March snow!

When we came home from church on Sunday, the porch and walkways were covered with snow from the Friday-Saturday storm we'd just experienced. Brian commented on how he didn't want it to be dangerous for the ladies to walk on, and look who decided to take care of it.

Is he not the cutest little man?

A new ring or a new ring?

The kids like to listen to various ring tones and things on phones, ipods, pretty much any little electronic thing that chirps/clucks/sings/talks/etc. Daniel, of course, likes to listen and play, too. He's grown up in a "tech" world and is a tech-savvy kid.

About a week ago, Brian bought Rachel a new ring (for her finger!).

So it was very funny when Rachel was trying to show Daniel her new ring, and she said, "Daniel, do you like my new ring?" He didn't even look up but replied, "I don't know... let me hear it."

Fraser, CO, Tubing Hill

If you have never been to the Historic Tubing Hill in Fraser, CO, we absolutely and whole-heartedly recommend it! We had so much fun there! It isn't cheap, but we believe it's worth it. You can rent 1 tube for 1.5 hours for $20. Children under 8 can double-ride, and the tube can be shared between multiple people.

Tara and Abe are getting ready to take the plunge.

In this next photo, we've hooked ourselves together for a "group" tubing trip down the hill!

There is an awesome "lift" that pulls you in your tube back to the top of the hill. You then walk up a few steps and are ready to go again, so you're not wasting your tubing money on any hike back to the top!

Daniel napped in the car for the first half of our time and was then bribed to take 1 trip down. I really didn't think it would be his thing quite yet, but next year will be different. He didn't like it and stiffened right up in Kyle's lap for the whole ride.

I'm pretty sure this next photo is of Brian and Kyle.

Rachel started out with a jacket, but then it really warmed up (traditional Colorado). Actually when we first got there, it was starting to snow just a little. Then it was more like very wet grapple, and it started really coming down. Well, our time was money so that wasn't going to stop us! Our first couple of trips down we couldn't see a thing and were being pelted in the face and literally soaked from the weather! OK, that was fun and sort of not fun, but we kept going. We were very thankful when it quit shortly after it started, and the sun even came out.

Everyone was ready for a group trip down the hill, but the chain broke before they really got started! We would hold onto the tube handles of the next tube (sometimes 8 of us in a line) and send the first person over the edge. They were required to hold on tight while the rest of us scooted inch-by-inch over the edge. Well, sometimes the chain broke, of course!

You can see Scott has some pretty good speed in this next photo!

You know, I admit to being a bit of a chicken. I believe in things like "too high," "too fast," "too much spinning," and "too scary!" Secretly, I was rather nervous about this tubing hill. I really had to work up my nerve and not focus on my fear. I also thought, "As long as I'm not going backwards, I can do this." It seemed to be all fine, in theory, and I really was not up for all the abuse I would take if I never actually went down the hill! After dragging my feet a bit, I couldn't avoid it any longer. It was so fun! Of course I ended up turned around backwards on my first trip down, but I was fine, and I (we all) went back for more and more!

This is Elise on an easy, convenient trip back to the top of the hill.

FUN! FUN! FUN!

Our Grand Lake, CO, winter vacation

We spent 5 days at the end of February/beginning of March in Grand Lake, CO, on a much-anticipated winter vacation with Scott and Tara's family and Scott's brothers family (Jim, Gina, Madison, Gavin, and Timothy). We had the best time, and we've started a winter-vacation savings jar because we want to do this again next year! Some of our winter activities were pretty pricey, so the kids have an understanding that they need to contribute to our jar, also.

This post, however, is all about a free activity... sledding! I'll warn you in advance that if you don't like sledding pictures, you won't like this post. Don't worry, though, I didn't include all 329.

This sledding hill was actually the dead-end street right in front of our rental home. The location and cost were perfect! Really, we had the best time sledding here. It was good for the kids and the adults.

Tara and Scott

It was big enough to be exciting, but not too big for the kids to be willing to climb back up.

Gina

Abe

Pondering the question of the day... "Head-first or feet-first?"

Tara and Abraham

Levi on the saucer!

In the above photo, I started out by myself and everything was going fine until Kyle decided to hitch a ride! I was laughing so hard, but I also knew it wasn't going to end well...

How did I know?

This was great fun, too: similar to snow-boarding, but different!

Does this remind you of the Iditarod?

Scott, Tara, Levi, and Abe

The rental house is behind us in the above photo. Isn't it pretty? That's where Brian spent most of the time working.

We had a great time! Daniel was unwilling to sled initially, but actually did later with Brian when the rest of us were skiing. I've heard that Gina has some pictures, and I'll have to ask her if I can get them, too.

It was lightly snowing that first sledding day, and it was so pretty outside. Grand Lake is a beautiful, quaint little western town that none of us had ever been to before. It's known more for it's summer activities, but it's now on the top of our list for winter activities. We were only about 20-30 minutes from skiing and tubing, which I'll blog about next time.