Trip to Duluth for Braxton's Second Birthday

We decided to make a last minute, quick trip to Superior/Duluth to see Josh's family and to go to Braxton's second birthday party!

The drive was long, but it didn't get too bad until we were about three hours from our destination.

Of course, there was a snow storm AND the city plows were on strike, so that made things interesting.

[The harbor is pretty though!]

We spent most of our time hanging out with the family and visiting Grandma Judy.

[Grandma Judy, Grammy Suzi, Braxton, Joel, Jessi, Courtney, and Grandpa Joe (aka Grandpa the Great)]

[Theo and Grammy Suzi]

Braxton LOVES everything and anything Cars, so we got him some cute bedding for his birthday. I didn't know if he would like it or not (come on, bed sheets?!), but he was so excited when he saw the Cars logo! And once Jessi pulled out the quilt, Braxton just melted!

[Cousins!]

[Theo continued to have major tummy issues. He threw up every day and had a TON of dirty diapers. Yes, we are still stumped and we are working on it.]

[Ice inside our hotel window. It was very cold!]

[Beautiful and cold morning in Duluth]

[Happy birthday Braxton!]

[1 degree... UGH!]

I'm glad we were able to make a quick trip to the Great White North and I'm looking forward to visiting again in the summertime! 

Packers Game at Lambeau - Carlson Sibling Trip

I thought it would be fun to someday go back to Lambeau Field and watch the Packers in a Playoff game. Since the Packers got the second seed and had a first round bye, we knew they would most likely only play one game at Lambeau during the post season. Of course, the game we wanted to go to was a night game and we didn't have anyone to watch Theo overnight. I told Josh that he should still go and take his sister, Jessi, who is also a HUGE Packers fan.

We found two awesome seats on the Packers side, 35 yard line, second row that we couldn't pass up. Josh called up his sister, told her to meet him in Green Bay, and then I booked them a hotel room.

Josh left early on January 12th and headed to Green Bay to meet up with Jessi.

[Mason Crosby - kicker]

[Aaron Rodgers]

Theo and I tried to spot Jessi and Josh on TV while we watched from home, but we were unsuccessful. It was a great game, which got a little too close towards the end, but the Packers were victorious!

Josh and Jessi said they had a great time and I'm glad they got to go see the Packers win a playoff game!

Christmas in Cancun - Part VI: Azur and Home

December 27th:

We spent our last full day on vacation at the pool in our cabanas! Of course! We got more fish tacos and fancy happy hour drinks!

[Theo and Kayleen]

That night Josh and I went on a date to Azur, a french restaurant.

We got drinks, a cheese plate, lobster bisque, French onion soup, risotto with scallops, and a steak with mac-n-cheese. Everything was so delicious and it was nice to have some alone time with Josh!

December 28th:

The next morning we packed up our bags, hopped in a taxi, and headed to the Cancun airport. We arrived 3 hours before our flight and TSA was VERY busy, but we got through without any problems.

[I thought this was funny!]

We made it back to COLD Chicago later that night. 

Thanks mom and dad for such a fun week in Cancun! We had a blast hanging out with the family, swimming at the pool, eating fish tacos, beating everyone at Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit, exploring the ruins, and walking on the beach!

What are we doing for Christmas 2021, you ask?! ORLANDO! Of course!

Christmas in Cancun - Part V: Chichén Itzá, Hubiku Cenote, and Ek' Balam

December 26th:

The next morning Andie, Luke, Ryan, Kayleen, Josh, and I woke up early to catch our tour van at 5:40 AM! We had a LONG (2.5 hours) drive to Chichén Itzá. About 45 minutes before we got there our tour guide woke us up and told us all about Chichén Itzá, the Mayan calendar, and how to count in Mayan.

We then arrived at Chichén Itzá and headed straight over to the Great Ball Court.

Our tour guide told us all about the Mayan game and how it was played (which is debatable, but I digress). He had us stand in rows and clap our hands so we could hear the seven echos. 

We then walked over to the Skull Platform.

He then took us to the best place to get a picture of the Temple of Kukulkan (since not all sides were restored).

We walked to the base of the Temple and our tour guide had us clap again so we could hear how good the acoustics are. 

He then told us about the temple and the "Feathered Serpent" god Kukulkan.

We then headed over to the Temple of the Warriors. At this point our tour guide cut us loose and told us to meet him at the front in an hour.

We headed to the Osario, El Caracol (a proto-observatory), and La Iglesia ("The Church")

[Osario]

[El Caracol]

[La Iglesia ("The Church")]

[One last peek at the Temple of Kukulkan]

After exploring the ruins we headed to Hubiku to eat lunch and go swimming in the cenote!

[Walking down the steps to the cenote]

The cenote was completely underground with just a small opening at the top where water and sunlight were coming in. The water is 27 meters deep, so I decided to not take any risk and took my Apple Watch off before I jumped in the water.



[Just us and the catfish]

The water was so clear, clean, and refreshing! We swam for a while before headed back to the bus to start our journey to Ek' Balam.

After just a 30 minute drive we arrived at Ek' Balam!

[Arco de Entrada]

[Stela]

[Hidden ruins]

[The Oval Palace]

[Ball court]

[Cistern]

We made our way through the site visiting the Entrance Arch (Arco de Entrada), the Oval Palace, The Twins, the Chapel, the Ball Court, and an ancient cistern before arriving at the Acropolis! 

This large temple contains the tomb of the King.

We climbed to the top and enjoyed the view of the ruins.

After climbing the Acropolis, we headed back to the Oval Palace to get a few more pictures.

[Top of the Oval Palace]

[Bees]

We then found our tour guide and started the LONG journey back to the hotel. It was a very, very long day, but I highly recommend going and seeing the ruins while you are in the Yucatán! It is definitely worth the drive!

While we were off being explorers, the rest of the group stayed at the Vidanta all day! They hung out by the pool, ate fish tacos, and drank coconut water straight from the coconut! 

Thanks mom and dad for watching Theo again!