I was good for a while about posting but life seems to have sped up. I could be that kids stay up a late later, we go to lots more practices, school takes longer, ... probably adding all that together = less time for blogging. I do still take lots of pictures but they don't leave my phone very often- except for calendar making time. I'm going to try to add more pics here again.
We had a very busy but wonderful Easter weekend. A dear friend got married over the weekend and we were honored that James got to officiate their wedding! Loved being part of that! The celebration also included a 5K Friday morning- the fact that running is so much a part of their story more than made up for the fact that it was slightly chilly and rainy Friday morning :)
I hope I can find my other pics from this weekend but here are a few
We enjoyed our trip to FL this August. We had to fit in between appointments/ other commitments so we weren't able to stay as long as we would have liked but we had a good trip.
We drove down early 3 August- T drove two of his remaining needed driving hours. We got to Florida in time for a delicious dinner before heading out to Allison Acres Blueberry farm. Last year my Dad introduced me (online) to the owner of Allison Acres, a woman who graduated with first class of women from West Point! She invited us out to her farm and gave us a wonderful tour!! It was so neat to see their amazing farm. We rode on Gators around the 100+ acres of farm land, got to pet and feed their beautiful horses, and enjoyed dessert in their beautifully redone farm house. A wonderful night!
Friday morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before a morning of games and then early afternoon of swimming at the "Hawaii pool." Lots more games and books and then a good visit with dear family friend. another delicious dinner and we celebrated Papa's birthday- yummy cake and ice cream!
Saturday morning we had breakfast and then went down to the lake. CE biked, V scootered, rest walked around the lake, and Papa drove the support truck. We loved seeing all the ducks and birds and the kids enjoyed the exercise equipment. After our walk, Papa called with V from the ice cream/ coffee shop . A few more games and then time to drive home.
Seven years of ski trips and this might be the best one yet! I've probably said that six times already but we did have a super trip!
Last year we drove up on Wednesday and spent the night but we have so much travel this month with soccer, we decided to go back to driving up Thursday morning. Everyone did great being ready on time. We left right at 5. Kids slept half the way there, ate pop tarts and pancake on a stick, and counted cows. We got to Appalachian 820. Checking in was quick- we printed RF cards, got bibs for K and me ($15 each), and then picked up our rental equipment. This year T joined the snowboard group. We were waiting outside with friends by 855 for gates to open. We SHOULD have taken a family pic right at beginning but didn't and kids were skiing so much that we weren't all back together again until we were exhausted and ready to go home. New RF cards are nice- it was in the 50s all day so lots took off their jackets- much easier without paper tag.
This year was our biggest group of friends yet- if I counted right, we knew 40 people there. Plus our teens ran into some CEF teens from Charlotte. KG skied with those teens a lot. We all did a run or two together on the bunny slope. V went up the lift with me once. After that I hardly saw any of our kids until they were hungry :) They split up into different groups and went all over. So fun!
I was thankful it was nice out so we could picnic outside again. We took the same thing we've taken lots of years- PB/nutella/ honey tortillas, Aldi Cheeze -its, sausage sticks, granola bars. Everyone put a water bottle in their shoes. We found another water fountain by the bathrooms. So one on each floor ;) Again we didn't tell people lunchtime or end time. Next time :)
We (well the kids) skied until 5. We turned everything in and then went to Mellow Mushroom. The hostess was very surprised when I asked for a table for 25, but they quickly put the tables together. We had a nice dinner with 4 other families. and then went to Bluedeercookies. I think we bought the rest of the cookies there and then went to a park. I thought at first the kids were too tired to play but it turned out they were just focused on dessert. After that, they had a great time!
16 DEC- We had such a nice day today- kids slept in (well except V who was super excited for "family Christmas morning cartoons". We watched Morning Manna- Elliot talked this week about seasons. Then read our Jesse tree passage/ devotion. James made eggnog french toast. We also had cocktail sausage, scrambled eggs, and Sunny D. After cleaning up from brunch, we sang a few Christmas songs and then opened presents that the kids got for each other. Last Sunday after C's soccer tournament in Raleigh, we drew names and kids got each other a gift from Dollar Tree. They also made gifts for each other and got some additional gifts. It was sweet to see how excited they were to give and receive gifts. Our big family gift was a basketball goal which the kids have been super excited about. The goal that was here when we bought house in 2008 fell down earlier this year.
James and I had a rest time while kids played. Around 230 we drove to Jordan to drop off gifts for the Dream Center. Kids played soccer together for a while. Then we drove to Cook-Out. Last year we added milkshakes to the Dollar Tree tradition. that was a big hit. This year we ordered dinner there. We brought food home to eat with James before going to Disney on Ice. It was nice to be all together for the night. Disney on Ice was good and I made it down the stairs!
Lessons Learned-
1- it's nice to do all the paperwork on line.
2- try to put down the correct height/ weights bc they actually want them to be correct.
3- When the temperature is 55 degrees you'll want to put some clothes in the ski locker. So put your ski pass on your pants!
4- Renting bibs for $9 is better than buying for $50
5- pack more water or find the water bottle refill spot behind the restaurant.
6- water at the restaurant and dessert in the room afterwards is good tradition!
