Flight to the North Pole

Vava works for an organization that (in cooperating with Sun Country Airlines)  gives children the opportunity to take a flight to the North Pole. We were lucky enough to get a spot on the plane this year!

We arrived at the Humphrey terminal of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and were given our boarding passes by some elves. From there, we went through security. That was kind of a neat experience for the boys, since they haven't flown yet.

The gate was all decorate and ready to send kids off to the North Pole.

The boys were able to color and write on the giant "Wish List" that was out for Santa. And then...it was time to board the plane! There was only enough room for one adult to ride with the boys, so I went with them. Brian, Papa Gordy and Vava waited back at the airport.

The boys were pretty excited!

We boarded the plane, everyone got buckled in, and then we backed away from the gate. We taxi'd around the airport, even got clearance to go on the runway, and the pilot gunned the engines. We were going really fast! Then the pilot told the kids that the gold dust that is sprinkled on the wings to help us fly to the North Pole works best if we shut the window shades, so we did. Shortly after that, we slowed down and taxi'd a bit more to the North Pole airport. We arrived there, and the pilot said something about Santa's helpers on the ground, but they were on the other side of the plane, so we couldn't see them. We waited just a bit and then Wendy from Wendy's Restaurants was there to serve us kids meals. Yes, isn't it incredible? Wendy lives in the North Pole!! The kids enjoyed their meal, and then it was time for us to fly back to Minnesota.

The flight attendants sang Christmas carols over the intercom, and then the Pilot recited 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Again, we shut our window shades, then got on the runway and went really fast. Magically, it didn't take us very long to get back to Minnesota.

As we exited the plane, each child got a chance to go in the cockpit, meet the pilots and earn their wings. The boys also got a certificate for their first flight.

Now, after all that flying, it was so funny that Santa was waiting for us back in Minnesota! The boys got a chance to sit with him and his elf, and to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

After that, each child was given an incredible gift bag, with all kinds of nice toys and games. It really was a neat experience. The boys had a wonderful time, and couldn't wait to tell their friends at school about their trip to the North Pole.

Renters Insurance, are you there?

It didn't take us long to have our first disaster in the house. 

About 8:30pm last night I was baking cookies, when suddenly it started to rain in the kitchen. I looked up to see water pouring out of a light fixture. I called Brian, and he took off running upstairs. Yep...plugged toilet. For some reason, we've had trouble with both boys plugging toilets since we moved into this house. They are using mass quantities of toilet paper and have to be monitored and reminded not to use too much. But this night, well...oops.

Dylan had used our bathroom toilet before going to bed and plugged it. We didn't know it until Brian discovered standing water in our bathroom, that had soaked out into our bedroom twelve inches as well as under the wall into our closet too. And apparently water just goes wherever it can, which means down. And out light fixtures.

I went back downstairs to assess the damage, when I noticed the water was not coming out of three different light fixtures. Ahh!!

Brian and I both agreed someday we would laugh about this. "We're sorry Dylan, you didn't go to college because Mommy and Daddy had to replace the ceiling in a house we don't own."

We protected the floor as much as we could, and set out containers and buckets to collect the dripping water. By morning it had stopped. The rental company strangely enough, wasn't too concerned. They came out to look at the damage, but told us it would dry and we just need to paint over it. Hmmmm, okay. Crisis averted.

We now have a strict three square rule.

An Old Fashioned Christmas

After the move and a bout with bronchitis for me, we were ready to get moving with the Christmas season! My mom and I took the boys to Dakota Village on the Dakota County Fairgrounds for an Old Fashioned Christmas. 

Shortly after we got there, snow started falling pretty heavily and it was so charming. Almost movie-like, being in this historic village all lit up for Christmas with heavy snow falling. 

We went into the church and sang Christmas carols with perfect strangers and it was so lovely it brought tears to my eyes. 

We went to the old schoolhouse where the boys colored an ornament for the tree. Doesn't Dylan look like he fits right in? :)

There were two sets of horses pulling trolley's around. This set was all black and something happened to upset them. Suddenly, the driver lost control of them and they were barreling through this little village. The driver was yelling at the horses to stop to no avail. He was almost being dragged by the reins and he kept slipping and sliding in the snow. He managed to get a hold of the reins and he drove the team of horses right into the side of a building to make them stop. The people on the trolley sure looked frightened and we were not too anxious to get on a trolley after that!

