Cami and Six Flags

Guess who I got to go visit??!!  CAMI!  It was kind of a spur of the moment trip and I'm so glad we did it.  Nels took a Friday off and we drove the short two and a half hour drive up to Madison, WI to see Cami.  Cami and I were roommates in college and we've been friends ever since!  It did my soul good to be with her again.  She has five adorable kids and she's pregnant with her sixth!  Amazing!

We ate lunch together and then just talked and talked. 

Then we walked to a nearby park and had some fun.  These four girls had a blast together!!

Me and Cami!

Nels had fun pushing the kids on this tire swing.

Noah wanted me to watch him do every little thing.  :)

Four girls swinging.

We came back to Cami's house and did an Easter egg hunt.  Nels hid the eggs outside and then the kids ran around and found them.  

Here's Cami and I with seven of the nine kids!

Cami's husband John hasn't actually met Nels.  Our paths never seemed to cross at the same time.  So we stayed a little later so they could finally meet!  haha!

We left around six and drove an hour or so to Milwaukee.  We actually found a Fuddrucker's!!   We love that restaurant but most of them are closed.  We were thrilled and Isak was excited to try the "World's Greatest Hamburger!"

It did not disappoint.  So yummy.  And the cheese sauce and french fries!!!  My favorite!

After dinner we went to the Embassy Suites hotel.  Isak and Noah slept on a bed and Sofie and Kira shared a bed.  Because of all the sleeping in the car the kids didn't fall asleep until 11 p.m.  Then one kid kept waking me up every other hour.  One time Noah fell out of the bed.  Ouch!  

Finally, it was morning!  :)
We went down the elevator...very exciting.

Then we enjoyed the huge breakfast.  There was something that everyone loved.

The kids were so excited because we were going to Six Flags!!!

It was a little chilly so we started the day wearing coats.  But it ended up warming up and being a super nice day.  We even got a bit sunburned.  We rode a lot of rides.  They had a little section that the little kids could ride on by themselves.  Sofie and Kira usually rode together.  This was Sofie's favorite ride because of the horses.

Isak rode by himself because Noah refused to ride any rides.

Kira and Sofie are in the back of the ladybug.

All three got to ride together on this one.

Sofie and Noah waited while the older ones went on some bigger rides.

Sofie rode by herself in the plane.

And Noah just hung out in Dad's arms.  Nice and safe.  Maybe next time?

Kira and Isak were both tall enough to go on a big rollercoaster.  So their first big ride was The Demon with a loop and everything.  Oh my!  I rode with Kira and I was thinking the whole time, "Kira is too small for this!"  But we lived through it and both kids wanted to do it again.   haha!  They like adventure.

Isak rode the Lobster ride by himself too.  Nels rode with Kira and I was waiting with the babies.

We left around 4:30 p.m. and ate dinner at Steak n Shake.  Great place to eat with kids.  They give these cars for the kids to build and put stickers on.  The food is pretty good, especially the shakes!

Sofie liked coloring the menu.

Nels really got sunburned!  After dinner we drove home and everyone was in bed by 8:30, exhausted and happy!

It was a nice getaway!!

Happy Easter!

I like Easter.  I think it's a fun holiday and not as stressful as Christmas.  It's also a great time to talk to the kids about Jesus and all that he has done for us.  Our Ministering Brethren gave us a sack of eggs that had scriptures and treats in them for each done of the week leading up to Easter.  The scriptures were about Jesus's last week before he died.  The kids loved this activity and looked forward to finding out what was in the egg each day.   

This year we went super simple.  We went to the community Easter Egg hunt the weekend before Easter.  It was cold, but sunny.  Noah did not know why were making him stand outside with a basket.  Haha.  Sofie was happy to wear her new pink tulle skirt. 

We split up.  I had the babies and Nels went with the big kids.  There were two hunts at the same time with different age groups.  Here's some before hunt pictures.

During the hunt, Sofie just wanted to pick up the pink eggs.  And Noah actually picked up a few eggs.

Sofie was pretty happy!

We then waited at our rendezvous spot.  And Sofie and Noah checked out their eggs while they waited.

Isak and Kira rocked the egg hunt.  They got tips from their dad and ran to the middle of the field before picking up eggs.  So they got a lot of eggs.

Easter Sunday we took a family picture.  I got out my tripod and put the camera on a timer.  This first one is me setting it up...

And here's with the whole family.

Sofie was trying to run away.  So I was holding onto her the best I could.

Sweet Kira.

My Boys..

And us.

We actually went to Six Flags the Saturday before Easter.  So we were exhausted on Sunday and only went to church.  The Easter Bunny came on Monday morning instead.  It worked out nicely and we might do that again!
Each kid got a little $2 gift and some peeps from the Easter Bunny.  Then they hunted for the candy that was hidden all over the house.

As you can see Noah was super thrilled to be apart of this.

Hahaha...Oh Noah.  He did like finding the eggs though.

I only got a picture or two of the hunt...and they are blurry.  Here's Sofie collecting some eggs from the chair.

And that was it for Easter.  One more family picture to end this post.  I got my dress from DownEast online and I love my new shoes I found at Kohls.  :)