spring break mini vacay: hockey and easter

Thanks to the generosity of WWP, we were able to attend a Carolina Hurricanes game in Raleigh!  Since the game was a couple of hours away and ended late at night, we opted to stay in a hotel nearby for the night.

Which meant that we celebrated Easter in a hotel room-- a first for us!!  Luckily, the Easter Bunny knew where to find us and the kids woke up to full Easter baskets and eggs to hunt for.

- Checking out their baskets -

Looking for Easter eggs!

Since we were staying in the Raleigh area, we attended the Easter service at the beautiful Duke University Chapel.

How we kept Ellie entertained before church!

We stopped for a quick lunch at Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ on our way to the BEACH!

- the Albaeck sweethearts -

We spent Easter evening wandering around Wrightsville Beach and wrapped it up with a delicious dinner at Tower 7.

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january randoms

Happy New Year!!  We celebrated NYE with our neighbors and then after sleeping in, we spent the day watching movies and made homemade pizza for dinner.

Lexie participated in Girls on the Run with her school in the fall and was excited to run her 2nd 5k this month.  She finished in just under 40 minutes, shaving about 15 minutes off of her first 5k time!!

Ellie loves snuggling with her babies and now that her hair is getting longer and thicker, she likes having it styled differently every day!  She's also a fan of getting lunch at Tenders after church and especially likes dipping her fries in ranch.

Ben played Mooresville Rec basketball this season and had a blast.  While his team didn't do very well overall, he gave it his all and had a great season!

The Charlotte Checkers hosted a 1950s throwback game with $2 tickets, $1 hotdogs and 50¢ sodas and popcorn, so we just HAAAAD to go cheer on the home team against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

So excited to be at the hockey game!

Let's Go, Checkers!!

More dancing!

The girls covered their ears every time a team scored!

Air guitar fun!

A new Dunkin' Donuts opened by us and the night before their grand opening, they were offering a free dozen donuts with any purchase.  We didn't find out about it until around bedtime so we loaded up Nick and Ellie and made a late night Dunkin' run!

We met Spiderman at our local Kickback Jack's-- they have different characters/princesses come in a few times a month-- and the kids thought it was awesome!

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september randomness

Ellie loves playing at the park in our neighborhood.

Ellie likes bringing her babies to Target with us and I like the new fall cups at Starbucks!  I love going through the pictures I've taken and finding gems like this!!

Happy birthday, Jacob!!  We had his favorite pasta for dinner and lots of fun presents to open!

We found a new ice cream place in Mooresville and took Ellie after school one day-- she loved the Cookie Monster flavor!

We went to a Carolina Hurricanes game with WWP-- and realized that it was our first time at an NHL game since we moved to North Carolina EIGHT years ago!

Nick finally built the space pod and he and Ellie had a "blast" playing inside it.

Firepit fun with the neighbors.

Chick-fil-A night is always a favorite in our house!

charlotte checkers game

We were able to attend a Charlotte Checkers game with Wounded Warrior Project a few weeks ago.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner before the game (and everyone got a new Checkers hat!) and then made our way to our seats.

The kids love it when we can sit right on the glass!

Watching the game :)

The kids were invited to do the air guitar with a couple of cheerleaders- they were super excited to be on the jumbotron!

march fun

Ellie LOVES her swing!  She sits by the backdoor and points at it until someone will take her outside and push her.  Luckily, all of the kids are able to get her in and out, and push her, so she doesn't usually have to wait too long.

Some"bunny" spends a lot of her time at Target....

Fun in the tub!  She likes pretending to wash her hair and playing "where's Ellie's belly button?"

The kids have school fundraisers at Chick-Fil-A and while we can't attend every time, we try to go to some of them.  Ben loves mixing all of the sauces (and usually adds some Texas Pete) in order to make his special sauce.  Ellie REALLY wanted the cow to come over to her-- she kept shrieking and waving to get his attention-- but as soon as he came over she burst into tears!

Ellie thought the brownies at Cici's were so good that she would sign "more" while she still had the fork in her mouth!

On the night before St Patrick's Day, the kids each leave out an old pair of shoes and the leprechauns come in the middle of the night with new shoes and candy!

We attended the first annual Charlotte WeatherFest with our budding meteorologists.  They were very excited to learn all sorts of weather-y things.  Nick especially liked this tornado simulator.

Sweet Ben.  The kids learned about water safety and search and rescue at the WeatherFest, too.

Now that it's starting to warm up, the boys love playing roller hockey out front.

A few of Ellie's favorites: Playing with whoever's phone she can get her hands on, reading, sleeping late, and baths in the sink.

checker's game

We attended a Wounded Warrior Project event at a Charlotte Checkers game and had great seats right on the ice.  The kids were excited about the catered dinner and loaded up their plates to watch the game.

Ellie loved the chicken strips!

All of the WWP kids got to do the chicken dance with the cheerleaders and even made it up on the jumbotron!

Dinner and hockey- what could be better?!

Ellie went back and forth between watching the game (she really liked it when players would slam into the glass!) and playing with plastic cups.

Thank you WWP for another great event!!

day 331: fire antz game

A few weeks ago we went to a Fire Antz (hockey) game with Katie, Stephanie and Luke.  The Fort Bragg MWR was giving out free tickets so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and take all the kids to a game.

The boys patiently waiting for the game to start (and asking if it was time to eat yet every two minutes)

Lexie was very excited- she said she wants to play hockey when she grows up!!

The National Anthem- I'm not sure if they went all out with the Soldiers in ACU's holding the flags and the large flag on the ice because it was Military Appreciation night or if it's something that they always do- but I definitely appreciated it!

Fire Antz fans come in all shapes and sizes-- the grown adults dressed like "antz" that were entertaining to watch-- and the kids that cheered more during the free t-shirt giveaway during intermission than they did during the actual game.

We all had a great time at the game and would definitely go back.  While the level of play isn't quite what we're accustomed to (Av's or DU) everyone had a great time and asked when we could go again!!