last minute fun

The day after the cookie fest we had heard rumblings about the Petersen clan being in town from the east coast so decided to crash their party with with Lineberrys.   Hearing the Wilson clan would also be there sealed the deal and we packed for a last-minute trip up the hill to Winter Park.

The boys and Grace and Sara got some sledding in before everyone else arrived while I hung back to help Amy in the kitchen.  We then enjoyed a delightful dinner of home-made noodle lasagna while the kids, who had eaten in a shift before us, watched a movie.

I was shocked his long undies from last year fit and couldn't get 

enough of his little bum in them.

The boys on the sled hill shot from the comfort of the condo front porch.

The obligatory snot-faced, red-cheeked shot.

Sadly the night was not without incident and Grace accidentally locked the door of an upstairs bedroom that COULD NOT be remedied by the 2 engineers, fighter pilot and ER doc in attendance. The owner of the condo did not know about this lock nor have a key so a call to a locksmith was necessary.  We did get in a couple hours of game playing before heading back home.

Amy patiently taught Ryan how to make pasta.

A ginger sandwich-lucky me!!

My good eater-often left alone at the table. :)

Merry Christmas!!

the kiddo shift

one content Daddy

Due to the last minute nature of our trip and because we (I) had lots of Christmas prep and cooking left, we knew we had to make the trip that night and to say it was awful would be an understatement.  I was praying to gods that hadn't previously existed to me and had to tell myself over and over to keep breathing and to talk to Ryan to keep his mind off the treacherous mountain road and negligible visibility. Winter Park is closer than many other ski resorts and is Ryan's favorite, but I reminded him many times on this trip (as many of our friends are on the brink of buying condos/houses here,) that Berthoud pass and I are not friends and that I would not drive it on my own with any regularity. 
Thankfully we made it home in one piece and in just about 2 hours all due to Ryan's cool, calm and collected winter driving skills. 

We had had 4 of the 6 WHELLP families that we go to the beach with every other year and it was a wonderful last minute mini-reunion.  The count-down is on to August when all 6 families gather in the Outer Banks.  We're so looking forward to that, and to white sand in place of white-outs.