minneapolis trip and ashford's 3rd birthday

another minneapolis trip is in the books. the kids and i visited for 6 days just before christmas. thatcher stayed in seattle because he was out of vacation time after his trip to laos. here are some highlights: 

i was not too worried about flying alone with the kids ahead of time, but it ended up being more stressful than i remembered. our flights were delayed both directions, so there was lots of "when are we getting on the plane?!" and "are we there yet?!" over and over :) on the way to minneapolis there was a serious medical emergency (but not emergency landing) and on the way back to seattle the smoke detectors were going off for 5 minutes (apparently someone was smoking in the bathroom). needless to say i'm in no rush to travel solo with them again any time soon. ha! 

the night we arrived we got to crash my mom's neighborhood "holiday hop" (a progressive party that goes from house to house). we got a warm welcome from the neighbors and the kids had a blast eating sweets for dinner and running around some new houses. i had a glass of wine in my hand and was done traveling, so i was a happy camper too ;) we didn't get back to my mom's until 11pm!

the day after we got there, the low was forecasted to be -20. that's the actual temp! i can't remember the last time it was that cold. but being a minnesotan, it didn't deter my plan to pick up our rental car downtown. my brother dropped me off at 10am (when they were supposed to open) and the lone employee did not show up until 10:06. 6 minutes is a freaking long time to stand outside when it's -20 out! then i got to my rental car and they had washed all of the cars the day before (doh!) so the inside was completely frozen over. it took me 30 minutes to get it de-iced enough to drive it. and we missed the church service we planned on attending because of the delay :( we did go to culver's for lunch with my mom and brother, though, so not all was lost!

sunday night we celebrated ashford's 3rd birthday at the party room at my late grandma's condo building. her husband bob still lives there and he was actually celebrating his birthday too - 92! pretty amazing. my aunt, uncle, and cousins came, as well as thatcher's family, my mom and brother, and our good friends liz and joe and their boys. it was a fun night eating pizza luce and celebrating ashford turning another year older. his actual birthday wasn't until wednesday, but we celebrated a bit early. we even facetimed with thatcher, so he could be part of the fun! i'm so glad we've been able to do an official birthday party for ashford each year of his life so far. it's tough being born the week of christmas! 

i think this was the first time i left ashford unattended at a kid's table. big boy status! 

monday i dropped the kids off at durant and cheryl's and then went into work for the afternoon. i spent 3 of my 4 hours there meeting with our new business manager who started in the summer. i didn't get much actual work done, but it was time well spent. our staff holiday party was scheduled for that night from 5-7pm. we had 3 lanes reserved at a bowling alley and a bunch of food to eat! it was a fun night and i actually bowled an 83 (which is good for me - haha!). it was really fun to catch up with my old co-workers and get to know some of the newbies better. 

tuesday morning i took the kids to an indoor play area in bloomington for the morning. we used to go fairly often when we lived there, so it was fun to go back. and it wasn't too crowded either! that evening i had a few girlfriends over to my mom's house for wine and dessert. it was fun to re-connect with them. they enjoyed seeing the kids too. i feel so lucky to be able to continue these friendships while we are living away. 

 mollie was wearing azalea's bow and i was calling her cindy lou hoo ;)

wednesday was ashford's birthday! my baby boy is 3 - how can that be?!

 he is such a ray of sunshine (most of the tie, ahem) and he loves me like no other! we didn't have anything too "birthdayish" planned that day after our party on sunday night. i took the kids to get hair cuts (which has become a tradition on our trips home because it's so much less expensive than here). they both came out looking much older!

 in the afternoon we met up with our friends carolina and her daughters naomi and adella at a coffee shop. as always, it was so fun to see azalea and naomi together again (they are both in kindergarten). they are always so excited to see each other and i'm so happy that they have been able to continue their relationship just as carolina and i have :) we went back to durant and cheryl's for ashford's birthday dinner with my brother in law andrew and nephew jack. it was a nice night! 

jack, azalea, and ashford had such a fun week together. it's so fun to watch them play together as they get older.

thursday morning i went to visit my friend michelle's baby noah in the nicu. he was born december 5th with some health issues, so i really wanted to see both of them. i've been thinking of them so much! our friend anna came as well and we had a nice morning catching up, while taking turns rubbing little noah's back as he laid in his crib. thursday night was our last night! we headed over to my aunt cindy's for the evening because my other aunt shari was coming into town. we hung out with my brother and aunts, uncle, and cousins. the kids love going to cindy's house because she has all sorts of fun toys. 

so there you have it. the condensed play by play of our time at home. i don't think we'll back again until summer, so we made the most of it! we missed thatcher all week and were excited to be reunited with him just in time for christmas. i'll have a recap of all that fun later this week :)