warr and peace lakehouse

this story begins on the 8th of november, 2009 in new lisbon, wisconsin. the air had a summery feel to it. here is what we saw even when this was still all a dream...

a foundation

and a beach.

the girls dug right in and tore into the soft sand immediately.

now, a reality, we can officially call it the warr and peace lakehouse. this was our second visit on the 2nd of january, 2010. the weather was frigid, barely registering a single digit.

visit #3 on january 18 and the girls got right to cleaning up.

a giant sandbox on the bottom floor.

dad and amalea on the deck.

a grand view of the back.

amalea crawling about at the clubhouse waterpark.

isabel with an erupting fountain.

NOT the end.

this story is definitely to be continued, and continued, and continued...

goodbye 2009, hello 2010

the girls under the tree with their tongues lolling out. that's what a year of grand adventures will do to the young ones.

some memorable winter break-isms...

amalea: while putting up the tree, of course a light was out near the eleventh foot up. the fuse was bad mom said. "it is a confused light," clarified amalea.

isabel: the whiskers grow untamed on dad's face during a vacation such as this. "your face smells pokey!" isabel shrieked as her tender baby cheeks were raked by the offending facial hair.

not yet, 2010!

in feet of powder snow amalea plowed through making tunnels, and here, a snow angel.

isabel crawling about in the fluffy stuff.

hi :)

nope, 2010, still not yet!

we braved the frigid temperatures to go to experience the dazzling holidaylights at the brookfield zoo.

oh look, a big ape perched on a tree...and two smaller but rather adorable monkeys hanging out.

and an undersea kiss bestowed upon a wee minnow.

we had to wait for two rounds of the carousel for amalea to ride atop these little horsies. yeah, we love you amalea.

isabel on the ladybug. isabel, we love you.

on that note, we ride away into 2010, adventures away!

christmas kisses

the girls chose special gifts for one another. amalea thoroughly enjoyed shopping and was rather thoughtful. isabel, on the other hand, decided to add a little of her "isabel tantrum touch" to her excursion. we had not even properly entered the store and selected the gift before she began to spice it up.

hello kitty for amalea. she adores it!

kiss you, thank you sister.

a barbie and a pony for isabel. she likes it!

kiss you, thank you sister.

our bel kissing her belle.

back to thanksgiving and some random shootings

snow outside on thanksgiving, we're enjoying it inside.

amalea with her mouse snow-sculpture.

isabel got her hands on the point and shoot camera. kids are lucky these days, no wasting film, all digital. it is highly doubted that many grown-ups have had such a blissful experience to explore the art of photography in their youth!

these shoots span from thanksgiving day to christmas eve...

we see what is important to isabel: her two sheepies.

a common thread to her photos is her toes. isabel is low to the ground, though, so it makes sense.

a self-portrait.

toes. nice composition.

here comes a turkey (and santa claus)

(wow, just went ahead with the layout that blogger chose for these photos after 2 attempts to change it...)

here is amalea's idea of a thanksgiving turkey - a tangerine turkey!

amalea continued in the artistic mode and made fall leaf and turkey mobiles to get all in the festive mood.

then we were whisked off to the north pole, conveniently made available right here in huntley, illinois for the day.

at the top of the earth we met with santa. isabel did not sit on santa's lap (notice her body angled as far away from him as possible, with only the sole of her shoe in actual contact with the jolly old elf), but here she is with the rapt attention of all on her as she asked for a "pink princess, and a blue princess, and a purple princess, ...".

the dells be swells

yes, we made the midwest pilgrimage to wisconsin dells, or "ick"-sconsin dells as amalea put it. we stayed at glacier canyon lodge at the wilderness resort. it must be said that it is rather nice to romp around in a bathing suit when the season is crisp just outside the window.

isabel was almost taken by a shark while miniature golfing. this just happens when you take a 2 1/2 year old to an activity such as this. just across from this fake were some real nurse sharks that we got up close to and watched for a while.

amalea digged the shooting gallery.

swimming sisters.

amalea at one with the camera. always.

'twas the night before thanksgiving...

...and thoughts turn back to all-hallows eve. we carved pumpkins. isabel was squeamish of course. just the other day the feel of fibrous casing of a steamed pea on her tongue made her puke. the faces on the girls' jack-o-lanterns are their own creations (as are the spooky looks they are giving us).

the weather gave us a nasty trick in that it was bitterly cold, thus the wagon and the blankets. needless to say, we did not go neither far nor long for the treats.