First Ski Trip Ever! January 2011

What better way to ring in the new decade than introducing a new sport to the kids. . . .A condo on the mountain for a week and as much skiing as possible? Yep, that's pretty high on my list of dream vacations! Not pictured here in my many many photos are some additionally news-worthy items: Ben's first ski-attempt, dinner with a highschool friend and her family, a swimming pool and hot tub, and a car accident that turned out to be just a fender bender! It was an awesome week all around!

The weather was supposed to turn 'arctic' cold early on in the week, so we didn't waste any time getting on the mountain and taking advantage of some powder and sunshine.

The mountain was great, they had a nice little deal for Kayte and Will which included two days' worth of ski rentals, lift tickets, and ski lessons for just $69 each.

Gearing up. Super-pumped!

They had a lot of staff doting on us, and we got fitted and out of there in a flash. With Kayte and Will in capable hands, Joe and I were free to help Ben and Sara. I took right to it with Sara. They had a 'magic carpet ride' to get to the top of the bunny hill, which she was pretty excited about. Then it was a bit of work down to the bottom of the hill, but by then she was all ready to get back on the carpet, and before she knew it, she was skiing!
Ben was not so easy to convince. He was a bit fed up with the whole idea by the time we got him to the carpet. He stayed quiet enough on the way up, but was absolutely not interested in going down. I gave up half-way down the bunny hill, and Joe kept an eye on him the rest of the morning while I worked with Sara. He had a good view of the kids and got to cheer them on.

My photos are a little out of order, so here are the kids on their first chair ride up after they'd spent the morning in their lesson:

Me, teaching Sara:

Snacktime! After lessons, we had a quick lunch, then Joe took the littles home for naps, and Kayte and Will and I hit chair 6 and our first green circles.

More on the carpet ride.

It was really busy on Saturday, but cleared out the rest of the week, which was nice.

You can see Will up behind Kayte in the one too.

Sara! Getting the hang of it!

We did get a little downtime in the lodge too.

And back at the cabin, after a long day on the slopes:

Apres-ski, fire & jacuzzi, dee-lish!

The kids loved the spiral staircase and the loft bedroom!

Such a nice condo, I hope we get to go back someday!

We managed to have room for some toys too!

On one of the off-days, when it was too cold to ski, we headed to the ice rink (which was actually very cold as well!) Will decided at the last moment that he would like to give it a try, but he never really got into it. Kayte liked it and Sara said it "made her happy". So that was good :)

I cannot say I'm a huge fan. It was cold, and I'm afraid of cracking my head on the ice. But the little guides are nice. I used that for awhile and got around ok :)

We waited out the cold and then headed back out on the final day we were there. My highschool buddy, Erin took Ben for the day so that Joe and I could keep up with Sara and the two olders. By this time, Sara was doing turns, Kayte was getting to be a fearless little bomber, and Will was catching air. No matter what percentage of his face was frozen solid, he would not go inside. He loved it and ate it up! In the last hour, we found a really cool trail with a tunnel and loop-de-loos and jumps. That was the grand finale for all of us! (Joe finally got to do a little jumping and I got to get up to speed a little. . . . :)

Ha ha! How can she see???

So. We had a great time. I'm already convincing Joe to get us out there one more time this year. I don't think he can resist Will's passion for it. The whole thing way exceeded my very high expectations. And best of all they liked it! Or loved it! It was so important to me that they enjoy it and want to, you know, do it for a living or something. That kind of 'like'. And I know I've hooked Will. Kayte loves it too, but the first time she goes fast enough to blow the tears right out of her eyes, I'll have her hooked too :) And little Sara definitely enjoyed it enough to beg to get out there, and she is the one who doesn't so much appreciate the cold.

So anyway. Huge success. Loved every minute. Definitely recommend.

Oops!

Ok. . .after I sat down to catch up on all my Christmas posts, I realized that there were big holes in my days. . .in all the bustle I managed to leave behind my camera or just plain forget to start snapping. So I'm in the process of harrassing all my various family members to send me their pics :) Meanwhile, I've made little bookmarks in my posts so that I won't get everything out of order. So! It is going to be yet another long little bit before I get those up and running. Because. . .we are packing up and headed out of town! It is a bit of a dream vacation (for me anyway). We are bound for Montana for a whole week of skiing! I. can't. wait! I'm in the process of packing up skis and counting mittens! I have big dreams of my kids being die-hard skiiers and someday I expect one might race right by me (that would be a champagne day.) . . .So low pressure, of course :)

Anyway. . .bonjour! I might take some time to post pics, or I might just not. . . .Did I mention I'm super-excited!!!!

