Our Family Trip to Stamford

Last weekend we took a family trip to Stamford, CT. Friday our adventure started! We drove down and checked into our hotel. We immediately got swimsuits on but before heading to the pool Holden had to find a basketball game on TV. And he did! All by himself. Our Friday night included a Thai dinner and the Lego movie, with popcorn and candy of course! Saturday we went to a Maple Syrup Festival at the Stamford Nature & Science center. We saw some huge livestock and learned about the maple syrup process. We saw how the Native Americans and Colonists boiled down the sap as well as today's process. It takes 40 buckets of sap to make just one bucket of syrup! After our sample we decided to buy a bottle of CT pure maple grade A dark syrup. As we headed into the museum we watched the otter feeding time, it was fun to watch them slide across the ice and dive into the water. Inside the museum they had a teen chef competition in connection to the festival. There were four talented young chefs sharing their maple inspired creations. Another draw for the museum was the Lego exhibit they had on display, and it did not disappoint. We then headed home but stopped in Hartford for "Americas best pizza". It was delicious, we ordered a margarita pizza and devoured it. It was a fun little trip and great start to Nate's Spring break.

Our Big Boy Holden

Holden is growing up so much lately. He decided it was time to potty train and has been doing really well. He loves his Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. And I love not changing poopy diapers! He has also moved to a big boy bed. He only fell out once the first night, so the next day he and I got a bed rail to help with that. His bed time routine is so fun and easy, and he has it down! (A year ago I would not describe bed time that way.) After bath/scripture time, we get jammies on, and brush teeth. Holden sucks off the tooth paste but then mom gets a turn to finish brushing for him. Then we head into Holden's room for prayer and Holden says bye dad bye, lights out, and we read/ look at our awesome glow in the dark Cars book. Then I recite another favorite bedtime book and sing a song, it ends with a great big pat pat hug and kiss and a bye mom bye. The only sad thing now is I don't get to rock him in my arms before bed anymore. But I'm so happy he likes to go to bed and I love watching him ask for prayer time and kneel down next to his bed. He doesn't repeat or say his own prayers yet but he is definitely involved. We let him say what he is grateful for or what/who he wants to pray for. Lightening, Mater, milk, blankets, book, mom, and dad usually make it in there along with other activities from the day.

Biathlon

Winter has been tough on our physical activity so this one proved slightly more difficult than anticipated. We spent the rest of the day recovering from our short yet trying sprint biathlon. Upon our arrival at the park we designed a course plan, including the location for our four shooting rounds (two standing, two prone- or squatting if you're preggers) and where the extra laps would be if the target (yes just one very large target- our "rifles" aka $3 nerf guns didn't allow us to aim super well) were missed. We wanted to actually race each other but Holden needed a buddy to sit with him so we just ran the course for time. I had the great advantage of going second and watching and learning from Nate. Gold for me. Silver for Nate.

Luge

We had to wait for the right day to luge. After a few big dumps we had plenty of snow to send daddy out to prepare the course. The competition didn't last too long, but we had clear victors! The boys won gold for the 2 man luge. They made it the farthest the fastest. Nice job.

Curling

I won the gold medal! This was our version of curling - food colored ice cubes for stones, our long wood hall for the curling sheet, and a painter's taped area for the house. We had to go without sweepers this time. Nate's cubes were red and white to represent Canada and I had red and blue for Norway. Holden was an excellent stone collector between ends and he also threw a few stones himself. We only played 7 ends due to the quick melting of our stones. Holden frequently asks to watch the video of us playing by saying "brr ice video". Good memories for this one ;)

Cross Country Skiing

This is the only picture from our cross country skiing adventure. It was a short but not sweet experience. We will be returning next year with our refunded tickets. I think I was awarded gold but not sure if it really counts.

Really a YEAR?!

It makes me sad to realize I've neglected our blog for so long. I love to look back at old posts and remember all our fun adventures. There is no possible way to make up for the lost year of posts, so I'll just have to start from where we are now and try my best to record our little family's happenings. With the Olympics just around the corner, our Gill family pre-Olympics have commenced! We had opening ceremonies on Saturday. Nate and Holden made the torch this time, so a really flame was a mandatory component. Yes, we let the 21 month old carry the torch around, but he is pretty responsible. We selected our athletes and countries and enjoyed ring cake.

Sunday we had athlete night where we shared about the athletes we selected. Here are some highlights:

Holden's Athletes:

•  Shibutani Siblings - Ice Dancing - USA
• They are the first ice dance team to have medaled every year, at every level of competition (from Juvenile to Senior) at the U.S. National Championships. 
• We saw them make the team at the trials in Boston. We all really enjoyed their long program.

• Armin Zöggeler - Luge - Italy
• His nick name is the iceblood champion.
• He is the only Italian to have won a medal in 5 consecutive editions Olympic Games including 2 golds.

Mindy's Athletes:

• Lanny Barnes - Biathlon - USA
• She made the team this year because her twin sister (Tracy) forfeited her spot for Lanny!
• Canada Men's Curling Team
• The team barely made it to the trials but went undefeated there to send them to Sochi.

Nate's Athletes:

• Kikkan Randall - Cross Country Skiing - USA
• We are hoping she will make history. No American has medaled since the only one to do so in 1976. Kikkan has a good chance she just took gold in the world cup last year.
• Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl - 2 man Luge - Germany
• Nate's punny poster idea for them was; Wendl they be the best in the world? They Arlt-ready are.

Monday was culture day. I had architecture, so we made playdough and recreated Saint Basil's Cathedral. Holden was kind enough to take an extended nap so we could focus on our masterpiece. 

Holden, with daddy's help, was in charge of cuisine and they made an incredible Russian meal. It is called Khachapuri. It is filled with cheese and then the final few minutes of baking you crack an egg right on top. We were a little nervous about that part but absolutely loved it.

I was also assigned music, so we listened to part of the national anthem and some folk music. Holden, with mommy's help, had photography, we chose to look at a National Geographic collection of photos. Nate had geography and language. We learned where the events will be taking place and we tried to learn some of the Russian alphabet. I wasn't a very good sport on that one though.
Tomorrow we have our first events! Single and 2 man luge.