The Pintler Family

In celebration of Valentines Day this year, I tagged along with Nick on one of his business trips to beautiful South Beach Miami. I had never been to Florida before, so this was a treat for me and I am so glad I got to have the experience. It truly was unlike any place I have been before. Best way I can describe it, was that it was a cross between Mexico and Hawaii. I loved the culture and diversity, not to mention the picture perfect weather and beautiful beaches....I would love the chance to go back some day! My only wish is that the trip would have been a couple days longer, but with 3 kids and flying across the country, finding babysitters for that long presents a bit of a challenge. So we were thankful for the time we did get. Cant wait till our next solo vaca. We have so much fun together.

Our lovely forecast, a little bit of heaven....

View out our hotel window

We stayed in the cutest little boutique hotel ever! Bentley South Beach. If we ever go back, I will definitely stay there again!!!

Soakin up rays at the beach

Love this man and the surroundings

GELATO!!

Not just any gelato.... the best gelato I have ever had.

We had it 3 times and were only there for 4 days!

Outdoor gyms=Awesome

Sidenote-I found it odd that most people did not wear flip flops like I would expect (only the tourists like ourselves did) Locals ALL sported tennis shoes EVERYWHERE, even the beach.

Total Tourists

Last Dinner of the trip

He is just so handsome, I feel so lucky he's mine

The highlight of the trip was renting these beach cruiser bikes. Made our way around much faster, plus saved Nicks foot from a lot of pain. Whoever thought of this is brilliant!

Until next time Miami!!.....

Here's a quick little summary of the winter months. Warning: Large Post, Photo Overolad! Not sure how we are already halfway into March on the heels of spring, but here we are! The days continue to fly faster than the one before! Going all the way back to November, here is a slew of pics taken on thanksgiving day. We spent the day at the Lake Houses eating delicious food and enjoying great conversation. It was perfection.
We also took the oppourtunity to caputre a quick extended family photo shoot since the whole gang was present, which is a rare occurrence! It was quite a task with so many restless little ones invloved! But we succeeded!!

The winning shot of the whole crew

"Big Kid Cousins"

Attempting to invlove Kash

Settled on this :)

The best one of all Pintler Boys

The "next best one" :)

Pintler Fam Fall Photo!

Candid moments from the day..........

This one cracks me up

They made these bows out of sticks found outside. So cute. I love how much Kason adores Kora.

And always has:)

The cooks!

(Some of them)

The week after Thanksgiving, Nick had his ankle surgery, which was when things all went downhill as far as 'being in control of it all' is concerned. I was a bit naive and wasn't realizing how much of an impact this would have on the holiday season!! I of course took the initial recovery into consideration, and had that all planned and 'scheduled' out. But what I didn't plan for was the fact that Nick would be unable to walk well for the next 4-6 weeks. When you have Christmas shopping and festivities on the calendar, that presents a bit of an issue. Even seeing Santa was a major ordeal! But nonetheless, we survived and have many wonderful memories of Christmas 2012!!

We were smart enough to put the tree up and get lights on prior to surgery. Thank heaven! Otherwise, it might not have happened at all!!

Yes, we have a fake tree. Something I SWORE I would never have. Yet, it was the best move ever! No pine needles, no watering, perfect height and shape (which was an issue every year, I would need the perfect tree, Nick had more 'vision' and could see past imperfections. Always ended in an argument! Crisis now adverted...) Love my fake tree. And smelly candles to go with it of course.

Surgery Day!!

Post surgery.... After Decorating the tree

He's totally hammin up the sad face

At Grandmas for the annual cousin sleepover and gift exchange!!!

And then the whole gang with their new Christmas jammies!!

Pintler Posse

Visiting Santa

Included these to document the chaos. Kash running wild, nick unable to keep up. It was comical. I even had trouble keeping up, and I have two good feet!!

Funny tidbit....We had originally planned on making a big ordeal of Santa by going all the way downtown Spokane and eating at Rocky Rococos (one of our faves!) As time went on, and the holiday chaos ensued, I decided to take it a little easier, go to Valley mall for Santa and do red robin for dinner. Once the day finally came, we ended up settling for Silverlake mall and cafe rio. This is just a small example of my high expectations versus reality:)

Christmas Eve