Surprise Vacation

So, this weekend, I decided to surprise my sister. She's 7 months pregnant, and on bed rest, so I thought it would be nice to drive up, keep her one year old occupied for a few hours, fill up her pantry (cause she's not supposed to be leaving the house), and generally give her some company. Surprise! Turns out we're the ones who got a great weekend out of the deal. (Though Cyndy enjoyed our visit, too, I hope!)

We drove up Saturday morning and stopped off at the grocery store to get pickles and ice cream (*grin*) and some yummy easy foods. I called her on some lame pretext as we got near her house, and ended the call by asking if she was going to open the door, cause it was cold. And boy was it! We happened to find the one place with SNOW in the northeast this winter, I think!

So, we chatted, I saw her gorgeous work on the new nursery, we played pinochle, ate a big breakfast and dinner (I was supposed to be NOT causing work, but Barry just jumped right in and handled all the cooking!) , and enjoyed our incredibly talkative little niece! She apparently has learned TONS of words since we saw her last. She recruited both of my kids as willing slaves. Then, this morning Barry and I took the kids out sledding while Scott and Cyndy hung out at the house. Plus, we got to sleep in their gorgeous Adirondack themed room with a fireplace and snow falling outside - seriously, who benefitted more by this deal, I ask you???

Here's some photo highlights. None of my sister, because she didn't look overly thrilled about having her picture taken. She's still tiny, whatever she may say - except for her stomach, which I do admit looks like she's having quadruplets! (Sorry, sis!)

Here's Baby Faith helping me with pinochle. Didn't need much help, though, with my sister bidding 70 on one hand!! (Long, giggly story - probably had to be there...)


She then captured my kids in the dog cage by crawling in, ordering them in after her, sneaking out, and shutting the door! She proceeded to play the piano for them - as Scott said, she had a "captive audience"!

And here's a ton of pictures from our snow adventures. The one big spill was so funny I had to include it - Nicky forgot to lean forward on the tube and fell off on his butt, which then caused Kai to flip head over heels. Naturally, she didn't find it amusing. Hm.








We rounded off the visit with a trip to Brook's BBQ on the way home. They have the WORLD'S BEST chicken, no lie. All in all, a much better weekend than we would have had staying home!