Snowshoe 2013

Dear Abigail,

We had our annual ski trip and what a fantastic trip it was.  For starters, we didn't have to sit on the interstate for 6 hours this year - woohoo!!  Speaking of, this year Ellie and Kipper and Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee rode with us.  It worked out fantastic, with the 3 kiddos in the middle row, the daddies driving and the mommies hanging out in the back.  Where was Kate you ask?  Well... she asked to stay with Mimi since, you know, she doesn't ski and all.  We headed up early Saturday morning and you kiddos (and Daddy, too!) did great.  We did not have to stop at all until lunch.  We ate our usual Ruby Tuesday lunch and it went smoothly (smoothly = only one spilled milk and no crying) and hopped back on the road.  Before we knew it, we were headed up the mountain!  It was such an easy drive compared to last year!  

We arrived at Nona and Papas with supper ready!  You kiddos were pretty wound up but we eventually got you to bed.  Good thing because Sunday morning you had ski school bright and early!  You had to be there at 8:30 and that did not include getting the gear together or driving up a snowy mountain! We were all excited though, especially you girls! 

We got there and Daddy got you all geared up and ready to head to school...

Lookin' good little Miss Skier!

Both of you!

We waved our goodbyes and off you went, like the big girls you were.  The 'dults' got to do skiing all on our own, all day long!  We did meet you for lunch, and both of you were super happy with skiing, so that made for an even better day.  When we picked you up at 4:30 (yep, i told you all day!) you were inside because apparently you had a bit of fall there at the end and decided you were ready to call it a day.  I was a little nervous about that, that maybe you would be not as eager as you once were, but nope, I walked in and you said you just needed a break and would be ready for tomorrow.  Hooray, and we would see... 

That night we went straight to bed because exhausted doesn't even describe it!  First though, we had to have baths!

Here's Mommy and Aunt Steph enjoying our day of skiing (or snowboarding if you are cool like Aunt Steph) without kiddos!  

So far, a wonderful start to our trip.  On Monday, we woke up and took it easy and headed out after lunch.  To say the least, you were both excited!!!!  

We decided to take a break from ski school and just ski with you for the afternoon.  We had so much fun watching you two pizza.  You did so great and we were all impressed with how much you both enjoyed it.  Ellie would get to the top of a hill and just scream "WEEEEEEE" the whole way down!  It was hilarious.  You also enjoyed the lift and while I was a bit nervous at first with you on it, by the second or third time, you had me taking pictures and not worrying too much! 

So this is your first day of skiing with us.  See how you have the edgy wedgies on?  Those strappy things at the end of your skis.  Well, take note because they didn't stay on long!  

Aunt Steph said "Who wants to go skiing?" and both of you raised your hands up super high!

You got to ride with Aunt Meg AND Ellie - a dream come true, indeed.  

And Mommy got the honor of riding with you and Ellie, too!  See, I totally relaxed.  You knew what you were doing on that lift, or rather, knew what you should NOT be doing! 

We headed in after a lovely afternoon and ate some dinner and hit the sack.  Skiing makes you exhausted, for sure.
Tuesday came, and, well, wasn't the highlight of the trip, that's for sure.  We got a really bad ice storm Monday night and it continued into Tuesday, preventing us from even leaving the house!  We were okay with taking a break from skiing (or, well, Mommy could live with it, although it's never preferred :) but we thought we could at least go swimming or to the the Big Top, but nope, we were at home for the stay.  All of us.  The morning dragged on and eventually we ventured outside for a hike.

That didn't last very long because A) it was sleeting and B) you got a little upset and just sat down on the road, which didn't do anything but make you wetter and colder, and, therefore, more upset.  So, we wrapped that hike up rather quickly.  We played with toys, played twister, played a movie or two, and played the Wii.  While the day did indeed drag on, we did have fun playing Twister and the Wii.  We even got a little addicted to the video games and wouldn't let the kiddos play :)  Finally dinner was done and bedtime was upon us.  Tuesday was a slow day, BUT with that came LOTS and LOTS of SNOW!!!!  That's right, just like that we woke up with snow everywhere!  It was perfect and it was beautiful and it was worth a day of rest.  Wednesday was a great day for ski school so we piled everyone up and headed up the mountain.  You girls were eager as ever to go to school and we 'dults' were eager to get out in that pretty snow!  No pictures from that day other than taking a lunch break!  We were too busy skiing!!

