Hot Air Balloon Festival

First up a few are things I need to jot down.

1. A while ago the kids and I were eating breakfast when Liam said "We should get a dog."  Then he turned to Colin and said "Colin what should we name the dog?"  Before he even let him answer Liam said "We should name him Barkley" Ha.  I laughed because I just don't see a dog in the picture too soon.

2. Just after Christmas we had a strand of lights that fell down in the window, so I decided to just take them down.  Colin got so upset when he realized I wasn't going to put them back up.  I explained that Christmas was over and he started crying and said "But it didn't even snow!"   Then later he said he wanted to move somewhere cold, ha.  Once I started taking out Christmas stuff a few days later.  Colin turned to me and said that when it snows we should put it back up.  He definitely associates Christmas with snow!

Once again we went to Havasu on Friday night and stayed in Great Grandma's condo so we could get up bright and early to see the balloons.

Here are the kiddos on GG balcony.

Another view from the balcony

Driving over the London Bridge.

Kiddos on arrival to Balloon Festival

We started out at the food trucks and grabbed some donuts and a breakfast burrito.

Then we watched some of the bigger balloons get set up.

and did a lot of running around in the grass

Colin was rolling around somewhere during this one

Then we walked into a balloon which the kids thought was pretty neat.

My little flowers

Did I mention it was this gal's 15 month birthday!

Colin wanted to get his face painted and he didn't make it easy because he wanted spiderman, ha!  Emily tried to help out since the girl was really struggling.  Colin was happy with the results.

Then all three kids jumped on a bed in the kid's play area.

Finally it was time for some rides. First up was this dragon rollercoaster.  Liam was SO excited to be in the front.

Colin did well the first 4 times around but then he started crying.  Luckily the guys stopped it and let him off and continued the ride.  Once Colin was off he was calm and said he just got a little scared but wanted to get back on, ha!  I told him he wouldn't be able to get on again but when Liam was done he could pick the next ride.

Car ride!  They did this one twice.

Amelia and i walked around a little in hopes of me getting a 15 month photo shoot in.  She wasn't all that cooperative and she is difficult to keep up with.

She is a sweet gal

We love her

I still can't believe she is 15 months!

Then we all went to watch the dog show.  Basically a bunch of different dogs doing cool tricks.

Colin was pretty into it

Amelia was exhausted.

When we left we went to Red Robin and then home.  We all had a great time.  I think I said this last year but if I remember we are going to start out standing on the London Bridge I think that is where the best view is.  Next up Amelia's 15 month post!!

Snow Day in the Hualapais

This little lady likes to climb up into her brothers' chairs after meals and eat their leftovers.  On this particular day it was cereal.

She is always very proud of herself

I failed to post the picture of the gifts the boys made us.  Here they are and we LOVED them.

Liam finally had his 5 year old check up on Dec. 31st.  During the visit I figured we should get everyone's flu vaccines done.  Welp, I was a day late and a dollar short.  Colin became sick on Jan 2nd with a high fever and was just flat out miserable!  I was at volleyball and told Chris to take him to urgent care.  Sure enough he tested positive for influenza.  Then two days later Liam had a fever, so we took him in, too.  He came up negative but they wanted to cover him with meds since he was exposed to Colin.  Then the next day Amelia started with a fever.  I took her into the pediatrician and she tested positive also, sigh.  Dr. Lafredo asked a few questions as to where we had traveled because Amelia was her first positive swab in her office, ha! Go figure.  Anyway, we had some lazy days and here are these two watching Frozen together.

Everyone recovered fairly quickly except Colin.  The poor guy took a little longer and was miserable a couple of days longer.  The boys went back to school eventually and Amelia was looking cute when we dropped them off.

Such a cutie

Love this little lady

Saturday, Jan 9th we took the kids to the Hualapais to play in the snow and we had a great time.  Liam was super pumped at first and jumped right in tubing down the hills.

Amelia was not thrilled at all with the snow, so Grandma Snay mainly held her.

Liam cruising down the hill

He was a happy little guy.

Amelia went down once with her daddy and had a huge smile on her face until the snow touched her face then she was not happy.

Colin had a great time sledding too but he enjoyed eating snow, and playing around in it more.

Me and my boys

My sweet baby girl.  She and I had a little cuddle time when Grandma took a turn sledding.

Eating snow

Throwing a snowball at me

Making snow angels

He was very happy

Liam was off in the shade after a while, playing and eating snow when he became cold and DONE.  He started crying because he was so cold, poor fella.  My mom took a picture for us and we headed back to the car to get the boys dry and warm.

Here is how they traveled

It was a fun for them.

Amelia decided that she wanted to walk once we were heading back to the car

My mom caught this cute picture for me.  We had her legs tied up in shopping bags in hopes to keep her dry, ha!

Chris, Amelia, and me

Grandma and Grandpa

Once we got to the car I got Liam changed and dried off.  My dad had the heater running full blast in the truck and then I heard Colin crying a little too!  I guess when Chris took off his very wet, cold pants off he realized just how cold he was.  So we had two tired and cold boys but they did have a blast and maybe if I find some super cheap snowsuits I will buy them for next year. Since we get to play in the snow only once a year around these parts.

Later that day these boys played outside while Chris was feeling not so well.  They love their star wars jackets.

Yoda and R2-D2

Then that evening we went to eat with G&G Casson at Sakura.  It was quite a lovely day!