Traditions

We are in the midst of Christmas celebrations this weekend and I've been thinking about Traditions that we are starting as a family. It's exciting to create these fmemorable moments (although we've both agreed at ages 4 and 2, what we've done with Julia and Lyvia so far they will not remember any of it!) I don't remember anything when I was 4! Oh well. So, its for us right now:)

As a kid, my family always went down to Macy's (Dayton's) 8th floor holiday display to see Santa and its something that we are continuing today with the girls. The past 2 years we've went there on Christmas Eve morning and its great- short lines, no crowds, just perfect! And Santa is still there because he doesn't need to get into his sleigh until nighttime:) It's been a really great way to start our day since we go to church at 4:30pm and then to the Vetsch Christmas after that.

Just this year, on Chirstmas Eve, after the girls got out of the bathtub, they walked to their room wrapped in their towels to go get their pajamas on and found a present on the floor from Mom and Dad. Another tradition that I'd like to continue, it was Christmas pajamas for each of them. Especially cute for pictures by the tree on Christmas morning!

Another Tradition that Johnny has started is reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the girls on Christmas Eve. They sit on the couch and cuddle up- its the only time of year that they read that book. Johnny makes sure to hide it until that night.

When I was young, we always went to the Hollidazzle Parade, but I'm not brave enough for that one yet. Seems like a lot of work with little ones right now! Maybe when everyone is a little older:) So, that's it for now, I'm sure as our girls and future kids get older we will create more family traditions.

Julia's 4 yr birthday!

I am posting this a little late. Julia turned 4 on July 8th! We celebrated with her twice- for her birthday dinner, she wanted cheesy noodles and we had a look-alike ice cream sundae cake. The next day, Friday, we invited all the grandmas and grandpas over as well as the cousins in town. It was a HOT day and they played outside in the sprinkler and jumped on the trampoline. Everyone made their own ice cream sundaes and we had all the toppings there.

Family Triathlon!

We Ran! We Biked! We Swam!

We drove over to the Barthel farm to do a family "practice" triathlon. Word is that my sister Gabrielle is organizing a "secret" triathlon for the family....secret for the fact that she is not going to tell anyone until it gets closer so she has more time to train and thus win. What a stinker. Well, we are getting ahead of the game.

We started out with a 1 mile run with the girls in the double stroller- Holy Hot outside. That got us sweating. Then off for a bike ride on country roads. Problem- I forgot Julia's helmet (she is on the trail-a-bike behind my bike) so we decided to "off-road" it and take a bike ride around the farm. Wow, that was hard. It was like mountain biking...rather farm biking. Lots of hills, bumps, trees to dodge. We biked for a solid 30 min (there is a lot of space to bike around the farmyard). Much more fun than biking on a boring old road!! Then for the swim (I went solo on this one while Johnny entertained the girls)- 10 laps in the pool. Whew! Good workout.

The Royal Family

We were the "Royal Family" for Halloween. Julia the Princess, Lyvia the Frog, Maureen the Queen and Johnny the King. And let's not forget about Grandpa Guzek the Court Jester and Gabrielle as the fairy godmother. We took the girls trick-or-treating to a few friends houses in the daylight hours and had family over at night. I was able to get ONE picture of the girls together that day, thank goodness!

Apple Jacks

We went to the Apple Orchard last weekend as a family. Julia rode a pony, we looked at the giant pumpkins, picked some apples, went on a cow-tractor ride and bought a carmel apple for Grandpa Guzek. Fun afternoon!

The Barthels Go Camping!

Julia went camping over Labor Day Weekend with Grandpa Greg and Grandma Rex up north to Lake Vermillion. It sounds like they had a lot of fun fishing, biking, and Julia provided entertainment at night telling "ghost stories". It was different not having her around and just having one on one time with Lyvia. It was nice, but we missed her!!

We (me johnny and lyvia) also went "camping" that weekend- if you want to call it that We drive a whole 15 minutes to Baker Park to join some friends and spent a couple days there- kind of. Got there around 6pm, slept in the tent that night (Lyvia slept like a champ in her pack and play!!), drove home the next day to get some more food, stayed the rest of the day and evening and drove home at 11:30pm after the campfire because our bed sounded better than the hard ground. I sent Johnny back the next morning to go get all of our stuff. That's our kind of camping:)

Here are some pics of Julia's adventure. I did not bring a camera for our "camping" trip.

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I told you I didn't know what I was doing. A lot of you have said how you have viewed the blog and tried to post a comment and couldn't because you had to register as a user. Well, I just figured out how to change that setting, so comment away everyone!!!!!!