Hitting the Slopes!

Over our 2 week holiday break, we decided to hit the slopes for our very first downhill skiing experience. We chose the perfect day... Cooper was healthy, the weather was above zero, and we had a fresh coating of snow.

Our parents decided to enroll us in Kinderschool at Christie Mountain.  It was a great way to learn how to ski with great instructors!  Since Cooper and I both play hockey, we were very quick learners and moved to the "bigger" bunny hill after just an hour of instruction.

I was able to make nice beautiful turns, while Cooper chose to "go fast" and would ski straight down the hill. This truly is a personality thing.

Here is our ski video from the day (I am in the front making turns, Cooper is heading straight downhill).

While we had lessons, our parents took some pictures of us and then they were able to hit the slopes for some "adult" hills. Mommy found it coincidental that 18 years ago, they met at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, MN.  They were both volunteer ski instructors for Courage Duluth, helping skiers with physical limitations learn how to ski.  She had seen Daddy a few times at college, but they officially met at the bottom of a ski hill.  Daddy asked her if she wanted to ride the chairlift up with him and well, they say the rest is history.

Back to us.... I had a good 'skate' type style while skiing, must be from hockey.

Cooper is uncomfortably brave.  He thinks going fast means you are a great skier.

I loved our day skiing!  We spent 6 hours on the slopes and were wiped out at the end of our day.

Here is my ski instructor.  Ironically, his Dad was a teacher of Daddy's in high school!

Cooper loves his button which says, "I learned to ski at Christie Mountain!"

His ski instructor was a younger girl (not sure how old) but thankfully she humored Cooper's need for speed.

Until next time....

The day after we went skiing, my boy scout troop joined many others at Camp Phillips in Haugen, WI.  It was a very cool experience.  We shot a REAL gun, learned how to make fire, had an awesome s'more snack, and mostly hung out with lots of boys and Dads.  Mommy had the day "off" meaning she went to a fitness class and then worked at school. 

We had a "cold" day due to -50 below windchills.  We were only back to school for 2 days and then had the day off.  Luckily, I was able to start my rock collection in my new tumbler (no photo yet) and I played with the coolest toy a boy could ever receive... snap circuits.  It was a Xmas gift and you snap these circuit switches and thingys all around this board.  Eventually, it makes light bulbs turn on, a propeller spin, and music/sounds play.  I can play with this for hours.

In random news... we took this picture of our old girl, Liberty.  Mommy saw this picture with a caption, "Aged to Perfection" and this really fits our loveable Liberty.  She loves the snow and her daily walks.

Mom is part of a ministry group for women/Moms at our church.  She was asked to be a small group leader and she gladly accepted.  She is enjoying her ministry group; last week they had a fun event where they dressed up for a fancy tea party (hence, the huge hat) and listened to a local speaker who Mommy knew from teaching.

We invited the Picks over for dinner and to catch up.  If you remember, Jenny was our daycare Mama for many years.  Here is Mason (my age)~ we had fun playing together and watching our newest DVD Home Alone 2 (because the first video just wasn't enough.)  

And here is Ms. Willow ("Will") who is adored by so many.  She has a million facial expressions and just cracks everyone up.  She truly is a gift and we are so happy to see her good health and big smiles!

We were so blessed to have a last minute invite to watch our cousin (technically, second cousin) Camden play hockey right here in our town!  They had a Squirt Invitational, so his team from MN decided to play in the tourney.  They took 3rd place and we were able to spend the entire day watching him play, we swam at their hotel pool, and we took a tour and enjoyed Leinie's Lodge during one of their breaks.  We just adore their family and treasured our time together.

And finally, I had my first handy task as a boy scout.  We had a Rain Gutter Regatta (boat race) last night.  This involved making a boat (yes, there was a kit), but Daddy was researching the "perfect" finish to make the boat fast.  Well, I didn't win, but I sure had fun! 

 We have a small troop (just kids from my school), so we were all mixed into one group.  My first race (it was like a bracket tournament) was against a 4th grader.  Um, sure not really fair, but oh well.  He won.

 My cheeks were puffing and blowing.

 You race each competitor twice (switch gutters each time), just to be fair.

 I then raced a boy from my class, he also beat me, but I was getting into the groove and realized that long, slow breaths are the ticket.

Although I didn't win the trophy, I still received a ribbon.  I am excited for more races to come in scouts.  This has been a fun group/activity to participate in!  Thanks for tuning in this week!

Holiday Happenings

We have had an extremely busy few weeks, so this post is long overdue!  Mommy realized that she hasn't posted a hockey photo yet and we recently took one for our friends who sponsor youth hockey.  Cooper and I have been busy playing on the Mighty Mites.  We play twice a week and have our first tourney in just a month.  We will post more hockey pictures in the weeks ahead.

Christmas was not the "same" without the usual amount of snow.  We did get a tiny dusting a few days prior, but it sure didn't last long.  Our parents caught us shoveling with swim goggles (Cooper) and safety goggles (me).  They thought it was great that we problem solved so that the blowing snow didn't get in our eyes.

