Madison's Birthday Weekend

With company in town for Madison's Baptism, we did the only thing you can do for fun in the North Dakota winter--left town!  And what better weekend retreat is there than the beloved Twin Cities.  We began our visit with a trip to the famous Mall of America.  Here, the kids did some Christmas shopping with their grandparents at their two favorite stores--The American Girl Store and The Lego Store. (You can sort out who shopped where.)

 

Then we drove twenty minutes north to our usual weekend lodging--The Holiday Inn Express with indoor swimming park--and spent the evening and next morning swimming and watching movies and simply enjoying time with grandparents.

 

 

 

 

After swimming, Nick and I also snuck in a little shopping at MY favorite stores--Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Williams Sonoma, and Ethan Allen.  Actually it was more just looking and getting ideas for the new house, but it was fun to get to do it without children tagging along for once.

Then, when the men had suffered all of the shopping they could handle, we loaded up and began the five hour drive back to Bismarck.  Since it was Madison's birthday, we gave her the choice of where we ate dinner.  Being after her mother's own heart, she choose Chili's--who can resist bottomless chips and steaming hot queso on a cold winter night!  We ate, she opened birthday presents, and then we dropped Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins and Grandma and Grandpa McArthur off at their hotels and called it a night.

The next day, we all went to church, finished the last minute preparations for Madison's baptism, and the kids got to cheat and open Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins' Christmas presents a few days early. (They will be flying out early Christmas morning.) 

 

 

It was wonderful, and the kids have so loved having company at this special time of year.  We all have really.  In truth, in our twelve years of married life, we have never spent Christmas or Christmas Eve anywhere but at our own house.  While some people may find this surprising, it is perhaps even more surprising that we have also never had company visit us over the Christmas holiday.  Sometimes family has come before or after, but no one has ever spent Christmas  or Christmas Eve with us.  Needless to say, we're excited for our parents to be with us for Madison's Christmas Eve Baptism and the days that will follow.