Visiting Santa

Love this picture of B with Santa.  What’s better than sharing your Christmas list with Santa, then enjoying an ice cream at Mitchell’s?!

I wonder what they're talking about?

Learning to Ski

I think it’s important to learn to ski at an early age, if possible.  I learned at 34 (1 month before my 35th birthday to be exact) and would never recommend that.  For starters, I understand our hospitalization insurance too well and I don’t have the lower center of gravity that a small kid has.  When you hit the ground, it hurts…a lot.

Kids, on the other hand, are fearless and learn so much faster.  Meg started ski lessons at 7 and has also enjoyed snowboarding (especially being in class with Lil Wayne's kid) and cross country skiing.  Our schedules finally eased up enough, and Mother Nature cooperated with a nice blanket of snow. 

Love this pic of B.  I’m more pizza slice, and she’s totally French fries on her skis!

Playing Around at Target

Sometimes, the best memories and most fun can be had in a spontaneous way....in the aisles at Target!

Sipping at Southern Tier

This has become one of our favorite go-to places when we’re in Chautauqua.  We stumbled across the Southern Tier brewery a few years ago and have marveled at their continuous expansion.  This Thanksgiving weekend, Greg and Megan treated themselves to Southern Tier ski hats.  So stinking cute those two!

Browns Game and Family Traditions

My husband has been a Browns season ticket holder for a few years now and we love going as a family.  The first year, we only had two season passes, so we would take turns for who went each game.  Then we upgraded to three seats, which ups the odds of who gets to go and who sits at home.  During this game, it was just us girls and we had so much fun.  Great weather, great view, great time with my girls. And lots of sun - as you can see from B squinting!

Turkey Trot 2014

A tradition I simply won’t miss.  My first TT was Thanksgiving 2003.  This would be my 11^th.  Some Turkey Trots I ran with Greg, some alone, a few with B in the jogging stroller, I even ran during the pregnancy (only the 1-miler), and most recently, a few with Megan completing the 5-mile distance with me.  Whether she understands it or not, she’s locked in from here going forward.  Her reward is a calorie free day of eating and a venti Starbucks post-race.  Hello, Thanksgiving Day tradition!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brrr! It was cold and icy!

Learning to Ice Skate

I signed Bridget up for her first ice skating lesson.  We live in the snow belt where winter sports are big.  Meg learned to ice skate at 5 and I even learned to ice skate with her.  They have this neat little event for the kids called Friday Night Skate and Meg grew up loving this evening with her friends.  I figured it was time for B to learn to skate as well and, in the next year or two, she would also be enjoying FNS.

                                                                  
It was so cute watching her skate out there pushing the cone for balance.  By the end of the first lesson, she had shed the cone and was (timidly) forward skating end to end.  So proud of my little doodlebug!