March- In the Bahamas Part 1

In  the middle of March, Ben and I went to the Bahamas, while Eli and Lydia went to Grand ma and Grandpa Erickson house.  They had a blast and we also had fun a getaway.   The only unfortunate matter we that we forgot our battery charger for our camera so we didn't get as many pictures as I wanted,

The days were windy and cold.  The last day was beautiful and perfect.

Every meal was fun.  The food during the day was similar each day but at night we were able to eat at the restaurant.  The restaurant was a sit down meal that had several choices.  They had unusual appetizers like snails and frog legs and fired alligator.  Ben tried some of those appetizers and actually likes them.  We also were served lobster, ribs, steak, pot roast.  One of  favorite desserts was a cheesecake served with warm strawberries.

Our boat. It was one of the few Carnival cruise line boats that was older but that didn't have any mechanical problems.  At least not that we know of..

With in the five day period the boat stopped at three different island.  The first island was call Freeport.  The island had really expensive 

So instead of putting our a money into souviners.  We took a tour  on a banana boat. We saw lots of nice homes.  Some owned by famous movie stars.

We passed by this boat and stopped by to take a closer look.  It was a boat that supposedly came from the movie the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Ben and the other guys jumped off the boat.

Ben went to check below deck.

On the Boat

Cold Days and Fun Times

Havre is into Hockey.  They have an indoor hockey team.  They have  leagues that travel all over the state.  Then at the end of the season they have a huge tournament that last a weekend.  It was fun to go on Saturday and see them play.  They played so well.  Eli loves to watch any sport.  He came home and pretended to play hockey for a several days.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the kids after church.  Now Eli fits those pants better, but he still has to wear a belt. Lydia dress is now too short.  Boy do the kids grow fast.

This is what you do when its too cold outside. The dryer becomes a carriage or bus or many other fun imaginations.

January

In January we had a fun time celebrating Ben's birthday. We had some friends over to share a delicious red velvet cake that we bought from Costco.  It was so big that we had plenty left over.

Fun with Dad!

Christmas!!

Christmas was spent with The Erickson side.  It was fun to be there for Christmas. Lydia was six month since the last time we had been over there for Christmas.

Lydia and Eli had a hoot of a time.  Eli came home and would pray for James for about a week. The kids got to play in the snow, eat Grandma's great cinnamon rolls.

Lydia did all she could to find dress up clothes at Grandma's.  This dress actually came home with us.  It was mine when I was little.

Eli sporting the cowboy gun and cowboy hat that he found at Grandma's house.

Getting a horsey ride from Grandpa.

Oh the snow

We need to get a keyboard for Lydia.  She love to pretend to play the piano. 

Lydia and Eli built a carriage.  She was pretending she was a fairy good mother.

Snow Angels

Lydia opening an early present from Grandma.  New black Sunday shoes.

This was a Christmas Eve activity.  Everyone built a huge two room fort with stairs.

After the fort was built we went sledding.

Ah the love of sledding

Christmas Morning

 On Christmas morning Lydia and Eli came down and were so excited to see their stick horses.  If that is all that they had got then they would have been completely happy.

The second thing that Eli as most excited for was his candy.  He pulled it out of his stocking and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!"

James got a Nerf gun and bullets for the Nerf wars that happen at the house.

Lydia gave Eli a sword and Eli gave Lydia a basket.  It was cute to watch them exchange gifts. She also helped me wrap some gifts. She was more excited to give the gifts we had wrapped for my mom than to open the gifts with her name on it. 

And don't forget mom's wonderful cinnamon rolls.