We picked you up from ski school and your teacher said you both were awesome!  No more edgy wedgies!!!  He also said you both were in the bathroom and that you may have not made it in time!  I was shocked because I cannot tell you the last time you had an accident, but nonetheless, you had, in all 4 layers of clothes, too!  I asked what happened and your exact words were "Ellie and I told our teacher but he told us to wait and we couldn't."  Well, come to find out you DID tell your teacher, but it was as you were walking in.  Apparently you didn't give him much warning.  I guess everyone was having too much fun skiing!  No biggie, we were headed home anyway.  A great day of skiing for us all!  

Wednesday night called for more snow and boy did it ever!   The next morning, we got our snow gear on and had tons of fun playing right in the front yard!  

Kipper, too!

We also got the long awaited sled out!  What a blast you girls had!!!

Kipper, too!!

Please take note of Ellie and her goggles.  You may be asking yourself "Why are they up and not over her eyes?"  Well, she got a little quirky with those things and refused to put them over her eyes, ever.  We don't know what started it because Saturday night, the night before we headed to ski, she was wearing them all around the house on her eyes.  We had to make her take them off to go to bed!  Then Sunday she woke up and I guess just decided that her eyes did not need to be covered.  And if you even tempted to pull them over her eyes, boy, would she fire into you!!  Silly girl.  I have to say, even those days that it was snowing super hard and was super cold, she didn't budge on lowering those goggles.  She knows what she wants, that's for sure!  

So back to our snow day, we had SOOO much fun playing in it. Even Nona rode the sled down the hill.  You girls kept begging to do it by yourself and even would offer to carry the sled up the hill.  Mommy and Daddy had tons of fun, too, and you girls even tried building a snowman!  

It just snowed, and snowed and snowed!!! So pretty!!!

Eventually, we had to head inside, but first you and Mommy made like a million snow balls and then had Daddy come back outside and attacked him!!!  Meanwhile, the week was catching up to Ellie and she needed to take a break from everyone, so we got geared up and headed to do a little skiing on our own (me you and Daddy) while Ellie napped.  K, let me just say, you are awesome at skiing!!!  I was overwhelmed with how good you were.  And, how enthusiastic you were about it all.  It was SUPER cold out that day and Mommy was even complaining a little about the temp but you kept strong and kept on skiing.  We had so much fun as a little family skiing down the slopes.  We even introduced a new run to you and you did great.  Daddy told you he had found a secret cabin if we did this one run and you were all for it.  You did so good and even though you fell (because you were going SUPER fast), you did so good just getting right back up.  I know I keep saying it, but I was so happy with how much you loved skiing.
Eventually we did find the secret cabin thanks to Daddy's 'treasure map' that he said he found when he was a kid... Yeah, that's your Daddy for you.  Anyway, this secret cabin was at the bottom of the run, and boy were we ready for it and what it had to offer - hot chocolate that is!  Well, cold chocolate for some of us.  We all, including you, have come to the realization that you do not care for hot chocolate.  You want to, but every time you get it, you ask for ice, then end up not drinking any of it.  But you get that it's fun to order/drink hot chocolate.  Sadly, you just do not like it.  Or the whip cream on top!  Anyway, we found the secret cabin, got hot chocolates and cookies and warmed up!!!

After a couple more rounds of skiing, you and Daddy decided you were done for the day and went inside.  I made a couple more rounds and found Ellie and Aunt Steph but they, too, called it a day sooner than later.  Another day skiing - hooray!
Friday rolled around and we wanted to utilize every single minute - or at least I did!  It was our last day and I wanted to really enjoy all of it because the snow was just splendid!
The 'dults' headed out in the morning and we met everyone at the top of the mountain for lunch.  You and Ellie were super excited to get back out there, and also were being a bit silly!

