Mimi's Visit and Sesame Street Live

Mimi (or Bonnie, Lance's mom) came up to visit!!! We talked her into coming up when we decided to take Ansley to see Elmo/Sesame Street Live. She said she would buy the tickets as a Christmas present for Ansley. We told her she should just come up and go with us. Well, it didn't take much convincing! ;) Bonnie flew in on a Wednesday night and stayed til Sunday. It was really nice having her especially since we had tubes put in Ansley ear's the Thursday she was here.
(My last post was all about Ansley's tubes if you wana check it out)

Mimi and Ansley taking a nap after having to get up early to have tubes put in her ears

Ansley was a champ after having tubes put in but we stayed in the rest of the day. That evening Jenn and AJ came by and brought us pizza and Ansley a treat....her favorite Cheetos puffs! The next day Mimi got to come to gymnastics and watch Ansley! Ansley was sooo excited about having her Mimi there!

Saturday we drove into Minneapolis to watch Elmo/Sesame Street Live! Ansley was a little nervous at first when she saw the characters, but she quickly warmed up to them. We had great seats and we were super close to the stage. During the show Abby Cadabby came by and shook Ansley's hand....Ansley still talks about it!!!

We had a lot of pictures, so check out the smilebox below...

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a41324f4467774e44413d0d0a&blogview=true

After the show we took Bonnie to Mall of America....I mean, no trip to MN is complete without checking it out! :)

While we were at the mall, Dora and Boots were there. We have seen them a couple times, but this time Ansley actually wanted to get her picture made with them. Not only did she take a picture with them, but she high-fived them! She still talks about getting to high-five Dora and Boots!!!

Needless to say, Ansley had a great day! Not only did Abby Cadabby shake her hand, but then she got to high-five Dora and Boots! She was one very excited little girl and got to share it with her Mimi!

Ansley's Tubes

January 12th bright and early in the morning, we took Ansley to have tubes put in her ears. I know it was a somewhat simple procedure, but we were still nervous/scared parents! She did great!

waiting to get the tubes

right after the tubes were put in

like I said, she was a trooper!

I know it was a little while ago, but we just wanna say THANK YOU once again for all your prayers and support during that time it meant a lot to us!

Uncle T's Visit and Ice Fishing

Once we got back from our trip to TN for Christmas, we got our 1st visitor.....Uncle T (Travis, Lance's brother) came up to visit and experience a 'Northern Winter'. The only bad thing about his visit was that he didn't get to experience too much of a Northern winter. This winter has been a very strange one for Minnesota. Last January they had about 45+ inches of snow and this winter the biggest snowfall we have had so far is about 6 inches.

After seeing all the sites in Owatonna (mainly Cabela's)  we headed up further North in search of some outdoor winter snow fun! We ended up in the Norther part of Central MN around Nisswa and Brainerd. We stayed at a really nice lodge (http://www.grandviewlodge.com/index.php) that offered outdoor fun along with your stay. Lance had everything arranged, even a babysitter, for all of us to go snowmobiling. The only problem, at the time, was that there wasn't any snow! So instead of snowmobiling, the boys went ice fishing!

some pics inside the lodge

i know this pic is dark, but this is the back of the lodge and it reminded me of Dirty Dancing

Back to the ice fishing...

I'm not even going to act like I know a lot about ice fishing so bear with me :)

Anywhere there is a frozen lake you can look out and see a bunch of ice fishing houses or 'shanties'

this is the boys shanty

Travis riding out to the shanty with the fishing guide

(at this point in the trip, Lance was back in our room sick with the stomach bug.

So Travis got to learn all about ice fishing and fish for a little bit by himself)

the shanty....the boys rented it for 24 hours (i think, it may have been longer)

bunk beds on one end. There is a bathroom behind that door, or I mean a bucket

the other side, and yes it was heated

there are 6 holes in the floor, not very child friendly, so me and Ansley just visited for a little

Rattle reels

one of the fish Travis caught

fishing is hard work!

Travis and Lance

After having fun fishing we explored downtown Nisswa, MN

We found a Marble Slab Creamery and enjoyed some ice cream

We also went snowtubing at Ski Gull (http://www.skigull.com/index.html)

Ansley didn't have as much fun as the rest of us

Travis

It was so nice to have Travis come up and hang out with us. The best part is that Ansley got to see Uncle T catch a fish. Randomly she will talk about the fish Uncle T caught and she tells it like a true fisherman cause the fish gets bigger every time she talks about it,

so now Uncle T caught a BIG fish! :)

We also got to welcome 2012 in while we were there

Happy New Year!