Tree Lighting

Leaving the Shaver cabin after a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend of skiing the pow pow, hot tubbing, snow caving, sledding, gaming and crafting is never easy. So, this year we decided to have an ending destination.... the Pines Christmas Tree Lighting. A simple small town tradition was made extra special because it was snowing ....

Thanksgiving Treat

It isn't every year you get to ski deep powder on Thanksgiving weekend at China Peak. What a great introduction to the winter season fun!

And Thanks to Grammy we even got to do something new.... ride in the Ski Patrol's injury sled!!

Feast

The Pilgrims and Indians celebrated yet another wonderful Thanksgiving Feast. Soups were made in every classroom to share.

(Josiah, Kaia and Caitie - Mrs. Durrell's 2nd grade class and Adalie, Ashlyn and Kaiya - Mrs. G's Kindergarten)

Snow Day

After a really warm Fall, this November snow was truly a treat!! We obviously needed to dive in and enjoy it somehow..... so we loaded the girls' snowmobiles up, picked up cousins and headed to the boat launch and campground. The girls had a blast spinning brodies in the parking lot and racing around on the campground roads. While waiting their turns, they built snowmen, roasted marshmallows and rolled in the snow!

(Josiah &Piper 7years old, and Adalie & Ashlyn 5years old)

Avilla Getaway

Avila... just what the doctor ordered. Uninterrupted time together. Bike rides. Cinnamon rolls. Sand castles. Frisbee games. Runs with Daddy while cartoons entertained. Toes in the water. Rest. Walks on the beach. Swinging like spider monkeys. Swimming in the pool. But best of all..... 1st time boogie boarding!!

The boogie boarding was Josiah's idea. She is usually our adventuresome one, the one who will try anything once. And if it is successful, then Adalie will give it a go also. My favorite was watching Josiah and Daddy walking out to the waves, heads together giving wave riding instructions. They jumped the waves, waited for the best one and rode it in as far as they could. Big smiles all the way. We learned right away that a wet suit was a must... not necessarily for warmth, but for protection when you miss judged a wave and got pummelled. Adalie started with just surfing the waves on her board, but ended the day riding them all the way to the shore. Another new adventure to add to the books!!

And... of course home in time to play soccer games!!

We love the whirlwind.....

Trick or Treat

In keeping with our annual Pumpkin Carving traditions, we invited some cousins over to carve pumpkins. Whether free hand or pre-printed, everyone picked their own designs and got straight to work. It was Aunt Mariann's first time ever to carve a pumpkin! Josiah at 7years old carved her pumpkin all by herself. Adalie did all her carving and most of her goo scooping.... how brave of our little one who doesn't like things dirty or squishy! Daddy free hand carved Rocky Raccoon, a character in many of his make believe stories. And Mommy carved a mad-mummy....

The treat however, was the trick-or-treating we got to do afterwards. I mean real, door to door, knock, say "trick-or-treat", get a candy and run to the next house kind of trick-or-treating. Those of you who live in the city have the trick-or-treating advantage. Here in the mountains there is 1 neighborhood and thankfully they go all out for the occasion. Houses are decorated and candy is piled high! It was fun to see all the kids you know dressed in costumes with their parents in tow.

When we returned home, we lit our pumpkins and ate carmel apples. It was hard to judge who the winner was.... the first time witch, the political "vote 4 Seth", the original face, the free hand Raccon, the freehand alligator eating a fish...... instead we will just count ourselves blessed to have had some fun together!!

Mommy's Birthday

Just between us .... this was the first year that I actually noticed my age. Up until this year, it did not matter at all to me how old I was turning, I just love birthdays - mine, yours and the stranger getting sung to in the restaurant. In fact, I rarely remembered without counting from my birth year how old I was. So, I was always thankful when a good round number I could remember would come along. But this year.....was a bit different. This year, your medical charts get stamped "AMA" advanced maternal age..... yep that one hit home!

But I must say.... surrounded by my family both near and far I celebrated another birthday. And I put to you yet again.... Am I not the luckiest girl in the whole wide world??