February 2012 - Wolves, Weddings & Winter Fest

February started with some outdoor activity. While it was cold much of the time, we've definitely been blessed with the mildest of mild winters. The chalk comes out readily these days and has led to some great adventures, including the creation of a small village, complete with one loop road, a bank, a couple houses, and a chalk store! This went on for hours and resurfaced for several different days...

Nora stops at the bank

She's got her withdrawal and she knows where she wants to spend it...

Meanwhile, Elise waits patiently for customers at the Chalk Store...

And here's her first customer!

More outdoor cuteness


Next up, we took the party to Great Wolf Lodge for a big neighborhood rendezvous in honor of Nora & Elise's friend Mae's birthday. We didn't get any shots of the water park, but the girls had a blast playing in the gigantic pools, lazy river raft ride and dumping water on people from the top of this big water fort thing. Mama & Papa even got to sneak off for a few trips down the big kid slides!

Nora in the lodge, where the animals all come to life and tell stories...

The girls, after our first trip to the water park

On our way out... this picture is cute for a bunch of reasons, but my favorite one is that Elise is holding up one of her now famous "burgers," which she finds when digging around up in her nose.

The following weekend, we drove down to Cincinnati for our friend Tika's wedding (congrats Tika!). We were lucky enough to be able to crash at a friend's place in Mt. Adams while they were out of town (thanks again Tim & Mary!). The wedding was beautiful and it was great to catch up with so many friends from near and far. It was BY FAR the coldest weekend of the year, though, which didn't stop us from dressing up and partying like the rock stars that we are!

The girls getting dressed in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror... I suspect we'll capture many of these over the years!

The Bongornos, looking dapper as ever

The Bride's side at the Bell Events Center. (Bummed that none of the pictures we took during the rest of the ceremony were any good!)

The kids ruled the dance floor (here, with good friend Violet)


Good night Cincinnati!

Back home, attention turned to the creation of intricate works of art & crafts and to giant leaps from coffee table to couch. Of note, Nora's drawings now feature people with clothing. She draws the figures and then scribbles on the outfits. We miss the anatomically detailed works from before, but it's nice to have some clothes on for a change. Contrary to Nora's intricate, time heavy drawings, Elise's are complete in a matter of moments. Water colors, crayons, no matter... she whips 'em out and goes for the tape to hang them on the wall of her choosing!

Nora details a playground scene in ways only a 4-year-old can

A finished product featuring Mama, Nora & Elise


Nora crafted her own guitar!

Flashing a smile while taking a leap!

Big air!

Elise really goes for it!

Back outdoors... We met up with the Boyds on a cold Saturday evening and caravaned to another edition of Brite Winter Fest. This one was in Ohio City, near West 25th & Market Square. The games and food trucks were out, as were plenty of neighborhood friends. We ended up getting cold after a couple hours and made our way back to Heck's for dinner and Johnny Mango for a round of margaritas. Good times!

A gigantic version of "Angry Birds"

... and skee ball

Loved this shot on W. 25th

We seriously have had next to no snow to speak of this winter. This stuff was almost gone by lunch. Luckily, we suited up early and high-tailed it over to the Gallagher School to run around in the field for a bit. Chris got a workout pulling the sled over snow, concrete and asphalt and then around the track a few times at the school. He was all too happy to do it, though!

See you in March!