Sledding in Arnold

We love the snow! Grateful it is only 2 hours away, but also grateful we don't actually live in it (although brooke wishes she did). For Presidents Day we headed to Arnold for the day with the Skubals. It was so much fun! The weather was perfect and there was SOOO much snow. We were bummed our usual sledding place-cottage springs- was so abundantly covered in snow that we had to go back down the road a bit to find a sledding place.

This is how Livy looked at least 50% of the time. You never know what you are going to get with her. Pure happiness and cuteness or all out screaming. Keeps us on our toes.

Dan looks like he is closing his eyes.

Can you tell this girl loves it!! She didn't cry once, even when she got snow down her shirt.

Jackson was a tired champ-a champ nonetheless.

There's a smile. Proof that she did have fun, at least for a little bit.

Snow Weekend!

It is always so fun to do fun things as a family, but it is even more fun when your kids like it! Right?! I mean when you put a ton of effort into packing up for two days (which by the way, is the same amount you would pack up for a week, so next time, why not go longer?) and your kids have a horrible time, it makes you not want to do it again. I mean sure there are always tantrums, meltdowns, pee accidents, messes, etc. But overall, when you see joy on your kids faces, it is all worth it. That is how this snow trip was!! Pure fun! Pure fun for the adults and for the kids! Even though it rained and snowed most of the whole trip it was so fun. Brooke absolutely LOVES the snow. Livy had fun too, and I think she will enjoy it even more next year. I think I want to take a day trip back up to the snow again before it is gone this winter, just to let Brooke enjoy it again. (And Arnold is only 2 and a half hours away and there is PLENTY of snow).
As I was packing up friday morning, I had flashbacks of snow trips as a kid. Staying at the cabin with Littles or our cousins and skiing all day long for a few days! As I thought about those great memories, it made me think about how grateful i was that my mom was so diligent in taking us places to make memories. Because even though it is so fun, sometimes it is hard to go on vacation or do fun things as the mom. Lots of times it would be easier to stay home and take a few day trips here and there (and those are great memories, too) but, long weekends and camping trips and vacations of sorts are so much fun as kids and fun memories for the adults, but a lot more work than day trips. But they are so worth it!

The snow was so great! We stayed at my uncle's cabin again (Thanks Uncle Benny) and drove up to cottage springs. It was snowing the entire time up there. It was just us and about three other people on the hill with freshly fallen snow powder and no trails when we started. So Mike, Spencer and Ben and the kids forged an awesome sled run! It was so fun. And by the time we were leaving, three hours later, the hill was packed and there was a line of about 8-10 people waiting to sled down our track. The kids LOVED it. And I was surprised again this year, how no one complained of being cold and wet.
It was so great to put the kids down and hang out with the adults, too! We learned a great new game, Ticket to Ride, and I love it! Thanks Mike and Melanie for teaching us. But I am ready to play again, and I will beat all you guys now that I know the stategy! One of the downfalls of the weekend was that Cheri got me addicted to cadbury eggs. I guess I never really ate them a lot. But man-oh-man, they are good. I bought a bag at the store today, and it is gone. I am a nerd and didn't take my camera, but I know Melanie and Cheri got some great pictures. So when they post them on their blog, I will steal them and post them here.

Martin Luther King Weekend

We spent friday evening and saturday up in Arnold at my Uncle Benny's cabin. It was so GREAT! It was such a great time just relaxing and hanging out. The Wirthlin's and the Luster's came with us. The kids had such a great time sledding and playing at the cabin. It really was a totally relaxing trip!! And Uncle Benny's cabin is so awesome. I hadn't been there for almost ten years. It has changed a ton. Thanks Uncle Benny for letting us use your pad! 

This is was Livia's first time in the snow! She actually really liked it, which was really awesome considering we didn't have any snow gear for her. We layered her up with warm clothes and put Brooke's raincoat on her. It actually worked out well. We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was 60 degrees.  Ben and I only wore snow pants and a long sleeve shirt and we were both sweating every time we hiked up the hill. Brookelyn absolutely loved sledding. All of the kids did. Brooke, Tyler and Emma kept going and going, like the energizer bunny. The even hiked up the huge hill numerous times without ever complaining. We got a good two hours of fun in until we had melt downs. It was perfect timing, because everyone had melt downs at the same time. I thought i had a picture of all the kids crying together, but i guess I didn't get the shot. It was a long 5 min. walk to the car. After having a BLAST the last hour and a half, Brooke's comment to Ben while hiking back to the car and crying was, "No one ever lets me have any fun." 

We got back to the cabin and put the kids down for a nap, enjoyed lunch and then all took naps ourselves! It was a GREAT DAY!

Kora didn't really enjoy the snow unless she was sitting in her moms lap. (Actually it wasn't the snow she didn't like she kept saying she was afraid of the holes... you did sink in pretty far every time you stepped.) This was a great shot of her enjoying being in her moms lap.


Hiking up the hill...and loving it. 

Brooke and Livy getting ready to go down the hill. 

Thanks Cheri for these great Pictures of Brooke Sledding:

This nice guy let all the kids and Ben try out his ski-sled. Ben got some pretty good speed!