But, get on a trolley we did. With the other set of horses :)

The snow was falling quite heavily by now and it was just  magical.

Dylan gave the barber shop chair a try right before we left.

Santa comes to Dart

Boy are we lucky! Santa Claus came back to Dart this year, which meant we didn't have to go stand in line at the mall!

The boys were quite excited to see the big man. Dylan said he wants the Millenium Falcon (a Star Wars Lego kit) and Brody wants dinosaurs. 

Moving!

Things got pretty exciting Thanksgiving weekend for us. Leading up to that, we had made the decision to rent a house. VenuWorks contract at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center is up in two years, and we both really felt that we don't want to get into a mortgage that we will have to be worried about in two years. Barely getting out of the last house taught us that lesson. We also aren't confident that the market has hit bottom, so if we did buy a house now, only to have it lose it's value, we'd really be pressed to sell it in two years if we had to. We just felt more comfortable renting a house, and that's what we did! We had a target area, and there were very few houses available for rent in the city we wanted.

We saw one house, agreed on it, submitted our application, only to find out on a Friday morning the homeowners decided to take the house off the rental market. I was seriously disappointed. I had already imagined where our furniture would go. I knew what it would smell like in my house, with a certain candle burning, and a breakfast casserole in the oven on Christmas morning as we watched the boys open gifts. And suddenly, none of this was possible!

Over the weekend I researched every possible rental property in a tri-city area that was still in Dylan's school district. There were not many options that appealed to us, but there was one that had a lot of promise. I spoke to the rental company on Monday, we had a showing on Tuesday, and by Wednesday we were signing the papers and getting the keys!

We owe many thanks to our family for helping us move in to the house Thanksgiving weekend. We are so grateful to my mom for letting us live with her, and for allowing us to come right in and take over so much space, but it was time for us to be back in our own home. 

Things have been so crazy lately that I'm blogging this on 12/21/11, even though I'll backdate it a bit so it appears in order in my blog book (when I get to that...). We've been in the house a few weeks and things are pretty settled. We still have a pile of boxes in the garage to go through, but for the most part we're moved in.

Here is a short tour of the house:

The kitchen:

Tons of cabinets!!

Looking from the kitchen, into the dining area and beyond that is the family room. 

To the left in this photo is a staircase that goes down to the basement, and a hallway that has a powder room, the laundry room and a mudroom, as well as the exit to the garage. Downstairs is all finished, and that's a new thing for us. We're wondering where all the storage space is?! There is a large family room area, a bar, a bedroom, and a utility room. 

From the family room, looking toward the front door. It has a small entry way which I don't love, but hey, beggars can't be choosers! We also have a very spacious office in the front of the house. 

To the right of the front door is the staircase leading upstairs. 

At the top of the stairs to the right is Dylan's room. The bedrooms are a bit on the smaller side. The square footage in this house is definitely in the living spaces, and we're finding that we're okay with that. Each of the boys has their own room. They both also have a nice sized closet.

Next is Brody's room. It's an eye-popping green!! We have permission from the owners to paint, we just haven't gotten there yet. 

Between Brody's room and ours is a full bath.

Our room is quite comfortable. Our king sized bed fits nicely, and we have two dressers in there too. We have a nice walk-in closet and a bathroom with a separate shower and big soaking tub!

So that's the home tour! I'll try to post more as we get things up on the walls and get more settled.

Dylan's school program

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was Dylan's first elementary school performance. It was also "Special Person's Day" (formerly known as Grandparents Day. :) Dylan was lucky enough to have all of his grandparents there for the big show. Oma and Papa Gordy both left work early, and Grandma and Papa came up from Iowa to spend the holiday weekend with us.

The performance was all about Thanksgiving. The kids had cute little chef hats, or turkeys on their heads and they sang many songs about turkeys, and eating and enjoying the holiday.

For some reason I can't upload the video, but Dylan and one of his schoolmates went up to the microphone to introduce the very first song. It was very cute!

Family Photos 2011

Received our family photos from this fall, and wow, were we impressed. We don't usually end up with so many "usable" photos, so we had a hard time choosing.

One of my high school classmates is the photographer, and we think she does a great job!