We filled our bellies and then took the bus down to Silver Creek to get some good skiing in with hardly anybody around!  It was perfect.  You and Ellie were perfect!  It was just a splendid last day of skiing, I must say!  We showed Ellie the secret cabin and both of you were awesome leaders.  To the point that I would have to yell at you to slow down because you were going too fast!!!  Both of you have skiing down and, if I do say so myself, you may be a little bit better than your Daddy!! But don't tell him that!!  I love love love that you love love love skiing!  And it doesn't hurt that you are so good at it, too!!!  

After an afternoon of skiing, we headed in to warm up and get some last day fun in with tubing!!! Man alive did you love some tubing.  Let me just say, I am pretty sure this was your favorite part of the whole trip, including skiing.  You had SOOOO much fun and we had to pull you away.  I promise you next year we will go more than once, and stay the entire 2 hours!
Here's you riding up on the tube to the top of the hill...

Don't know if you can see, but that's you, the first one off, ready to go!! 

That's you and Ellie, going down together, which you wanted to do, every, single, time.  You both LOVED it!

And I think you will believe me based on the pictures alone!!

You may notice Ellie's goggles are still not on.  I wasn't kidding when I said she would not put them on!  But, it sure did make for some good pictures, being able to see her facial expressions!

Now that I have proof that you did indeed love it, I have to admit to something.  As I said, you were super excited to go tubing, especially after sledding at Nona and Papa's.  So the very first time we got to the top of the hill (to tube), Mommy was feeling the pressure from you to 'go go go' down the hill.  I saw a lane open, put you in the tube and the guy yelled "GO" so I pushed you off, down the hill.  Well, apparently this 'lane' was the 'walking lane.'.  What does that mean, you ask?  Well, it means A) that it was not meant for tubes and B) that a big plastic fence was at the bottom of the hill, along with the little house/cabin thing.  What does THAT mean for you, you ask?  Well, it means that you went flying down the walking lane and there was nothing we could do about it but watch you zoom through the plastic fence and slam into the house.  I was freaking out - at the top of the hill.  The guy wouldn't let me go because the other lanes had people going down them already.  So I had to stand at the top while he yelled "WALKING LANE" super loud, but clearly for no reason because no one did anything.  As soon as I could, I jumped on my tube and got to you and, well, I apparently had nothing to worry about because you were perfectly fine!  I had a small heart attack and was ever so thankful we left your helmet on!  To say the least, I will not ever live that down with our crew but just to defend me a smidge, it totally looks like a normal lane but there is a small sign that does say "walking lane".  Again, not super noticeable, but we did all learn a lesson.  When you went back up the next time you were ever so excited, but quickly said "I don't want to do that lane again, Mommy"!!  Ha, don't worry - you didn't!!  But you did have a blast and that's what counts!!  

Let me tell you what else you loved, maybe a close second to skiing and/or tubing - Aunt Meg!  So all along, we thought it was just going to be us visiting Nona and Papa.  I even asked about Meg and Aunt Steph said she was busy working.  Well, Sunday night Aunt Meg posted on Facebook "So excited" and we all were making fun of her for writing something so vague and then kept asking 'what could she be so excited about???"  Well, shortly after, guess who walked in the door??? Aunt Meg!  She was so excited because she was surprising all of us!  Only Nona and Papa knew about her coming.  You girls were already asleep so the next morning you got to go down to her room to see her.  Even though she's not really your Aunt, you LOVE you some Aunt Meg.  We started calling you her shadow or even her little puppy because you would follow her around constantly.  You wanted Aunt Meg to do everything with you.  You wanted her to ski with you.  To play a game with you.  To ride the lift with you.  To sit by you at dinner.  Everything.  Thankfully Aunt Meg was a good sport and put up with you!  She's an awesome aunt to have, regardless if you are blood related or not!!

Friday came and went and Saturday morning, we loaded up the car and headed home.  It was another successful 10 hour drive with no issues.  As a matter of fact, all three of you kiddos slept for over 3 hours at one point!  Shouldn't be too surprising, considering the very tiring week we had!  But oh, so worth it little ski monkey!!!  

Such a great vacation!  I can't wait for Katie Bug to get out there and learn to ski with us!!  Love our family tradition!!  Love it!

and love you!!