Butterfly House and Aquarium

When we were in Sioux Falls, we visited the butterfly house and aquarium. Lulu LOVES fish and sharks and whales so it was a big hit! She is, however, terrified of bugs so the butterfly house was interesting. One second she liked them, the next she was clutching my leg haha. In honor of Finding Dori (a movie we can't wait to see!), here are some pictures of a real life Dori! Lulu was in awe :)

Family time

The best part about photographing our wedding near San Fransisco was that we got to introduce Edith to my family! We stayed with my Grandma Ruth (who Vivienne Ruth is named after) and we got to spend lots of time with my Aunt, Uncle and even my cousin. It was so fun! We don't get to California nearly as much as we used to, so it was a real treat to show off our new sweet baby girl.

Highlights of the trip include: Golden Gate Park/Bridge, Shopping in Palo Alto, Wedding in Mill Valley, Hitchcock movie at the Stanford Theatre, and a visit to Carmel-by-the-Sea. A whirlwind fun five day adventure.

San Fransisco

My sister and I photographed a wedding near San Fransisco last weekend so we took a few extra days to have a girls week. We explored the city, hung out with family, and gave baby Edith all the snuggles and kisses. After we flew in, we headed to Golden Gate park and went for a nice long walk. We also stopped by Fort Point for a neat view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Edith is getting so fun and interactive. She has such glassy blue eyes and an infectious dimpled smile. I love that girl!

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Alas, we have come to the end of the vacation photos. I'm sure I'll be frequenting my own blog just to relive these sunny happy memories on the beach. The weather has been glorious here in Minnesota the last few days, but March blizzards aren't uncommon so who knows if we've officially made it to spring. One thing is for sure, winter can't last forever!

When we were in Florida, we spend a lot of time with Brian's cousin. Her boyfriend knows how much she loves Sprinkles ATM cupcakes, so he brought several back from the  L.A location. Leighanne generously gave a couple to the girls as a surprise on our last day at the beach. The girls LOVE Leighanne! And they love the beach. And they love cupcakes. So pretty sure they were in 2 & 3 year old heaven! Pretty sure I was in mommy photographer heaven too haha. I tagged Sprinkles Cupcakes on the Instagram photo and they sent me a message saying they loved the pic are going to repost it on their website sometime in the next several weeks. So fun! Needless to say, it was the perfect ending to a super fun vacation!

Beach day

The last three days of the trip, we finally had temps in the 70ºs! It was pure sunny heaven! We went to the beach each day. Edith touched the ocean for the first time! She definitely liked the warm heated pool a bit better, but she tolerated the cold ocean much better than her Mama haha. Vivi and Lulu loved building sandcastles, searching for seashells, and splashing around in the water. There was also a lot of beach ball chasing because of the wind lol.

Florida! Disneyworld!

Last week, we were freezing cold and snuggling in the basement by our fireplace eating popcorn and watching Tinkerbell for the hundredth time this winter when I looked at Brian and I said, "I wish we could go to Florida and see the sun and beach!" He said, "Ok! Let's go!" Thinking he was kidding, I shrugged it off. But the more we talked about it, the more we realized there really wasn't a reason NOT to go! Brian was injured at work this summer and has been out ever since. With his frequent doctors appointments and pain, it's been an interesting season in our lives. We missed all of his vacation time from work last year and we realized we had about a 10 day window of open time this week which meant plenty of time to drive to Florida and back. Gas prices are super cheap. We have a free place to stay in St. Petersburg because Brian's grandparents lived here but both recently passed away and the house is unused. And the cherry on top is that we have an old friend who works at Disneyworld who could get us in!

We had no idea what a looooong roadtrip would be like with three kids three and under but we were just crazy desperate enough to find out haha. It wasn't so bad. We left as early as we could on Sunday (which was actually like 10am by the time we got everyone ready and the car packed lol) and we drove as long and far as possible. We had to stop every few hours for toddler potty breaks and to nurse the baby, but other than that.... drive drive drive! Around 1 am the girls were losing it. They couldn't sleep sitting up any longer. They cried and said, "I just want to sleep in a bed!" Heartbreaking haha. So we pulled over to a rest stop. As soon as we got situated to let them sleep, they got a boost of crazy and were hysterically laughing and jumping. So we hit the road again and let them watch a movie on my laptop... at 2am haha. When the movie was over, they lost it again, so we stopped and all took a 3 hour "nap" in various creative positions around the van haha. When we woke up refreshed and stiff at 7am we drove all day again and got here at 7pm. Phew! On the way back we are hoping to stop and sleep at a few friends homes. That should help.

Our first day here in Florida, we met our friend at Disneyworld Magic Kingdom! I can't even describe how excited we were!!! I whipped up a couple new Minnie Mouse skirts and ears for the big girls last week and Edith wore a hand me down from the Vivi and Lulu. My biggest fear was the girls running off in different directions in excitement to go see something, but they did pretty well. We pushed our "crazy train", aka our double stroller with the glider board attachment for Vivi to stand on. It really felt like pushing a train haha. But it was awesome! We mostly stayed in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland all day and road the kid rides. Their favorites were Small World and Ariel which we rode both twice. The girls got to meet Elsa & Anna, Tinkerbell and Ariel. Just adorable! They also enjoyed the Haunted Mansion and LOVED the parade and fireworks. I can't believe that they did so well after a two day, all night drive and then the over-stimulation and fun of Disneyworld in the sunny heat of Florida. All three passed out for a couple hours in the stroller and we woke them up to have a dance party with The Incredibles. Viv is our dancer and LOVED it! Lulu thought the music was too loud and the characters were scary haha.  All in all, a totally awesome day! We just LOOOOOOOVE anything Disney :)