Dance, Dance, Dance

Contest season for dance is well underway. Mekinna has competed in 2 contests this year, and she has 2 more coming up. Last weekend, she competed with her solo for the first time this year and . . . SHE WON! We are so excited for her because she has worked so hard. She has dance class 2 nights a week, and then she practices her solo another night. She has so much fun dancing and competing . . . we are so PROUD!

HOME

We FINALLY moved into our new house. It has been a long, daunting process, but it was worth the wait. The enormity of the house, and the work that had to be done was overwhelming, but we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Before we moved in, we had the entire house painted as well as the downstairs floors redone. Now, we're able to really get the house in order. The girls settled into their new rooms well, and they don't even seem scared about being upstairs. I think the biggest adjustment has been on the adults in the house. However, we are settling in more and more each day.
There is still work to do, but things are coming along. We are so grateful to those who have spent so much time and effort helping us with our new home.

Mekinna's Bday

We celebrated Mekinna's birthday recently. Since she has a winter birthday, but loves to swim, we rented the pool of a local hotel. It was perfect! The kids had a great time, and Mekinna couldn't have been happier.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Mekinna, Menlie, and Gunner trick or treated in Grammy's neighborhood.

Fall

We have been so busy lately, that we just had to opportunity to take our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Each year, we give the girls their own money to pick out a pumpkin. This was the first year that both of the girls actually enjoyed the outing.

the "REAL" big trip

John and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this year. As many of you know, my gift to him each year is a "surprise" trip. This year, my trip was to Paris, France. We were able to go over Spring Break, and we spent 7 days in the city. (The girls stayed back with my parents, but we can't wait to take them to Europe.)

After flying overnight, we decided to hit the city running. Of course, the first 'big' treat was the Eiffel Tower - and, yes, we did go all the way to the top. Wow, what a sight. . . we also took this opportunity to get our first, of many, real pastries.

We saw all of the amazing sights, you know, the Louvre, Saint Chappelle, Champs Elysees, the Seine river, but Notre Dame was by far my favorite. We just happened in on Palm Sunday; wow, it was a huge mass. If this amazing church doesn't bring tears to your eyes - nothing will.

We also spent a day in Versailles; this was another of our favorite excursions. We rode the train to the city and then walked to the palace. The entire place is amazing. We loved just walking through the gardens; you could get lost there for hours.

Thanks to my mom, we also had to the opportunity to go to the Moulin Rouge theatre and see "Feerie". After the shock of them not being fully clothed, we had a great time.

This was a once in a lifetime trip...I still can't believe we actually went to PARIS. Next up, get my parents there.

The Big Trip

Okay, well, our summer trip wasn't quite as BIG as our trip to Paris (to be discussed in a later post). However, we did take a family trip to Philadelphia over the summer. My parents, the kids, John, and I all went to Philly to visit Sesame Place. We did go to Independence Hall; the girls didn't think that was all that great:)

Of course, since we were so close, we couldn't resist the urge to go to Hershey, PA, New Jersey, Coney Island, and Times Square. I think we enjoyed Hershey the most - probably because we got chocolate after every event.


Coney Island was amazing and the girls loved the beach. Afterwards, we ate dinner in Times Square - quite an experience. Yes, we did tons of eating...from Pat's and Geno's philly cheese steak (with Cheez Whiz) to Nathan's hot dogs on Coney Island!!