Merry Christmas, From the Leininger's

This is the picture that we added to our Christmas cards this year, it was our family picture taken at the kids' Aunt Kelli's wedding. I would have posted the card, but I don't know how to get that on the blog and the letter that goes with it, isn't able to "paste" onto the blog. (maybe if I ever get some time on my hands, I can re-type the letter on this blog :)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (With lots of snow, in a secluded cabin, in the woods)

Well, this year, we were all dreaming of a white Christmas, and just like last year, we got one. Too bad we had to drive 9 hours to get there, but the drive was well worth it! This year, we decided to head up north to the Black Hills and celebrate Christmas the old-fashioned way, in a log-cabin, with a wood burning stove, high in the mountains (or hills :) of SD, near the old historic mining towns of Lead-Deadwood. We did enjoy a few modern amenities though, like, a hot tub on the deck, snow-mobiling, with the snow-mobile trail being only a half-mile away, skiing, tobogganing, sledding, and snowboarding, to name a few :) We left a day early and arrived in Rapid City the first night, and to surprise the kids, we decided to stay at the Marriot, which had an indoor water park. You would think that will walls of slides, a lazy river, rafts, and a giant play area they would be overwhelmed with their choice of things to do, but (not) to my surprise, their favorite area was the hot-tub. Well, we woke up the next morning thinking that we would just take our time getting to the cabin, well, I should have eaten my words, cause we DID take our time, but not because we wanted to! We woke up to a sheet of ice on the windows, so thick that you couldn't even see out. Rapid City had an unexpected ice storm and everything, including our car, was covered in a layer of ice. So we did what anyone would do, we let the car warm up for a half-hour and tried to scrape the windows, with what-ever we could find. (It's a good thing we left our scraper at home ): We did manage to get the car scraped and warmed and then headed to the store to load up on groceries before we skated, slid, tried to drive, into Deadwood. Well to say the least, the drive there was beautiful....talk about walking, or should I say driving, in a winter wonderland. The cabin was beautiful and we even had our own little flock of turkeys right outside as we pulled up. The first thing we did when we got into the cabin was lit the fire and enjoyed some hot cocoa. Later, the kids and I went sledding down the hill in our driveway, while Matt and JD, snowmobiled on the trail. (They went almost 50 miles that first day on their mobiles! ) The next day, we went tobogganing and snowboarding down at the Mystic Miner Ski Resort. Christmas Eve/Day was spent in the cabin, enjoying the fireplace and hot-tub and watching Christmas movie classics. I will say that this was one of our favorite Christmas memories, and we all very much enjoyed a very peaceful and relaxing White Christmas in SD.

~Views from our cabin. Beautiful winter-wonderland scene~

~JD riding on his snow-mobile~

~Our beautiful cabin in the woods~ (family enjoying the hot-tub)~

~Enjoying the hot-tub again~We spent a lot of our time in there, nothing like having frozen hair while sitting in the 103 degree water~

~Christmas Eve dinner~

~(Hey JD, you can look at the camera, Santa hasn't come yet)~



~Grant's new hat~ I asked him to pretend like he was working, I guess work must be too much for him~

~Ava and I with the new "Snuggie"~ We always joked about the Snuggie, so Matt and JD thought it would be funny to get one for me as a joke, well the joke was on them, because I got each of them a Snuggie too :)~(okay, theirs wasn't exactly a "real" Snuggie, I got them the new and improved "Fuzzie Wuzzies")~

~My special gift from JD, a Rosary made from my birthstone, a Peridot~

~(He even used his own money to buy this one:)~

~Special gift made by Ava for our family~Hand-made card and ornament with her cute little face on it~

~Whattttttt????????~Okay, I just had to put this one in....I double-dared Matt and JD to make snow-angels because they were getting too hot in the hot-tub, so they did it and here are their angels, don't think you could even pay me enough to roll around in the snow with only my swimming-suit on!~

~The Kids and Matt racing down the hill...Snowboarder vs. Sledders~

End of Summer Vacation

Family enjoying some wonderful Chicago deep-dish pizza at UNO's

With school just around the corner, we decided to squeeze in one last trip and boy did we squeeze a lot in with this trip!! We decided to head east and visit the "windy city", but it felt more like the "hot city" with temps well in the 90's, but we didn't let a little heat put the "sizzle" on our summer fun. (sorry for the cheese-fest commentary, I'm a little tired from the 8++ hour drive :) Our first stop of the trip was a visit to the Iowa Hawkeyes Stadium (now that we're joining the Big 10, we need to see what our playing field's look like) and then a stop in the "Quad Cities" (Moline, IL, Rockport, Davenport, and Bettendorf, IA) for dinner, a tour of the John Deere Museum and a water taxi ride along the Mighty Mississippi. We finally ended our day with a hike through Starved Rock State Park. We then spent a few days in Chicago and toured many of the city's attractions such as Wrigley Field, Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier (complete with a ride on the giant Ferris wheel), and of course we spent some time walking along the "Magnificent Mile" where Ava spotted her favorite store!! Yes, she found it, the American Girl Doll store, so we just had to stop in and do a little shopping. I let the boys do their thing, while Ava and I did ours :) Well, needless to say, 1 1/2 hours and $200 dollars later, we were hungry and ready to try some of that much talked about Chicago deep dish pizza at UNO's. We ended our trip in Chicago with a day at the beach. We went north to Evanston and visited yet another Big 10 school (Northwestern) and then spent some time swimming in Lake Michigan. (We were pleasantly surprised at how clean the water and beach were) Then, we headed south to Springfield. On the way down, we drove along the historic Route 66 highway and then stopped in Lincoln, IL. Lincoln is where many of Matt's ancestors farmsteaded, so we were able to stop at the old church and cemetery and even found quite a bit of ancestral history along the way. It was also full of Abe Lincoln historical sites and the world's largest covered wagon :) As we drove down Route 66 we stopped by the Cozy Dog Drive-Inn home to the corndog and the place where the corndog was invented. Yummy!! Then we spent the rest of our time in Springfield walking in Abe Lincoln's footsteps. We visited the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, the Old and New State Capitals, Lincoln's Law Office, Governor's Mansion, Lincoln's Home and Tomb. It was very surreal to actually be in the very spot's that our 16th president frequented, but the spot that had the most impact on all of us was standing inside of Lincoln's tomb and being in the presence of such an amazing and important figure in our nation's history. As we headed home, we made one last stop in Hannibal, MO hometown to Mark Twain and the inspiration for many of his popular and beloved novels. Needless to say, we are definitely glad to be home, but this was a trip that will have a lasting impact on all of us.

