2013: A Year of Travel and Adventure!

My goodness, what a year 2013 was!!! Rumor has it that small children can slow a couple down, but that certainly wasn't the case for our little family this past year.

We jumpstarted 2013 with the celebration of Elliana turning 4, Daddy turning 33 and then off we were onto our first vacation of the year....A Disney Cruise! We ventured to Galveston TX, the newest Departure Port and then boarded our first Cruise Ship as a family. We sailed to Georgetown, Grand Caymans and then onto Cozumel, Mexico. What a delight it was to introduce our little girls to the culture and excitement of new countries, not to mention experience 85+ degrees in January!!

The 6-night cruise so early in the year truly gave us a hunger for more travel, and so in March we were off again to celebrate Mommy and Maya's birthday at the Abe Martin Lodge in Brown Country, Indiana. We filled our birthday weekend with hiking, an indoor water park and then topped off the weekend with a trip to the circus. Throw in Maya's first birthday celebration, Easter celebration and our favorite Norwegian friends visiting us for a few days and we were BUSY!!!! 

In April, we ventured to the Smoky Mountains National Park where we rented a cabin for a few days of uninterrupted family time. We saw black bears in the wild, hiked for a few days, shopped a little bit and of course enjoyed some of our favorite eateries.

 In May we filled our days with outdoor fun, warm weather and local activities. We built forts, played outside, even dipped our toes in our baby pool as we waited for the neighborhood pool to open. The Krohn Butterfly show, Elliana finished her first year of preschool and we went camping! Another busy month!!

In June, we spent a great deal of the month visiting with Mommo, my 94-year old grandma who fell ill.  It was so very hard to see this vibrant, feisty woman so ill and weathered. She passed in late June after a three week battle, and took a bit of my heart with her.

July, we hit the road again to explore the city of Louisville, KY. We celebrated fourth of July watching fireworks over the river from our 9th floor hotel room. It was rather fun watching them from the luxury and comfort of our hotel given the rain was torrential and the kids were cozied up inside. :) Not how we planned it, but slowly we are learning to go with the flow. We explored the local Science Museum, malls, Louisville Bat Museum and any indoor activities we could find as the rain never did let up!

Standing in a giant bubble at the Science Museum!

We also hit the Reds baseball game, local museum with friends, Chuck E. Cheese and a beach vacation to FLORIDA!!!

Two four-year olds + two one-years, = fun times!

Reunited with my long lost college roommate Megan!! 

August we hung out in town, enjoyed our pool, outdoor fun and unfortunately said goodbye to T.J.'s grandma as she joined Mommo in heaven. We experienced 8 new teeth for Maya including all four molars, and said goodbye to breastfeeding. We all began sleeping through the night again (first time since Maya's birth!) Back to the zoo, gymnastics and soaking up the last days of warm weather. 

getting teeth is ROUGH!

Completed Summer Activity Chart

Gymnastics

Zoo days with Ella

In September, TJ and I celebrated 9 years of marriage, Elliana began her second year of preschool, surprised the girls with a trip to see Curious George, apple picking and we ventured to Disney World for a week of vacation.

Hugs before school

Elliana's beautiful letter to God on the sidewalk chalk

The girls Curious George Surprise! Books, new dresses and GEORGE!

Enjoying her fancy meal at Brio in Columbus

October came and went and we filled our days with the last warmth of the year with hayrides, pumpkin patches, outdoor tea parties and unfortunately ended the month with a trip the ER, two sick little girls and finally a torrential down pour on Halloween.

November we were blessed with a getaway for just Mommy & Daddy. A weekend away to Boston for hubby to attend a conference allowed us some much needed downtime and relaxation. The girls loved the quality time with grandparents. Later that month, off to Chicago we went for Thanksgiving. We loved staying with Aunt Jenna and Uncle Matt and getting to know Jackson even better. We need to start planning our next getaway to visit them :)

The girls with their cousin

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry - with Papa! 

December is always a blur of holiday activities, snow and fun. We had our annual gingerbread house party with friends. Elliana sang in her Christmas Concert at school and we all enjoyed the Festival of Lights. We were blessed with lots of family gatherings too to celebrate the birth of Christ. 

Already excited and grateful for the blessings ahead in 2014!