Joe's Big Day.

Joe always spends his birthday fishing. . .and then we bring on the gifts.
Kayte played a song, as requested by the birthday boy:

Will and Kayte and Sara wrapped lots of little gifts up in duct tape. . . :)

And the grand finale! King crab dinner - dee-lish!

Kisses. . .

I'm kind of a big fan of mistletoe. And I'm always a little disappointed by the fake stuff. What I'd really really like is a big bundle of real-live mistletoe. . .But, even better, a son who creates a beautiful mistletoe out of a rubberband and the top of a playmobile palm tree.
What a sweet kid. . .it worked too! He got lots of kisses :)

Party!

Two is better than one! Joe and Shawna celebrated at the same time, but we always like two cakes!

And always a crowd helping out with the gift opening :)

And. . .we all partake of a little cake.

. . .and some cuddle time with one of the smallest in the group.

:)

Happy Birthday!

Ok, rewind.

Here we go. . .finally some more Christmas pics! A couple of weeks ago (I know, weeks!), Ann took Kayte and me and all the sister-in-laws out for a Christmas dinner at Banyans. . .this was a big thing for Kayte, going out with all the ladies! So she took her camera and got some great shots. Such a sweetie!
We had a great time and the food and wine was dee-lish!

Kayte's dinner. . .she was still getting her appetite back after the flu so she didn't actually eat a lot, but she sure loved it all anyway!

Counting our blessings :)

Some of the photos that would've been lost:

And just for fun, one photo that I was actually a little excited was among the ones that we would never ever ever ever see again:

Shall we start off with the bad news?

Here's a cheery little story to start off your new year! I suppose it is that time of year. Out with the old, in with the new. Replace the batteries in your smoke detector. Scrub underneath the fridge. Back-up your computer on an external hard drive, keep those precious photos safe. That sort of thing. For some reason our external hard drive was showing no signs of life. No biggie. We headed to Staples. Picked up a new one. With lots more giga-whatevers. Joe plugged it in and set it rolling. Couple of hours later he checks back in with it. Instead of saving our photos, the little machine crept inside and ate them all up. Every single dimple, every single school play, every single splash in the pool. All. gone.

But Joe is a computer pro. There is no problem that I have ever had with this computer (and there have been many) that Joe was unable to fix. So I was optimistic! He tried a couple of undelete programs. . .no luck. He paid $40 for a super-special undelete program. Still nothing. Apparently the little monster was really thorough. It ate enough out of each picture that there wasn't enough left to even open the file. I try to convince Joe to stay optimistic, he tries to prepare me for reality. And if Joe says they're gone, they're gone. Cause if he can't get to them, I highly doubt they are get-able.

So. There is some good news and some bad news. Back in the day I actually used to print the pictures out. I have like, 5 years of photos carefully albumed and safely stored. But I stopped doing that 5 years ago. Three years ago, I started this blog. All of my most favorite pictures turn up here. And I do mean all, much to the past chagrin of my husband. So that leaves me with only two years missing. But two years is a long time. That includes the first two years of my Sara's life. All her baby pictures. All of 4 year old Kayte & 2 year old Will. All gone.

I sat down and opened up my picasa. My picasa is on my side of the computer, and here on my side I could see all of my pictures. And then as I sat there and watched, the computer started deleting them. They weren't actually there. The computer was updating itself. So I'm staring at all my photos for the very last time, as they disappear in front of my eyes at a rate of like, 100/minute. To be honest, it felt a little bit like something died. Not a person, of course, but something more beloved than like, the family pet. Our memories are priceless, and I was devastated.

Joe e-mailed me later in the day with our first glimmer of hope. He had managed to break into our old external harddrive and pry some of the images from it's cold dead hands. It was still possible that the thing had suffered some damage from being manipulated, but it didn't! All the photos were there. All of them were in one piece!

So. Here's the lesson. Replace the batteries in your smoke detector. Go ahead and clean under your fridge. But whatever you do, make sure you remember to back-up your photos this year! Make some hard copies. Keep 'em safe. I'm pretty sure someday, your kids are gonna want to see them.

. . .I feel like I might've taunted the computer by mentioning in my last post that my Christmas pics were 'safely' uploaded onto the computer. I really need to watch what I say on here.

Ice fishing with Will and Jack

This was Jack's first time out on the ice and I think it surprised him you could just walk out on it. Will was excited to show Jack all that he knew.

The boys keeping an eye on their holes:

First catch of the day and Jack's first ice fishing trout:

Posing with the day's catch. Will had 4, Jack had 2, and I brought up the rear with 1.