family sandwich: Day 11- Weekend trips

I love a weekend get away. While we were up north we decided to make it a little snow trip for our family.

I went over to Savers and found a pair of pink snow bibs for Ave and a black pair for Bug. When Avery was a baby Kimbre was working at GAP and sent us a pink fuzzy bear snowsuit for her but she was too tiny to ever fit in it. It was so cute and I hoped to have another girl someday so I saved it. What do you know it was a perfect fit for Emma this winter. After our time up with the boys we headed down to Heber and checked into the Sawmill Inn.

The kids were so excited to see that there was snow right there at the hotel. Deke and I realized we hadn't stayed in a hotel in about two years and the kids were very intrigued by the whole thing. "Hunter there is a button in the shower that you push and shampoo comes out" Avery excitedly told him. "Oh yeah did you see the little blow dryer that is attached to the wall?" Hunter replied back. "I wanna see!" she squealed and hurried over to take a look. Don't even get me started on their reaction to the mini fridge and microwave in the room. Or when Hunter thought the luggage stands were foldable dinner trays. We got all the suitcases in then Deke bundled Hunter and Avery up and headed outside for a little snowplay before dinner.

Avery was hilarious in her snow gear. Some kinda cross between a pink marshmellow and the Michelin man. She was so bundled up she more waddled than walked but of course that didn't stop her one bit.

They played for about a half hour when the sun started to go down. We headed over to Subway and got some sandwiches and chips then headed over to the Dollar Store for some goodies. We ate and watched Cartoon Network which for our kids was a real treat since we have no cable and only get like six channels. Then we took the box of Ding Dongs that GG sent with us and played endless rounds of UNO. We told the kids that in order to get a Ding Dong they had to win a round. After Avery had a nice little stack of three next to her we had to modify the rules a little :) We got them all showered up and in snuggly jammies and headed to bed. We kept opening the curtains and staring outside at the beautiful snow.

I kept picking Emma up and cuddling her loving the feety jammies and fuzzy blanket she was in. Snuggling with a baby in the winter time is heaven to me. Everyone slept in until 8:30 and then only woke because I had set an alarm. Very rested we headed to the hotel's continental breakfast which was awesome. The owner had waffle mix and a waffle maker on the counter.

He had boiled eggs, oatmeal, toast, fruit, apple and orange juice, cereal and all kinds of pastries. We bundled everybody up and headed outside to play again until GG and Papa got there.

We sat Emma down in it and she would touch it and then furrow her eyebrows and look at us questioningly. By the way how adorable is she in her bear snow suit.

You can't really tell but the feet have little paw prints on them. She was so warm and cuddly. Not just the snow suit but look at the little hat, tied under the chub of her cheeks.

We let Emma taste the snow and she liked that. Every time I turned around Ave had a clump of it and was eating it. Avery had only been playing out for about ten minutes when she slipped on a rock while climbing and did a little gash on her head. That child has bumped her noggin more than any kid I know. GG and Papa got there and Deke went a grabbed a couple of sleds.

We found a little sledding hill a little ways down the road. The kids have played in the snow lots of times but this is the first time that they have gone sledding. Avery headed up the hill with the long purple sled and Hunter tried the green saucer first. Avery was grinning the whole way down the first time and went flying down and stopped right in front of a tree.

Each time Avery would go up the hill she would climb a little higher and a little higher. She even figured out how to use the little rope to steer herself in one direction or another. After the fourth time going up she got to the top, looked at Papa, put one foot inside the sled and said, "Okay I am ready to stand up now." Right. I guess she thought it was sort of like a snowboard. This child has no fear, had we told her to go ahead she would have.

I love it because whenever it is time to try something new she is ready to go and the first to want to try. I can't wait to actually try to get her on a snowboard. She was cracking us up all day. Flying down the hill fearlessly sometimes even on her stomach. Emma loved watching the kids go down the hill. We would sit with her at the bottom and when she saw them heading down she would start laughing and kicking her feet.

Hunter preferred the saucer sled and would get it spinning and then start sliding down. We took turns racing each other down the hill. Even GG and Papa got on the sleds by themselves and with the kids.

We laughed so hard. I was trying to help Ave get situated at the top of the hill and was holding the sled in one hand and the camera in the other. Since I wasn't wearing proper snow shoes and my boots had no traction what so ever I lost my footing and landing sideways on the sled. Worried about my camera I headed down the hill feet sprawling everywhere, half in the sled half out, camera held up in the air for protection and feet out ready to brace myself against the upcoming tree. The tree and I met thank goodness it was little, the camera was fine and so was I except maybe a very tender tailbone for the next day or so. I have not laughed that hard in awhile.

Grandpa and Grandma were laughing so hard they had to sit down on the snow. Deke said that all of a sudden he heard a scream and sees me booking it down the hill all crazy like with the camera in the air headed for a tree. He thought it was hilarious that I had made sure to protect the camera. We laughed until our sides ached. We headed down the road a little farther to find some bigger hills and stopped again.

At the new hill Ave took the first run and literally missed a tree by inches barely turning at the last second only to then graze a second tree and somehow miss that one. Scared me to death. Needless to say that is when we started instituting two adults at the top of the hill and two at the bottom.

We put blankets down on the purple sled and laid Emma in it and let her slide down the hill by herself. She just laid there practically catatonic until she reached the bottom and it had stopped, then she just smiled at us.

We let all three kids slide down together which was adorable. Lots of fabric and only cute little noses and cheeks showing. Then Hunter and Avery and I build this cool brick wall out of snow to have a snowball fight behind.

Grandma gave us a little wagon that had the perfect shape to make great bricks. I could envision a brick snow castle or homey little igloo.

However it was getting dark and cold so we only got it partially done but it was way fun. Next time. Everyone had stayed nice and warm and played hard and long and it only took about ten minutes and all three were sleeping sound in warm clothes and piled with blankets.