Mae’s Third Birthday – July 16, 2016
Posts Tagged ‘Holidays’
Christmas 2015 Video
To view on iPhone or iPad: go straight to Vimeo.
Halloween 2015
To view on iPhone or iPad: go straight to Vimeo.
Independence Day 2015
Independence Day 2015 included time in the pool, a trip to Wamego to take in their Independence Day celebration, and then some fireworks back home to cap off the full day.
Independence Day 2015 in Photos
Independence Day 2015 started off like virtually any day off of work begins: with a family run:
But from there, it diverged from a normal day off. We decided to spend the holiday in the small town of Wamego, Kansas — a town known for its Wizard of Oz museum (which we did not visit this day), but also known for it’s fantastic Independence Day festival. A parade, carnival rides, and fireworks are all included. We didn’t stick around long enough for the late-day parade or fireworks, but the carnival rides and some time in the sprawling park at the center of town were just the ticket.
An exhausting day yielded to a 90-minute nap on the drive home which proved to be a sufficient recharge to justify some backyard time in the pool before evening fireworks in the back yard.
Everyone was up much later than normal to take in a few of the neighborhood fireworks before bed, including Mae, with a great view right from her bedroom window:
Memorial Day Road Trip: SD
Taking advantage of a three-day weekend, we decided to take a roadtrip to Yankton, SD. The weather didn’t always cooperate, but we still had fun during the rainy days, including a trip to the Gavin’s Point Fish Hatchery and Mae’s first trip to the beach.
Roadside rest stop in western Iowa:
Memorial Park in Yankton upon our arrival: 
Mae’s first trip to the beach! It was a bit chilly and rainy, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm: 
S’mores!
Roadside rest stop on the way back home: 
Easter 2015
Easter has quickly blossomed into one of the most action-packed holidays around here, from egg decorating to the baskets in the morning to an egg hunt later in the day…and every step is a blast from start to finish!
This is the “I’m still waking up, but this is awesome, but I’m not yet awake, but … what’s going on? Yes, more! This is … whoa” face.
Time to search for eggs!
Is this how I’m supposed to wear these new shorts?
Christmas 2014 Video
Christmas 2014 in motion.
Christmas 2014 in Photos
Somehow, two months has passed since Christmas and we finally got around to sorting through the ~500 or so photographs that were taken over Christmas. I learned a while ago that here on WordPress, one can backdate a post — effectively, you can select the date that it will appear to have been posted…and WordPress will automatically keep them in order. For instance: I could date this post back to 12/26 or so and it’d appear in the proper sequence with the other posts. What an incredibly effective way to mask the fact it took me two months to get to this batch of photos. But instead, I’m just going to leave it right here – proudly posted on March 1, 2015 … however out of time that may appear.
Christmas 2014 took us on the ‘circuit’ as we’ve come to call it – a trek to both families in Minnesota and South Dakota. But before the bit trip, early in the month we geared up by visiting the Christmas Tree farm and cutting down our tree. It was a slightly smaller tree this year since we knew we’d be away from the house for more than half of December (first with the San Francisco trip, and then with the family Christmas trip). We also squeezed in our traditional trip to the plaza for some window shopping and dinner at Winsteads and some sugar cookie baking and decorating. They didn’t last long…
Decorating the house the day after Thanksgiving:
The search for the 2014 Christmas Tree: 
One of our annual Christmastime traditions is a trip to the Country Club Plaza for some window shopping.
Christmas #1: Lakeville, MN:
Mae with Grandpa Bob and Grammy M:
The bag left on the porch by Santa was a huge hit: 
Christmas #2: Yankton, SD:
A Christmas eve trip to the Visitor’s Center overlooking Gavin’s Point Dam: 
A Christmas afternoon trip to Memorial Park:
Before leaving Yankton, we took a trip down to the Meridian Bridge – one of the oldest double-decker bridges in the Plains states. We also took this opportunity to participate in a tradition that was adopted from counterparts on a bridge in Paris, France: affixing a lock to the bridge and tossing the key into the river — a new custom that has been embraced by the City of Yankton: 
Halloween 2014
To view on iPhone or iPad: go straight to Vimeo.