The Minnesota Chronicles: Episode 1 - June 20, 2012

Hey Everyone, the Bettelli's have been on vacation for the past week in Minnesota, don't you know. We decided to go up to Minnesota because our nephew, Jonathan, was getting married this summer. There were so many fun times on this trip that we had to split them up into the different days we were gone.  So here is Day 1, our Travel Day to MN. We booked a flight on Spirit Airlines out of Orlando. We got a pretty good deal, however for each bag we checked we had to pay $40.  We had to leave at 9:00 AM to make our 12:30 flight, that was delayed by the way.  Our good friend, Nicole, drove us to the airport. We went to check our bags and found out that this particular airline had a 40lb bag weight limit, while most other airlines have a 50lb limit.  Word to the wise, DON'T FLY SPIRIT! After we checked our bags we ate lunch at Chili's Too in the airport. Yum!!! 

 We then went through security and onto the gate. You can see all of us on the little tram to the gate in the picture below.

 Once we got up in the air, Ethan passed out. He just couldn't keep his eyes open. :)

We had connecting flights. Orlando to Chicago and then Chicago to Minnesota.  While waiting for our flight out of Chicago, we met a guy from Australia. I had never met anyone from Australia before. He was traveling around the US before he had to go back for his senior year of college. We saw him a couple days later at the Mall of America again. In the picture below you can see our Aussie friend in the background behind the boys. 

When we arrived in Minnesota, my brother, Kevin and my niece, Kelsey were waiting to greet us as we walked out of the gate. It was great to see them because it had been two years since I had seen them last.  We went back to his house to see my sister-in-law, Jenni, and my other niece, Katie. We then went out to dinner at Red Robin, and stuffed ourselves with Burgers, fries and onion rings.  George and Uncle Kevin had some fun in the photo booth.

 We had a great time that night, and were excited about the days ahead. & Tim

Summertime

The boys and I have been living it up this summer.

George had VBS last week, and Ethan and I got to participate in the ending songtime everyday. 

It was a good time.

Then this week we go on a fun-filled vacation that will basically be a Bettelli family reunion.

In between scheduled trips and all the stuff we "have" to do, we have found some time to have spontaneous fun.

We have a place in town called the Highland Center.

It is a great little pool with all kinds of fun water slides and toys to play with.

The kids love it, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they have a morning hour where only kids 0-5 years old can play.

We took advantage of it this week and had the best time.

We will be spending a lot more time this summer in the cool pool.

I always want to savor these times with my boys.

They grow so fast, and I don't ever want to lose sight of the incedible blessing they are to me.

I am so lucky to spend my days hanging out with these cool kids.



Happy Daddy Day, Daddy

Happy Daddy Day, Daddy!!! We love you so much and know God has given us a true blessing in you. Your boys love you like crazy just like their mama. 



 

 

 I hope you know how much you are appreciated everyday. You are such a wonderful daddy, and we all love you very, very, very much. I can't wait to watch you love your little girl. Enjoy your special day . . . You deserve it!!!!

Instagram Friday 6/14/12

Here are some of our favorite moments that we captured in the past two weeks:
via our iphone . . .  Instagram Friday . . . We are ba-ack!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Birth Order

I read the Birth Order book by Kevin Leman a few years ago. I really enjoyed it and found it hilarious that my brother, sister, and I are pretty much the poster group for his theories. I am pretty sure George was a small baby when I read it, so I was interested to see how he would fit into the "oldest" category as we had more children. Ethan came along 3 years and 4 months after George. They aren't incredibly close in age, so I wondered how their relationship and personalities would come about and how closely they would follow Dr. Leman's theories.   

Even though Ethan is the baby of our family for the moment, he has always seemed to favor the traits of a "middle."

He is extremely adventurous, a little on the wild side, a quick learner, and likes a lot of attention.

Here is the funny part (and my whole point of writing this post).

This week George has been in Vacation Bible School, so I figured I would do some fun summer things with just Ethan before it was the three of us for the rest of the summer.

On Monday I took him to a splash/water slide park in our area.

He went on each slide once, but then decided to sit attached to my side with his feet in the water for the rest of the time.

If George would have been with us it would have been a totally different story.

I wouldn't have seen him once.

Then on Wednesday we went to "Toddler Tales" at our local library.

Same story . . . he sat on my lap the entire hour and listened to the stories.

He didn't dance when they put on music . . . which is totally unlike him.

I knew it was because his brother wasn't there with him.

It just struck me how much of his personality traits are based on his brother.

George is the reason he feels like he can be adventerous and outgoing.

When he is alone it is literally like I am with a different kid.

I am no psychologist (obviously), but it is so interesting to see kids come out of their element when their environment changes.

I am not into putting my kids into a box and just labeling them this or that because of where they fall in the family line-up.

But . . . I also wonder how their order really does affect their relationships and personalities.

Food for thought.

Now go psycho-analyze your own children.

You are welcome.

Long Weekend Away

There has been a lot of activity in our household since I last wrote.

Let me begin with Thursday morning when both Tim and I came down with our second stomach bug of the season.

 

 

Let me tell you how much I love stomach bugs while pregnant.

 

 

Probably as much as I love having staples stapled into my toenails slowly for days on end.

 

 

A bit dramatic . . .

maybe. 

But true all the same.

 

 

We were supposed to leave that night for our long weekend in Naples with my family.

 

 

I didn't feel up to it, but Tim felt better by the evening . . . so off we went.

 

 

We got to wake up in our hotel on Friday morning feeling better and ready to take on the rainy forecast.

 

 

After breakfast we went on a walk to check out all the fun things our hotel had to offer.

One of our first stops was to visit Papou at his "meeting," which is the reason we were all there.

We walked around some more and had fun on the couches in the lobby.

After the couch playtime we sat at the front of the hotel and enjoyed a few free apples.

After all my worrying about the weather it ended up being beautiful all weekend.

Didn't rain a drop.

Answer to my prayers . . . thanks, God.

After our exploring we took the kids to the pool for a little while.

They had a blast.

For dinner that night we went to a place that served whole lobsters.

Of course my dad and Timothy decided to partake in that special.

On Saturday we spent the morning and lunchtime by the beach and pool.

It was blissful.

We had a nice nap, and then the boys went to the gameroom in the hotel.

George was in Heaven with all the game systems and tvs in one room.

We had sushi in the hotel for dinner that night.

On Sunday we checked out . . . all sad to go home.

But we did get to stop at an awesome outlet mall on the way home, which made the transition a bit easier.

All in all we had a great short vacation, and I am so thankful for the gorgeous weather and the fun time with my family.

George's VPK Graduation 2012

George Matthew Bettelli has officially graduated from FUMC Clearwater Preschool.  (George's teacher, Miss JoEllen made the below profile of each graduating student. Nice job Mrs. Joellen.) 

I can't tell you how proud I am of the little guy...wait a sec...I guess that's exactly what I'm trying to do with this blog post. :) I know for most, preschool is no big thing, but not so for George. George absolutely loves school. I think it's something that he gets from his parents.  Here are some pictures of our little GRADUATE:

Above is George and his good friend, Jacob

Diploma in hand

The little boy next to George is thinking, "What's he so happy about? They are making us leave preschool."

Proud Graduate

Above: George and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Joellen

Below: All the Family Pics

George, we love you so much and are so proud of you. God has a very special plan for your life.&Tim