Enough is Enough!

Dear Old Man Winter,

It's been a fun winter and all, but could you please take your snow and go far away until next Christmas PLEASE??!!

Fondly,
The Pelletiers :)

Celtic Women!

Mother/Daughter night out at the Hanover Theatre - Celtic Women! Fantastic concert. Only thing missing was Meggie :(

Ice Skating at the Oval

I took the kids ice skating today at the Worcester Common Oval - a new outdoor skating rink in downtown Worcester (across from the old Worcester Center on Front Street). It was so awesome! I am disappointed that it is closing for the season on Sunday, although maybe that means that spring is around the corner??!!! Hope so! Anyways, not to sound like an advertisement, but what a fabulous addition to the city of Worcester. It is actually larger than the rink in NYC at Rockefellar Center, and although we were there during the day, you could see that all the trees on the common had lights on them so it must be so pretty at night and around the holidays. They had music piped in which was all oldies (mostly 70's tunes) - Ca I was thinking of you - this was the kind of music we were hoping for at the Skylite last weekend! Seriously though...what's better than ice skating to Abba's SOS?? I was psyched! And Evan kept saying - "this is the worst song ever", with every song they played! I loved it. They had bathrooms, food and skate rentals. Sophia (age 6 and under) was free - Evan and I were $2 each! And rentals are $3. So it cost us $10 for the day because I rented skates for Sophia and myself. No time limit. And I found a parking spot on the street - free, not even a meter spot... what a fun afternoon! I highly recommend it to my local friends if you're looking for a fun, but inexpensive activity with the kids. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there next winter. I'm sorry to see school vacation ending. The kids and I have had a lot of fun - Sophia and I loved having Evan home....Back to our routines next week :(

Roller Skating at the Skylite!

I had another date today with my little man - we met Carolyn, Alex and Rachel for an afternoon of rollerskating at the Skylite Roller Rink! It was just like old times - Ca and I figure it has been about 27 years since we have been there and the place hasn't changed A BIT! Except for the music....we had hoped there would be more 80's music played, but they played mostly top 40. They did throw in a little Michael Jackson, Kool & the Gang and some YMCA for the old folks in the house (like Ca and I!) All three kids did great for their first time out on roller skates, and Ca and I didn't look too shabby either! It was such a fun day. I feel so lucky to have my best friend since 6th grade still in my life and it just warms my heart to see our children experiencing these fun times together. Here are a few pictures and I also posted a video of "Billie Jean" in a separate post.

Billie Jean at the Skylite!!

Out for Japanese food with Alex and Rachel!

School Vacation Begins at Coco Keys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Skiing the bunny hill

Best day with my little man!!

I had the best pre-Valentine's date a mom could ask for today! Nana sent Ev and I off skiing for the day - half day of school for Ev so I dismissed him early this morning and Nana took Sophia for the day. SO MUCH FUN! Ev did amazing! He had another lesson and I got to ski by myself for a couple of hours. Heavenly! Then we skiied the rest of the day together - on the chairlift and down the whole beginner slope - Ev is doing so good! I took a short video clip which I will try to upload. He is turning beautifully! SO PROUD! :)

Evan singing in church this morning!

Weekend Fun!

Despite the snow storm, we had a fun and busy weekend. Here are a few pics of the kids in their various activities. Sophia came down with a bit of a cold so she enjoyed some indoor fun today - crafts, making Valentines etc...while Evan took to the outdoors. He and Dad built a 20 foot long tunnel through the snow drifts in the back yard, and he also enjoyed another afternoon of skiing today at the mountain. It was a picture perfect day today for skiing - my kind of ski weather - 30's and sunny! I wished I was skiing with Evan, rather than just spectating. He had another great lesson and even ventured onto the "bunny hill" as we used to call it as kids, which is the beginner slope. He's ready to go with me now -next time Evan and I are going to get lift tickets and ride the chairlift and actually ski the beginner slopes together. Way to go Evan!!!! Oh, and I am also trying to upload a video of Evan singing in church this morning. The Sunday School kids sang with the Praise and Worship Band and Evan did fantastic! It may have to be a separate post though.

Blizzard 2013 Part II

Blizzard 2013

Another day in Paradise here in New England! For our family in FL who wanted to see pictures, here they are! Dad....be glad you missed this one. I hear you are on the beach, probably sipping a fruity drink or two....overrated!! :) The official record in Holden as of this morning was 28.5 inches! We started the day bright and early around 6:30am - Evan was yelling for us all to come to the window to see that the O'Neil's cars were almost buried! The kids immediately started asking to go outside....We managed to hold them off until about 8:30 before we all headed outside to start digging out - the winds were still blowing and it was still snowing hard. It took two of us shoveling over 3 hours to finish the driveway...and we even had a little help at the end from our neighbor who plowed the bottom of the driveway for us. Thank goodness we started the storm with no snow on the ground or we would have had NO place to put it! Aside from our one crazy neighbor next door, we feel so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors. It was heartwarming to see everyone pitching in to help dig each other out. We are so glad we didn't lose power, and especially glad that everyone stayed safe. Now that the storm has passed and we are all shoveled out, we can just relax and enjoy the pretty snow. And Evan will have lots of fresh powder for his ski lesson tomorrow at the mountain! Here are a few pictures from the aftermath of the "storm of the century"!!!!