Iowa Hawkeye Stadium~Future Big 10 Rival

Enjoying a water ride along the Mighty Mississippi (Matt didn't do a very good job at getting out of this picture)

Beautiful Chicago skyline atop the giant Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier

Another view of the city

Hmmmm......wonder who they're taking to? Like the pink phone Grant:)

Like my glasses.....getting ready to watch the 4-D show at Shedd Aquarium

Ava after picking out her new doll at the American Girl Store. As Ava would say "She looks like a mini-me."

Whose doll is this again????

Nothing like ending the day with a trip to the beach!!

Enjoying the sights along Historic Route 66

World's Largest Covered Wagon~Lincoln, IL

Abe Lincoln's House~Springfield, IL

Lincoln's Tomb~Springfield, IL

Wisconsin Dells

This year, we decided to head up north for our annual family vacation, and ended up in the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness Resort and the kids enjoyed 3 full days of water fun. With 8 waterparks (yes, I said 8) to choose from within the resort, there was plenty of stuff to do without having to leave. JD enjoyed the mammoth waterslides and water rides, while Ava and Grant were very content on just playing in the wave pool and sliding down the kiddie rides. This place also boosted 4 mini-golf courses, sandy beach, haunted house, 3 huge arcades and plenty of other fun things for kids to do. Needless to say, no one got very bored on this vacation. We did manage to get away from the resort (for a very short time, the kids needed to get their swim time in) and visited nearby Devil's Lake, shopped at the outlet malls and walked along the river downtown and what trip isn't complete without visiting the local candy store. Yes, Ava got the giant sucker that every kid envies, and no matter how hard Daddy tried to persuade her into other choices, she just wasn't going to let go of that foot-long sucker :) Matt and I enjoyed some tasty chocolate covered chips, but we weren't to fond of the chocolate covered bacon. JD had some crazy wafer candy and poor Grant just stared at his sucker. Yes, it wasn't until 3 hours later that we discovered Grant's reasoning for not wanting to eat his, it was cinnamon flavored, and very spicy for that matter. So when Grant was saying "Hot" he was referring to the sucker and not the weather! :) (P.S. JD picked out Grant's sucker thinking it was cherry:) In all though, we had a very fun trip and ended it with a stroll through the Amana Colonies in Iowa. Our trip through NE was a different story.....I'll post pictures later :)

Madison, WI "Home of the Badgers"

Ava enjoying the "baby swings"

Grant giving "Monty" a high-five....and where is Ava.......??

Oh....there she is....hiding from the "Giant Moose" (Ava doesn't like clowns, puppets, or giant mascots...according to her, they are "Very Scary"!!

Beautiful "Devil's Lake"

What.....Chocolate covered Bacon......I usually love chocolate, but not a fan of this. I don't think that chocolate and bacon should be used together in the same sentence :)


Downtown Wisconsin Dells overlooking the Wisconsin River


Breath-taking sunset on Lake Delton


Enjoying the "Lost World" waterpark

The kids' "We're not ready to leave yet" faces :)

The kids enjoying some "calm" water before the waves begin.....this wave pool is the largest indoor one in North America.

Ava along side Marilyn

JD hanging out with the "King"

Video of Ava and JD enjoying the waves.....sorry for my unsteady recording, but it's hard trying to keep the camera still when you're getting bombarded with waves and holding Grant :)

Aloha, Greetings from Maui

~Beautiful Hawaiian Hula Girls~ ~Waterfall on the 'Road to Hana'~

~Morning sunrise outside our hotel~the tide was low so you could see the reefs~

~The water was crystal clear~

~Top of Mt. Haleakala~10,200 ft~Looking into the crater~

~Very windy and cold up top~40 degrees~Hanging out with the clouds~

~Makena Beach near the Molikini Crater~No sand just lava from last eruption~

~View of Mt. Pu'u Kukui from the boat~

~Getting ready to find some whales~(we found 4)

~Dinner at Bubba Gumps~

~New meaning to the term "scary" This is a one-lane winding road on top of the mountain~Thank goodness we were ahead of him~

~Another beautiful sunset~

~West Maui near Black Rock, whales in the background~

~View from our hotel~

~Traditional Hawaiian Luau~

The last week of April was spent in a tropical paradise!! Matt and I went to Maui for a week to attend and celebrate his sister's wedding. The island was breath-taking, the weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful. Couldn't have asked for a better trip. It's hard to phathom how beautiful it really is and how different each part of the island was. We went on a whale watch and found some Humpback Whales and their calves, we went to countless beaches (black, red and white sand), went to the top of the crater (All I know is that it started with an H) Survived the road to Hana and saw some of the most beautiful waterfalls and scenery along the way, and of course just lounged around on the beach enjoying a few tropical drinks :) Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip.