Fred Shorts Day

I'm sure many of you are wondering what Fred Shorts Day is?  Well... it was just two short years ago that we were first invited to celebrate this holiday.  From that moment on I have felt like a more complete person.  I now know the true story behind the invention of shorts and the struggles of a young Fred working on a beet farm.  It truly is something we should all celebrate!  So next year on the Monday following St. Patrick's day, feel free to dress in as much purple as you'd like, eat as many purple foods as you can and don't forget to wear some shorts.

The Fred Shorts Impersonation

Let the races begin!

To begin, place your shorts on your head.

 At the sound of GO, take your shorts off your head and put them on. 

Once they are at your waist; run as fast as you can and touch the wall, turn around and run back.

 Take off your shorts and place them back on your head.

 This little girl was quite the champion!!

I took on Liz.

 And who could beat this awesome form!

This dynamic duo....we knew it would be a little dangerous.

 We just didn't quite realize the damage they would cause!

Have no fear, I totally creamed him as well.

 Let me introduce you to the group who inspired this Fred Shorts Celebration.

That one on the far left has been celebrating this day for a couple decades now.

 This is our 2nd year celebrating Fred.

 And this was their first.

As part of the closing ceremony, we performed a smashing hit

...it literally brought the house down...

a fred shorts original sang to the tune of 'take me out to the ball game'.

Until next year!

He came!!!

Our little green friend actually came for a visit during the night and left the house in a bit of a mess.

Sadly, my camera battery was dying so I didn't get video of her finding the green pee in the toilet and the message from Lucky on the bathroom mirror which told her that he'd lost his hat with some gold and treasures.  For a three year old, it was all very exciting and a little bit weird at the same time.

This was right after the video quit and we checked the trap to see if the leprechaun was there.
He wasn't, we think his brother came and helped him escape.
I love how Addy is covering her face!

After finding the note in the bathroom, she set off to find the hat and treasure.

 Turns out that little leprechaun had some pretty great treats!

Later on we stopped by our neighbors to drop some stuff off and since it was about the dinner time hour, we ended up staying for a delicious Irish taco dinner. (We have such good timing for mooching off our neighbors!)

We're Ready

Our trap is all set and ready to catch a tricky little green man tonight!

Addy colored the box and then helped me glue and tape the rainbow and clovers on.

Underneath the green paper on top of the box is a nice little hole for the leprechaun to fall when he goes for the gold.  

"We are being so tricky!" is what Addy kept saying the whole time we were putting it together.  She also kept reminding me that the leprechaun was green so we needed green things.  

When Mitch asked her what she was going to do with the leprechaun once she caught it, she said "make him sing and dance, cause they are good at that".  We watched a video of a dancing leprechaun which is why she would say that. 

 I told her we should take his pot of gold!

Not sure that was the right kind of example but isn't that the point of wanting to catch a leprechaun?

Sneaky, sneaky

This is what I was doing during quiet time today.

Aren't they some fine looking leprechaun footprints!  

I'm still getting used to the need to be sneaky.  Sometimes I forget my child is old enough to remember and put things together.  So I almost got caught twice!

Now to figure out some sneaky things for a little leprechaun to do around the house.

Wowzers!!!

I just walked downstairs to check on these two little girls and look what I found...

...a disaster zone!

They told me they are playing princesses.
With bad guys and princes.
Got to love girls!

Not sure why they need all the toys, blankets and stuffed animals lined up everywhere but at least they are having fun and using their imaginations!

The mess can always be cleaned up later.
Right?

West Yellowstone

(I'm sorry this is such a long post- don't feel like you have to read the whole thing- it is mostly just for me so I don't forget the things that happened!)

A couple weeks ago we went up to West Yellowstone and stayed with some friends in their condo.  It was such a fun and relaxing trip.  The town was mostly shutdown for the winter so there was hardly anyone around.  The Wolf and Grizzly Discover Center was one place that was still one so we went to check it out.  

We got there just in time to see the baby bear cubs.  They were soooo playful and cute.  Addy just thought they were fighting because they spent the whole time they were outside wrestling and biting each other. 

I love watching her face when she is just taking everything all in.

Then we went to see the wolves but they were taking a little snooze which wasn't quite as entertaining to watch.  So we went in and watched a very interesting presentation about the wolf.

We stumbled across this cute little wolf pack!

This is Sam.  He is the biggest bear I have every seen this close up.  

Addy was mesmerized by him.  I kept trying to get her to look at me for a picture but she kept telling me 'No, I'm watching Sam".

Another funny memory I have to share is when we were in the museum looking and learning about the bears.  They had a case that had bear scant in it so I showed it to Addy and asked if she knew what it was.  She told me she didn't so I told her it was bear poop.  Her head whipped around and she looked up at me and said, "YUCK!"  and then walked away.  It was the funniest thing ever.

One of the best things about this vacation was the pool!  We spent time every day here and it was the best because it wasn't too cold.  When you have a kid with no body fat, that becomes very important because she can actually stay in and swim for awhile without shivering.

 On the way down the first day, Addy told me that she was going to swim all by herself just like Gracie (her cousin).  So when we get to the pool, I put her lifejacket on and got in to help her and she pretty much pushed me away and told me she was going to do it herself.  To my surprise she totally did.  She started kicking her legs and used her arms to balance her and off she went.  It was such a fun mommy moment!  

Someone was getting a little bored while waiting for the rest of us to get ready!

For Valentine's Day, we all went out to lunch at this little diner place.  Then walked through a couple of shops that were still open.  Later that afternoon, the men folk surprised us ladies by taking us to get manicures and pedicures.  It was such a nice surprise.  

When we came back it was about dinnertime and we had the idea to feed the children first and then put a movie on for them in the bedroom so we could have a quiet and nicer dinner.

So here are the kids all ready for a movie and we surprised them with little valentine balloons filled with treats.

She was so excited to find out it was filled with candy.

Kiss, Kiss.

So after we got the kids down, we came back and finished our dinner.  We thought we would be eating at about 6:30.  The men took the chicken down to the grill at about 6:00 and came back a short time later saying it was covered with snow.  So we changed to baked chicken which took a lot longer to cook.  Then Mitch went to mash the potatoes and they turned really sticky and starchy.  It was almost like a gluey texture...not edible.  So we started boiling some more potatoes about the time the chicken came out of the oven.  

Turned out to be an absolutely delicious dinner but it took a little too long to cook!!

The next day we really wanted to go sledding since there was actually snow.  We'd been asking around to try and find a good hill and one lady told us about one that was really close to us and next to an ice skating rink.  Turns out it was the perfect size for the children. 

I love this picture of Addy trying to climb up the hill which was the size of a mountain for her!

Our sledding turned into pushing each other around on the ice. So then we decided to go rent some skates from across the street.  I was able to get two things checked off the winter list; sledding and ice skating.

Turns out I'd totally forgotten how hard ice skating is.  The people on TV always make it look so easy but it was hard.  After a little while we finally got Addy to try it on her own and she'd go a very short distance and fall down.  I was just proud that she was even trying.  Needless to say our ice skating venture didn't last too long before we all headed back for hot chocolate and marshmallows.

And that finally concludes our wonderful week of vacation (and this very long post!).  Thank you to our wonderful friends for letting us crash on your party!  We truly had a great time.