Crazy Winter Storm #1

We got to Barnes & Noble at 11:00, just in time for storytime...  

Except that storytime was at 10:00.

Luckily there were other fun things to do.

Seth played with duplos while Anika enjoyed new books.

We were here when the snow flurries started.  I hadn't noticed or worried.  We left to go home for lunch and Seth's nap, and I am glad we left when we did because everyone else wasn't far behind!

Here the kids are watching the snow out our hotel window.  Obviously it wasn't really sticking at this point, and little did we know what would come of it.

Thankfully Nathaniel told me not to come pick him up that day.  He walked home.  He made much better time walking for 30 minutes than all the cars he passed that were parked on the busy street.  That's when we started hearing crazy stories...

Nathaniel's co-worker still hadn't gotten home after 3 hours when his commute normally takes 20-30 minutes.  

A friend spent 4 hours picking up her daughter from school 3 miles away.

Then the stories got crazier and worse...

Buses were finally dropping kids home after 10pm and many kids slept at school.

After 8 hours another guy parked his car and took MARTA (public transportation) back to his office.  He tried again and made it home around noon the next day.

I didn't hear stories about this, but I experienced first-hand the gas stations being out of gas.

Many people were stuck on the freeway for 16 hours.

 We ventured out to get dinner that first night.  Luckily the road we were driving on was mostly free from traffic, but we definitely saw other roads that were jammed with cars and not going anywhere.  Most places were closed, but we found a Burger King and played a little bit.  It closed early while we were there. 

This was the snow that caused all the problems!  Not much snow, but when the Georgia roads and traffic are terrible in the first place, and EVERYONE gets sent home at the same time, add a little snow and only a few plows, and you get big problems!  The traffic was often held up because the snow turned to ice and many semi trucks were stuck blocking all lanes of traffic.  But because the traffic was so bad the emergency crews and tow trucks couldn't even get where they were needed so the problems continued to escalate. 

Here are a couple abandoned cars on empty roads that are normally very busy.  Not many people went out the next day, but I couldn't stand to stay in.

In this picture the red car is one that was abandoned.  It is right there at the edge of the median in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in this area.

I just could not stay in the hotel any longer so we left.  The YMCA, the libraries, the fast food w/play places, etc. were all closed!  So we went to pick up Nathaniel from work to eat lunch with us.  He was the only one there aside from the security guard because he preferred to walk to work and work at work instead of "work from home" at the hotel.

Almost nothing was open, but we finally found a gas station that was open. 

We got some hot dogs and had a picnic in the back of our van.

We have let the kids play in the back of the van a lot lately.  

We were so bored being stuck in the hotel that we put a clippy in Seth's hair.

Syttende Mai 2013

Norwegian Independence Day Celebration May 17, 2013

 At the International Peace Gardens in SLC

Part of the day was cold and rainy.  Anika is hiding out in the jogging stroller.

Little Vikings with Grandpa Viking

Nathaniel was in class

Hurrah for Norway!

Prizes from participating in some children's games.

Puddles!

This picture makes me smile :)

Haircut and random pictures

Anika cut her own hair last summer.  Addison probably encouraged her.

Either way Anika started crying as soon as she did it.  Thankfully it was just one chunk and it could have looked a lot worse.

My sister, Emily, helped me cut Anika's hair one day.

Anika got to do Emily's hair too.

Turns out I wasn't ready to cut Seth's hair that day,

but he joined in the fun with a headband. 

A Fun Week

Dinner at the mall.  There were cute little tables for kids.

I was delighted to discover another free and indoor place to play here.

There is a soft play area at the mall.  

It is like the dinosaur area at the City Creek mall in SLC except it has a few animals and vehicles (fire truck, mail truck and police car).  The one here is also smaller, but also soft and fun!

The kids made bubble solution at the library for a preschool science activity.  Seth just loved it even though he was dripping a lot more than blowing bubbles.

Anika was very excited by the fact that we had made our OWN bubbles.

Bubble lovin'

Here's a picture showing what lunch and life is like here at our hotel.  The couch is moved a foot or so away from the wall so the kids can climb over and over and over it as well as play behind it.  The couch cushion and pillows are on the floor.  There are also dress-ups on the floor.  Our hotel room didn't have very many dishes, they are all glass, so I bought some kid-friendly dishes that I LOVE!  My friend, Audrey, told me about them and now I have an excuse to buy some :)  They are made from recycled milk jugs, but I especially love the deep, divided compartments.

My brother, Josh, happened to be near Alpharetta for a work trip this week so he 

stopped by and brought Koosh balls for the kids.  My sister was also here in Georgia on Friday, only for a stop in the airport.

We went to a special circus storytime where the kids got to have a stamp on their hand.  Seth was very excited.  

A clown from Ringling Bros is peeking out from his "backstage."

Sometimes it is really nice to have the kids just be quiet and watch a movie while I make lunch... especially if they aren't jumping on, pushing, hitting or fighting with one another!

Anika and I had a puzzle party.  The other day we did all the puzzles we brought with us to the hotel, but we didn't put them away before Seth woke up and pushed them all off into a mixed up mess.  So this is the picture after we sorted and did them all again.  This time we put them away right away.

Back to the mall, but this time to ride the carousel.

The escalator might be just as fun though!

Modeling the clown noses we got from the circus storytime.

Art at the library.  It doesn't get much better than painting and gluing.

Back the the library for a music show - just mom and Anika.

We also went to the YMCA four times this week.  I exercised while taking advantage of the free child care that comes with our membership.

Nathaniel came with us on Saturday.

Today/Sunday we went out for a little nature walk.  Anika was very into it and would say things like, "Come on, Nature Trackers!"  We walked through the "forest" behind our hotel over to an office park where we jumped over painted parking stall lines and found a partially frozen fountain to play at for awhile.

Anika randomly stated some of the rules to abide by during our nature walk.

She would say them in this way:

Rule #1 - If you see a wolf, run!

Rule #5 - If you see any sharks, run all the way home.

(Rule #5 was added at the fountain)