Ella had recently voiced her desire to visit a "real museum". (Possibly because she loves the book "Olivia", and on rainy days, Olivia goes to the museum to look at Jackson Pollock and Degas paintings. Then she gets in trouble for recreating a Jackson Pollock at home. Time out.) And really, is there a cooler museum than the Getty? We went. It was wonderful. We stayed for about 4 hours, saw MAYBE 1/3 of their collection, and loved it. They had these cool "Art Detective" cards at the front desk for kids. They had a portion of a painting, a room number, and the kids had to find which piece of art it came from. Ella was definitely into it.
Me: (after looking at the Irises painting by Van Gogh) Ella, do you realize you're seeing some of the most famous artwork in the whole world? We are so lucky!
Ella: Yes mom. Because you've already told me that three times.
Me: What's been your favorite part so far?
Ella: The tram ride. It was like the tram at Disneyland. It was fun.
But really, she liked the museum too. Granted, the tram is pretty impressive.
Gretchen liked the naked statues. She kept pointing at them and saying, "Nurse?" Then laughing because she knew she was hi-larious.
After that outing, the rest of the trip was All Family All The Time. Good thing we all like each other. Christmas morning we went to Poppa Randy's house to open stockings. We coordinated with Santa to leave our stuff there. He's so nice, that Santa...
This picture of the girls with Grandpa Conrad just cracks me up. Ella is such a good poser.
Helicopter toy!
When we grow up, we want a hot tub and a pool. Dear Uncle Aaron & Aunt B, we may just move in... Hope that's cool with you.
Gretchen was so mad when we made her get out of the hot tub. (I was worried about leaving her in for too long, the water was so hot. She was literally steaming when I sat her on the edge of the hot tub. Steam rolling off her. She was not happy to be out of the water. She wanted to cook.)
Mom thought this was a goofy picture, but I think she looks cute. Plus, I love that gray wall in Aaron & B's kitchen.
New basketball hoop! Merry freakin' Christmas!
Gretchen & her adorable 2nd cousin. Awwww.
Then we got back to Reno. And for New Years we partied at TWO PEOPLE'S houses. I actually didn't go to bed until 2. I know, it was like I was back in college. Crazy. Then the next day we drove to Truckee to go sledding. Here's Ella & her BFF all decked out:
Then my camera died. But pretend I got a picture of Gretchen so excited about sledding that she couldn't wait for a sled. She just threw herself down the hill and slid on her belly. Multiple times.
We dog-sat Cooper, Auntie Amber's dog. And now we were grateful for our cat. Our cat doesn't tear up the garbage and eat things (things that I will not mention, that's how gross it they were. Ugh. Baby, stop kissing the dog!!)
Yesterday we went on a Family Adventure. We got Vietnamese for lunch downtown. Ella really wanted a coconut. Till she tried it. I got to finish it. Yay me!
Gretchen really wanted rice.
And to throw herself off the bridge over the Truckee River downtown. See my hand holding her back?
Now Christmas is all packed up for another year. Tomorrow Ella starts kindergarten again. We had a great time being with both our extended family and just the four of us this holiday.
Guess I'll got to bed so I can wake up at the crack of dawn & be a responsible adult. Or at least pretend.
xo
1 comment:
yay, I am so glad that I can count on a new Apryl post every Sunday....you're so good. It seems like you guys had a lot of fun, and I love all the pictures. I think we definitely need to got sledding with you guys sometime. The stories Tyler tells of the family sledding day sounds pretty intense, and who wouldn't want to watch Gretchen throw herself down a mountain on her belly. Sounds like a lot of fun to me!
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