Monday, January 30, 2017

Ohio & Kentucky

The Ohio and Kentucky trip was a lot of fun. We stayed two nights in each state. This was a small trip because I had very few days left before I went back to school. Cincinnati is a smaller city: similar to Indianapolis. It was also very cold so we didn't get out too much to walk around. To be perfectly honest, there were no areas to shop at other than a Macy's. There are plenty of restaurants with excellent food. Justin and I both agreed it was some of the best food we had ever had. Yet, this made the city a little boring. Not to mention it was snowing and very, very cold. I wonder if the city is a lot more fun during the warmer months? The same thing went for Louisville. However, they have much more to do in terms of walking around and sightseeing. There were many museums right next to each other - Where in the Cincinnati you had to drive or Uber to any destination you needed. In Cincinnati, we went to the famous aquarium in Newport Kentucky which was just over the river. It was literally an eight minute ride from our hotel. It was a very innovative and interactive aquarium. The girls had never been to one before. Louisville Kentucky had so many cool historical things to see. We saw Churchhill downs, the Louisville slugger museum, and a really interesting science center. Take a look at the pictures below. We jammed a lot in in four days!!

The gorgeous entryway into our hotel that was an old Enquirer building.

Beautiful large hotel rooms.

Petting penguins at the aquarium. A really cool experience for the girls.

Playing on the frog exhibits.


Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Bon Appetite!

Estelle requested a "Ratatouille" themed birthday party because of her new love for cooking. She loves dressing up as a chef and helping me crack eggs or chopping veggies. Isla loves it too. Estelle turned 3 and we had a really good turnout. Here are some pictures: 
Lol she is so cute!! 

Monday, January 2, 2017

2016 in 30 seconds

I have been so bad at keeping up on my blogging. School has become very intense and incredibly time-consuming. Not to mention different changes in my job that lead to more hours and longer days. All are good things, but stressful things none the less. As I am on my Christmas break and ready to return to school next week I thought I should update my little journal so that one day my children can read this and see what kind of wonderful things they were up to.
I enjoyed a special Mother's Day.
Isla turned 4 and had a great butterfly celebration.
We stayed busy in the summer bumming around Geneva and enjoying the pool!
Isla got her first real haircut. Other attempts were homemade :)
We enjoyed the 4th of July!
We got a new swing set!
I turned 32... 
Isla started a new preschool.
We made our annual Kuiper's pilgrimage.
The first day of school 😊
The girls started dance classes 👯
My mom celebrated another birthday in heaven.
The girls had killer Halloween costumes!
Estelle turned 3! Time flies!
Christmas came and went.
We are looking forward to 2017!

Adding to the list!

We have bourbon country on the list as we prepare to go to Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky. Both are "never been"'s for Justin and I. There is a cool aquarium near Cincinnati and of course the Louisville slugger museum in KY. I personally can't wait to drink a Mint Julip at Churchill Downs! Stay tuned we are leaving in 48 hours!

Visiting Iowa

A little visit with Justin's good friend at the Iowa state Fair. The Iowa State Fair is the annual State fair that began in 1854. The fair grounds are considered a historic preservation center. It is based in the state capital Des Moines, Iowa over 11 days in August. With over a million visitors it is one of the largest and best known state fairs in the United States. We stayed 10 hours and walked 19,000 steps! It was the biggest fair we have ever been to. Checking it off our list as there is really nothing else in Iowa we had an interest in seeing. We are glad we went to experience such a mega-fair! & it's true - all the food is on a stick. Everything was absolutely delicious! 
We had to stop at the world's largest truck stop.
The view from our hotel!
Cool neon bowling
Fair grounds and rides!
Too tired to last all day
Some serious prizes