Warning: This is a long post, requested by Jessi - who missed out on a really really fun day. Also, Neil & Kurt have many more photo's, these were the few I managed to take.
We try to plan family ski day's during the season, but this year - the end of the season kind of crept up on us - so we had to plan a marathon day. Since Sunday is Easter, we also tried to fit in our family egg hunt, with the original plan being to do the hunt up on the mountain.
Uncle Neil and Oma great came down on Thursday night to share adventure. Neil always brings fun things for the kids to do, so here he is with Carter, Bree, McKayla and Hannah. They are painting snakes.
Friday we got up and going- with few glitches- Part of Jed's family couldn't make it. Unavoidable conflicts. Maria offered to watch Ellie during the day so she didn't have to be stuck in the lodge all day. Thanks Maria! We loved having Tucker, Hannah and Stella with us. We missed Hallie and Zoe. When we got there, the upper lodge was locked, but we talked them into opening it- much easier for us to spread out! Then we got ready to seriously play. This is Aspen geared up.
Christy and Bree got their first ski experience today. They are turning 3. In fact we celebrated Christy's birthday all day.
Of course, we also had long breaks. Here Stella and Tyler are playing a game in the lodge.
Jake couldn't stand to be left inside. He loved getting on his hat & gloves to go out side. The weather got windier and windier and snow started falling pretty seriously. Too bad. Jake was going out. He rode in the back pack on who ever would take him out. LOVED IT!
The title of this post is: Is it Easter yet? Because Carter could hardly wait for the Easter egg hunt. He wanted that more than to ski. He had to wait, so he skiied with OPA. We did get ready for the Easter egg hunt- But as the afternoon progressed, the weather got colder and windier and still snowing. Jed & Maria had planned on driving up for the festivities, but his class went longer than expected. So we decided to change the plans and have the easter egg hunt down in the valley with all of the kids. Besides that, the lodge workers were anxious to clean up the upstairs and lower floor so that they could go home too. The kid's had another treat though. Kurt & Carlee had brought up a rice-crispy treat pony cake for Christy's birthday. They dove into the pink frosted treats and were happy.
While waiting for the last skiiers and the cars to be brought down to the pick up area. Hannah and Emma made snow cones. Fresh snow is abundant in a ski area, especially when it is falling.
Back home, safely, we had the easter egg hunt after all. Sorry Zoe, I missed the red eye- but there were eggs everywhere. And the kids all found a sack full of treats.
Thelma thought it was pretty chaotic and fun. She had spent the day in the quiet of our home. All by her self. Then we came home. I am hoping to add the photo she took of all 14 kids before they left for Cascade. And Last - here are two little videos of Kim and Kurt helping Bree and Christy on the lift and skiing. Jessi & James, we missed you. Happy Easter. LOVE YOU
From the time before she was born- when we brought her home from the hospital- as she grew and developed her talents and personality- as an awesome teen- a beautiful bride and as an awesome wife and mother-
Happy Birthday Kristen!
April has several birthdays for us- And this little Christy just turned 3! She is a doll. We gave her some fancy nancy dress up shoes and this little skirt. Kim found the skirt on line (for $$$) so we made our version- for less than $5.00 (for me, using fabric I already had. I did have to buy the Tulle). Kim's variation for Bree is just as adorable in hot pink.
Carlee tells a funny story about those "Fancy" shoes. One night Christy woke up at 12:30 am - upset because she left her shoes outside. They had to go get them. A while later she was awake -again- and upset because they were dirty- so the shoes were cleaned off. And then - again- a couple of hours later- Christy was frantic because they wouldn't stay on her feet while she slept. Who knew that shoes would be such a big deal. The next night the shoes were carefully placed in the closet where they stayed the whole night long.
Happy Birthday Christy
So tonight at dinner, Ellie was in the booster chair by me and during the prayer noticed that Opa was at the table. She climbed into my lap, got down on my left side- walked around the chair and on my right side climbed up onto his knee. He got a lap full of chicken Parmesan spaghetti noodles, and a happy little granddaughter.
After Oma great saw this photo- she counted and said: "I thought there were 14" Sure enough 2 little girls are missing. They must have missed the call to come for a photo. We [adults] were more concerned about keeping the little ones in the picture. Ahhhh now we have a challenge to take a photo will all 14!
We try to plan family ski day's during the season, but this year - the end of the season kind of crept up on us - so we had to plan a marathon day. Since Sunday is Easter, we also tried to fit in our family egg hunt, with the original plan being to do the hunt up on the mountain. Uncle Neil and Oma great came down on Thursday night to share adventure. Neil always brings fun things for the kids to do, so here he is with Carter, Bree, McKayla and Hannah. They are painting snakes.
Friday we got up and going- with few glitches- Part of Jed's family couldn't make it. Unavoidable conflicts. Maria offered to watch Ellie during the day so she didn't have to be stuck in the lodge all day. Thanks Maria! We loved having Tucker, Hannah and Stella with us. We missed Hallie and Zoe. When we got there, the upper lodge was locked, but we talked them into opening it- much easier for us to spread out! Then we got ready to seriously play. This is Aspen geared up.
Christy and Bree got their first ski experience today. They are turning 3. In fact we celebrated Christy's birthday all day.
Of course, we also had long breaks. Here Stella and Tyler are playing a game in the lodge.
Jake couldn't stand to be left inside. He loved getting on his hat & gloves to go out side. The weather got windier and windier and snow started falling pretty seriously. Too bad. Jake was going out. He rode in the back pack on who ever would take him out. LOVED IT!
The title of this post is: Is it Easter yet? Because Carter could hardly wait for the Easter egg hunt. He wanted that more than to ski. He had to wait, so he skiied with OPA. We did get ready for the Easter egg hunt- But as the afternoon progressed, the weather got colder and windier and still snowing. Jed & Maria had planned on driving up for the festivities, but his class went longer than expected. So we decided to change the plans and have the easter egg hunt down in the valley with all of the kids. Besides that, the lodge workers were anxious to clean up the upstairs and lower floor so that they could go home too. The kid's had another treat though. Kurt & Carlee had brought up a rice-crispy treat pony cake for Christy's birthday. They dove into the pink frosted treats and were happy.
While waiting for the last skiiers and the cars to be brought down to the pick up area. Hannah and Emma made snow cones. Fresh snow is abundant in a ski area, especially when it is falling.
Back home, safely, we had the easter egg hunt after all. Sorry Zoe, I missed the red eye- but there were eggs everywhere. And the kids all found a sack full of treats.
Thelma thought it was pretty chaotic and fun. She had spent the day in the quiet of our home. All by her self. Then we came home. I am hoping to add the photo she took of all 14 kids before they left for Cascade. And Last - here are two little videos of Kim and Kurt helping Bree and Christy on the lift and skiing. Jessi & James, we missed you. Happy Easter. LOVE YOU
Happy Birthday Jed- Hope you enjoy every second of the day, we have enjoyed having you in our lives. LOVE YOU
These other two photo's are just to show how young and fun Gil's brothers Norm and Gordon are. They built several of these "high" bikes for their adventures. 
