CO & KS Christmas 2017

This Christmas we went all over and saw all the grandparents! Despite a few sick days we packed in a lot of fun! First up we traveled to CO Springs to visit Papa, Nana, More Papa, Tache and G-pa.

Excited for the Christmas festivities!

The kids had been begging to make a gingerbread house so we took the supplies over to Nana's nursing home and she helped us build it!

There was also lots of Pokemon playing throughout the break.

 And we got lots of playing with our CO cousins/nephews!

 And of course snuggle time!

 All the cousins in their matching Christmas pj's...aren't they precious!

 Evelyn wasn't feeling well, so she enjoyed the extra grandparent snuggles!

 Daddy snuggles always turn into tickle time.

After our time in CO we headed to KS to visit Papa and Grandma for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Unfortunately, I was sick both days so I didn't document much, but the kids had a blast with their gifts!

 Our annual Christmas morning picture in our pj's

And of course we had to get a shot with Papa and Grandma.

What a joyful Christmas we had! There will be a few more posts about our CO adventures. Also, after Christmas Sawyer got to spend some alone time at Papa and Mema's farm! And once we got back home we started a small house project that I'm loving!

Girlfriends + Vegas

At the end of September I went on a fun girls weekend with friends from Ohio! It was so fun to travel and have some freedom, but the best part was being with friends that know you so well! Here's a quick peek at our 48 hours of freedom:

I left on a Thursday night after a full day of caring for kids, taking 4 kids to dentist appointments and 2 soccer practices. I was very happy to learn I was seated in the exit row and there was an empty seat beside me! We all arrived late in the evening on Thursday so after a few hours of chatting we all slept through the night (well my eastern time zone friends woke up in the middle of the night)!

The next morning we headed to the strip for a day of exploring. This was the closest we came to gambling...a picture in front of a slot machine.

Look at this beautiful floral display at the Bellagio...I think that's where it was.

We did a lot of walking and talking.

It was a beautiful day and we ate on the patio of a fun french restaurant in the Paris district. We kept commenting how it was fun to eat out, but even better that we didn't have to cook...between the 4 of us there are 14 kids, so we all do a bit of cooking ;)

After our day on the strip we headed back to the hotel and went for a swim. Then we visited a local pub for dinner.

The next morning we decided we had enough of the city and decided to visit the Grand Canyon. It was a 4-5 hour trek, but we talked the whole time so it flew by.  We also didn't have to stop for potty breaks, answer 5 bazillion questions, or hand toys and snacks to anyone ;)

One reason we planned the trip for the end of September was Evy would be one and she would be weaned...well that hadn't quite happened and I made the dumb move of not bringing a pump...so I had some "mild" discomfort during the trip.

A few of the girls had never been to the Grand Canyon and I hadn't been in years so it was a great experience!

We visited a few of the lookout points then we did a 3 mile hike that was just enough adventure for us! We ate dinner at one of the lodges in the state park and we met 2 German students traveling around the U.S. We asked them to join us for dinner and it was so fun to chat with them about their lives and adventures. It reminded me of my time traveling in college! It was so fun!

We didn't make it home until late in the evening and we were tired so we called it a night.

On Sunday we visited the Hoover dam, which I had never seen. It is quite the architectural masterpiece to say the least!

After the dam we went to Babycakes for brunch and I had some amazing pancakes. Then Tricia gave us a tour of her old stomping grounds in Vegas. It was sweet to see where she used to live.

Then I had to head back to the airport and back to reality. It was such a refreshing time to see friends, catch up on their lives and have a break. I'm so thankful for Kyle and Sheila taking over the kid responsibilities so I could go.

FYI: we were there the weekend before the Vegas shooting tragedy, so we were never in harms way.

OK to OH

For  my birthday this year Kyle gifted me with a trip to OH to visit friends and family! I never would have thought that I would choose Ohio as my vacation destination of choice, but I couldn't have been more excited!

The day after my birthday Evy and I boarded her 1st flight. This travel day didn't go as planned…we boarded our early morning flight and sat in the plane for an hour before we deboarded…we were delayed 2.5 hours due to O'Hare being closed. I missed my connecting flight and was rerouted to New Jersey then to Canton. We did a lot of waiting in O'Hare then on a whim I went to my gate and learned there was an earlier flight for CAK and miraculously we got on via standby. However, our bags didn't have time to change routes so they would come in the on the next flight from New Jersey…well that flight was delayed and then cancelled and to make a long story short Evy and I were without bags and a car seat for 3 days ;) I thought I would keep things light by checking all the luggage and not bringing a stroller…that was a bad idea as my 7 hours of travel turned into 16 hours. Thankfully, Evy was a champ! She did great in the baby carrier and never made a peep on the flights!

Once we arrived in Canton I rented a car and drove to my sister's house. They are recent OH transplants so it was fun to see their new house and surroundings. It was also great to spend time with my sister and play with my nephews.

And Evy got to meet some of her cousins!

After a few days I traveled back to Canton where I got hardly any sleep, but  had tons of fun! Evy met another Aunt, Uncle and cousin. We went to a girl's night and stayed out way to too late. We enjoyed our 3rd annual Friendsgiving, got to spend time with lots of friends, ate my favorite ice cream, went to our old church and drove by our old house. Evy even saw her first snow!

Playing Jimmy Fallon's Stranger Strings game at Friendsgiving 

The Friendsgiving table…I'm so thankful for all of these faces

Handel's ice cream in the freezing rain ;)

Brennan loving on baby Evy!

We were sad to leave, but excited to get home to our people. I was exhausted, but the flights home went smoothly and Evy did great! So thankful for the little getaway and the chance to see friends I haven't seen in almost a year!

Family Vacation {Branson Part II}

To wrap up our family vacation in Branson we spent Thursday going on a little hike with the kiddos and visiting Lambert's Cafe. We also decided to take a few family pictures...

of course what's a Schenk vacation without some wrestling

Hiking over rocks and water

Kyle was in his element and caught a crawdad for the kids to hold

our final destination was the waterfall

After dinner at Lamberts we spent a very chaotic 10 minutes grabbing some pictures of the kids in their coordinating outfits. It was the definition of mass chaos, but I think they turned out pretty good. Thanks for Candace for capturing the shots!

girl cousins

boy cousins

Papa & Mema corralled all the kids

a little look at the chaos

The whole family

not our best attempt ;)

We wrapped up the night with a movie and the big kids had a sleepover

And on our final day Kyle took Sawyer and Nora fishing and we all went to the Sight & Sound Theatre to see Moses.

We loved all the fun activities, but the best part was spending time with family!