Disney On Ice

Last weekend I took Emma on a date to Disney on Ice and it was OH SO MUCH FUN!! Jay stayed home with Anna (I think he was very happy to do so) since we decided it wouldn't be much fun to keep Anna happy in a seat during the production. I let Emma get dressed up from head to toe in her Ariel costume, tiara, light up wand and light up shoes. This is also her Halloween costume this year as she loves anything and everything to do with Disney Princesses. I have to say that there were lots of cute little girls dressed up there, but Emma was by far the cutest in my eyes:)

She was sooo excited to wear her costume and to see the princesses ice skating. Mickey and Minnie along with Donald and Goofy even made appearances which was icing on the cake for her! There were three story lines that they really played out: The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled. At the very end all the princesses skated out to wave goodbye. Emma was enthralled throughout the entire night and was even a bit disappointed when it was over that she didn't get to see more of Belle and Ariel. She would have gladly watched for another hour or two! Here are just a few pictures from the night. Halloween pictures to come soon!

Our very own princess Emma

Her princess attitude occasionally shines through as well - most often in the form of refusing to smile for the camera!
Does it get any better than watching with a snow cone?

Oh yes it does! A bucket of popcorn all to herself:)

There were amazing characters - here is an alligator from The Princess and the Frog

Cinderella's carriage

Maximus - the horse from Tangled. It looked extremely real - I was amazed at how it skated along so seamlessly!

Rapunzel and Flynn also did acrobatic tricks way up in the air!

Mickey and Minnie at the very end of the show

I had a great time spending some alone time with Emma and can't wait for Anna to get old enough to enjoy these things too! In the meantime I included a video of Anna dancing to some music on TV. The girl loves to dance! Happy Halloween!

Visit from my BFF:)

My best friend, Aimee, and her two boys Ben and Owen visited this past week while Jay was out of town again for work. Aimee and I grew up across the street from each other and have been best friends since the day we met 28 years ago - we were 4 years old!!! We were the maid of honor in each others wedding and it is so exciting to be able to continue to share our lives together throughout the years. Her two boys are so close in age to Emma and Anna (Ben is 6 months younger than Emma and Owen is 3 months younger than Anna) and it is so much fun to see them playing together.

They were here 5 days and the time flew by! I have a million pictures from the visit and I tried to weed through them for the post. I will let the pictures tell the story of the adventures that we had.

The first two pictures are random from Emma's preschool 5K/1mile walkathon to raise money for the school. Jay ran the 5K and Emma and I walked the 1 mile. Emma walked the entire mile (it only took her 22 min:) and Anna enjoyed a ride in the stroller. Geoffrey the Giraffe gave Emma a big kiss on the head, too!

The first day that Aimee and the kids were here we had a lady come to our house to make hand impressions of the four kids. It will take 4-6 weeks for them to be completed as she has to paint them and put them in a kiln multiple times but it will be SO FUN to each have a handprint of our kids to hang on the wall and remember our fun time together. Ben was the first to get it done.

Emma was next

We woke poor Owen from a nap to do this. He wasn't super happy about that:(

Next up - fun time outdoors. The big kids took turns driving the John Deere.

Anna and Owen enjoyed a nice wagon ride

Fun times in the street!!

Only pic of Aimee and I

The next day we went to Cox Farms. It was filled with fun things for the kids to do. There were animals, play equipment, at least 10 different fun slides, and a long hay ride that included aliens running after us, a scary tunnel, and lots of water to ride through. The big kids could have stayed and played ALL DAY, but we both had little ones that got sick of being in the stroller and were ready for their afternoon naps.

Emma's first trip down one of the slides

Ben thinks it is pretty fun too!

Emma loved feeding the goats

Anna was excited about the goats too

Another fun slide

Emma having fun playing inside a wooden train

Next up: decorating Halloween cookies. YUMMY!

Emma's final creation

Ben's final creation

Aimee and I decorated the rest as the kids only were interested in doing 1 cookie!

Owen and Anna had a great time playing together - they are both oh so close to walking!

Tuesday we went to Frying Pan Farm. The kids loved seeing all of the animals and then they played for a while at the playground. There were lots of baby pigs - they were so cute.

Ben and Emma looking for the animals

The goats were all snuggled up

Wednesday brought us to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum that is only 15 minutes from our house. It is an extension of the Air and Space Museum that is in D.C. as they needed extra room to house all of the airplanes and Space Shuttle. The kids liked it for a short time but lost interest after 30 minutes or so. Aimee and I really liked it and wished we could have read more about all of the planes. We were especially interested in the Lockheed Blackbird that is the world's fastest jet propelled airplane. In its last flight, it flew from LA to Washington DC in 1 hour and 4 minutes reaching speeds over 2100 mph! Everyone has their airplane wings ready to go!

The kids were all scared of this plane that had "shark teeth."

Look how big this fighter jet is compared to Emma!

Front of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. This was the most amazing thing to me in the entire museum. I was blown away at how large the space shuttle was! I always watch as the space shuttles land from their missions in Florida and they look like large airplanes, but there is no comparison to an airplane. All I can say is that it was HUGE!!

We then got to go up in the watch tower. It overlooks Dulles airport and the kids got an awesome view of lots of airplanes landing at the airport. Ben and Emma enjoyed watching this.

By the end of the trip, Aimee and I had watching 4 kids down pat:) Here they all are blissfully playing together on their last morning.

During the week Emma had parents day at gymnastics where we got to take some pictures. Aimee was nice enough to watch Anna that night so that I didn't have to bring her with me.

Emma flipping over the bar

In the midst of a somersault

Aimee and the boys are safe back in Milwaukee and we miss them already! Our visits are too few and far between and always go by too fast. We had an awesome visit and it was so much fun to see the kids interacting! Can't wait to see them again at Christmas:)