Cooper's 4K class went to the Christmas Village at our local park.  They went to see the lights (in the daytime?!?!) and read the story boards.  Mom went along since it was her day off and she was thankful the field trip was a quick one hour visit :)  Cooper is the cute munchkin in the blue coat and blaze orange hat. Our family enjoys visiting the Christmas Village a few times during the holiday season.  It really is a wonderful and amazing site at night!

Cooper made sure to share with everyone in his class that they were standing in the same spot (photo above) where I was baptized 6+ years ago.  I am sure some people were thinking?!?!?

 Story boards include Frosty the Snowman and The Night Before Xmas.

While Mom shopped for some final gifts, Daddy helped us make cut-out cookies.  We have his grandmother's sour cream sugar cookies recipe and this helpful sheet from Grammy.  It is a tradition that Daddy enjoys and Mom dislikes (cut-outs require a lot of patience and it is always a disaster of a mess afterwards).  We stayed in our PJ's and got right to work.

 Time to decorate and yes, those are bottles of frosting (Mom bought these to make it "easier" for us).

 Our final masterpieces

 In elf news, David was up to lots of fun tricks this season.  We previously posted some of his shenanigans but here are a few more for your enjoyment!

 He stuck bows all over our kitchen cupboards and cabinets

 He brought us Dunkin Donuts and some elf donuts too

He nearly over-shot the runway but make it just in time.  He arrived from the North Pole for our early morning David scouting.  We particularly liked his aviator costume, leather coat and goggles.

Somehow he tangled himself around our toilet wrapped in lights

We wanted to put together the David puzzle so he could see what we do beyond the holiday season.  Once we put the puzzle together, we declared the elf on the puzzle is probably his brother since they don't look exactly alike, but close.

We were hoping we would receive a letter from Santa and David letting us know that he didn't need his magic for his final day with us.  We were happily informed that our wish was granted; we were able to carry David around, give him cuddles and kisses, and send our final farewells with our favorite elf.  

Liberty is not as amused by David.  She seemed to have an annoyed look on her face when he carried out his elf missions.

And she is always a little annoyed by our attempts to dress her up for the holidays.

We went to our church for the 3:00 service.  It was nice to go early (there are 5 services on Christmas Eve!) Grammy joined us at church and then we went to the park for a few family pictures.  It was still light out, to our disappointment, so these are our Xmas pictures for the year.  

 We returned to our house for a nice dinner together and then it was time to get ready for Santa....

A final goodbye to David included some pictures, cuddles and a final reading of his story.

 Until next year our little elf friend.... can't wait to see what he enlightens us with next season!

Christmas Day!  It finally arrived at 6:30 a.m.  It would've started at 5:30, but our parents sent us back to bed and convinced us that maybe Santa hadn't arrived yet (OK, sure).  We were so eager to see what our gifts included this year.  My #1 request was my own guitar and I got it!  It was sitting in a guitar stand with picks. My other cool gifts included a rock tumbler (I love science), a Razor with blinky wheels, Wii games, Playmobile toys, Legos, and more.

Cooper (aka Captain America) asked for dress-up costumes including this one and a Ninja Turtle shell complete with the mask and nunchucks. He received all the Ninja Turtles, their blow-up blimp, puzzles (he loves puzzles), Legos, a Razor with blinky wheels, etc....

 My parents told us we fooled Santa again this year into thinking we deserved all of these toys, ha!  Of course we are thankful and extra busy playing with our many wonderful gifts.

Later Christmas Day, we traveled to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the cities.  Mommy received a new food processor (she is thrilled) but she thinks this gift (handpainted pallet sign) from her Mom was best of all.....

Besides our Ninja Turtle matching sweatshirts photo, we didn't take any other pictures that afternoon (Yikes!)  It was so busy with our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, that we just played and enjoyed our time together.  

The day after Christmas, we traveled to Grammy's house for a busy day ice fishing, playing with our cousins, eating and eating and eating, and of course opening presents.  We sure love spending time with all those that we love!  Little Whitney was napping, so unfortunately she is not in our photo this year, bummer!

Our final Christmas celebration was a quick jaunt to the WI Dells for Daddy's extended side's Xmas. Santa make an appearance~funny how Santas all look a little different and I now notice this. We opened presents, had a nice meal together, and mostly swam in the hotel's pool/waterpark area.  Mommy hit the nearby outlet and we hit the road early the next morning thanks to a respiratory infection (Cooper) who kept us up most of the night.  Tis the season....

Here are the youngest cousins (the girls holding the babies are NOT the baby's mamas, they are all cousins)... it is quite the busy crew of kids!  The last few days we have been cleaning, organizing and putting away Christmas decor and presents.  Cooper is still battling his respiratory infection, so we canceled quite a few plans with friends but hope to hit the ski slopes tomorrow to celebrate the New Year.  May 2015 bring you much love, good health, happiness, and prosperity!  God Bless!