut off and disposed of at least 4 pairs of underwear. GROSS! Oh, I didn't mention we had to take a 5-10 minute shuttle ride to the pool which was FREEZING. We spent a good part of hour in the hot tub despite the fact that it said not for kids under 10. It was just way too cold in the big pool. Thank goodness I had Allison to help me out so I could get out of my bathing suit, throw on some clothes and then take Connor across the hall to use the bathroom. We made it back to our room safely and then Craig took the older two tubing while Ella took a nap. After that we went for a sleigh ride and then had a dinner reception with all the other families. Very fun. Sunday morning Craig had an hour meeting and then we all had breakfast together and took off. This is a yearly tradition and we are hoping to bring Craig's parents along next year so that we can do some skiing too!