snow!

2 days after Christmas, we escaped to the mountains, and saw the most glorious scenery that we haven't seen in a few years.  Snow.  Lots of it.  Down to the lake.  It was incredible.  

We spent 4 days in Tahoe, just hanging out.  The minute we arrived, the kids demanded we put on our snow clothes and play.  So we did.  

the kids were awesome travelers -- this was our first stop, for lunch, about 15 mins from the cabin.  They didn't even have to stop and pee on the drive up! :) 

snow!

me taking pics of the kids in the snow.  ha.  

 We did a lot of sledding, right out the back door.  And Kaitlyn was at such a great age, for the first time she was happy walking by herself, didn't care about being cold, and once she learned she could eat it, she didn't stop.  She'd just fall face first in it, and lick away.  It was pretty funny.

K eating snow, and the boys sledding in the background. Love this pic. 

first tracks on the front deck 

This girl, and all her style.  She is REALLY into getting herself dressed these days.  And changing her clothes.  Again, and again, and again.  And there must always be a tutu, now more than ever before.  We turn our backs for a minute, and here she is, in her PJs (this is before we've even had dinner mind you) with a tutu over it of course.  Oh boy.  

So we borrowed the Star Wars box set of movies from our neighbor before this trip, and the first evening we all watched the original Star Wars (episode 4 I guess it's being called now).  We tried to put K to bed after the first few minutes, but she threw a total fit, and demanded she stay up with us.  And we all loved it actually.  No one was very scared, no one had nightmares, the violence is actually not near as violent at today's movies are, and it was kind of a fun family evening.  So we watched the Empire Strikes Back the next night.  And finally finished with Return of the Jedi well after coming home from the mountains -- needed a bit of a break.  Now we just need to get to the theater at some point for the new one.

ready for Star Wars

Ry did get a little scared watching Darth Vader and Luke duel it out in the Empire Strikes Back -- he hid behind the pillow for a 1/2 of a second, and then couldn't stand not watching it.  It was really cute.  

Day 2, it was gray, and cloudy, and then started snowing.  So we drove to another meadow that we know of, and hit the sledding hills.  We had a blast.  Eddy and I were wishing we brought our snowshoes actually, because the kids were happy being pulled in the sleds, so we did a little hiking through the snowy meadow too.  A lot of work that's for sure.  

Incoming!

mama daughter snow angels

"Hey Ry, why don't you stand right over there...."

he was laughing the entire time, I promise

Day 3, we had a plan, to get the kids on skis.  We made a good long drive to get to one of the resorts that we knew lets kids 6 and under ski free.  But by the time we got there, everyone else thought it was a good idea too, so we scrapped that idea.  Too crazy.  So we were kind of frustrated, and bummed out, but we regrouped, and over lunch decided we'd check out a tiny little resort we had never been to -- that only has a rope tow, and a small hill.  And it was perfect for the kids.  Cheap tickets, back breaking work to get them up the rope tow, and they had a blast.  Kaitlyn's first time on skis!  She immediately told me she wanted to "do it all by myself mama".  Well, I had to help her a bit.  But she loved it.  She made about 4 or 5 runs down, and then was tired.  Ry kept going, and is so ready for the big slopes.  Can't wait to get back up there!

the pics are so dark because we were in the shadows of the afternoon.  But it really was a nice day, promise!

 We shared the cabin our last night with some of the other cabin owners, and they brought out their giant stuffed lion for the kids to jump on.  It's always fun to have a giant stuffed lion around.

again, with the Pjs and tutu

one last romp in the snow, before packing up and heading home.