Days 1-2
We spent most of December out of town this year. Mike had an advanced allergy course in Tahoe, CA and we were not going to miss the chance to be there with him. We took two days to drive to Tahoe and stayed in Medford, OR on the way down. Our good friend Drew Ostler was down in Medford for business. What are the odds? We all ate pizza at a fabulous little pizze place in the small town of Medford. Then it was an early start the next day to get to our destination. We were happy that the weather was gorgeous on our drive but a little sad that there would be little snow when we got there. My parents met us at our Resort and stayed with us two of the nights we were there. It was so much fun to have them with us. I know the kids also enjoyed being able to spend some time with them in such a fun place.
Day 3
Unfortuantely I didn't take any pictures of our resort...I know that is bad. Bad Bad me. But you can take my word for it that it was beautiful. Thanks to the military for paying for it!! Today we headed 20 miles down the road to the only ski lift that was open that day. Our resort didn't have enough snow yet. My mom stayed with the girls and Mike and I took the boys skiing. My dad joined us to take pictures--what a great Grandpa! This is the only picture I have so far because it was from my little point and shoot. More ski pictures to come later when I get them from my dad. Skiing was perfect this day because the sun was out and it was warm. That made is easier for the kids to enjoy skiing. We each took one of the kids and went up and down the lift many times. The boys were really getting the hang of it. Then my dad watched the boys so Mike and I could do a more difficult run. This was the first time I was back on my skis after 10 years of snowboarding. I do love skiing but also am attached to the snowboard.
Day 4
My parents left to drive to Utah to get everything ready at their condo in prepartion for our family and my brother to arrive. We decided to drive down the road to the Olympic Village and take the kids up the gondola to the Olympic Ice Pavillion.
This was the first time we all went ice-skating together. Andrew held onto the side but eventually got the hang of it and could eventually skate by himself. Peter and Emma had to take turns with me holding on to them. I tried to go with both but they were not steady enough on their skates to hold themselves up. It was probably more effort on our part to keep them up, but it was fun nevertheless. Abby just stayed asleep in the stroller and since the rink was small enough we could leave her near the entrance and just keep an eye on her.
The kids really enjoyed the Gondola ride. This was one of the views from our ride up to the Ice Pavillion. We were told that this mountain landscape was the original inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. Doesn't it look so familiar??
Back down in the Olympic Village we spent dinner eating pizza and enjoying being warm again. It was really windy when we were ice-skating. Thanks to the storm that was coming the winds started to pick up so we headed back to our resort. It started to snow that night. The boys wanted to go ice-skating again and since their was a rink at our resort I took the boys while Mike watched the girls. The coolest thing about that rink was the little "old people pushers" they had for the little kids to keep balanced. Peter used that which made it easier on me. I could actually ice-skate next to the boys. After a dozen times going around the little rink Peter decided he wanted to try skating without the pusher. HE DID IT! I was so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself. We had a blast.
Day 5
Mike took the boys back to the Olympic Village because their lifts opened up. He put the boys in ski lessons and then took his snowboard up for a couple of good runs. The boys had so much fun learning things that I couldn't teach them. I stayed back at the resort and took the girls sledding. Emma liked it until she got a bunch of snow in her face and then it was time to just build a snowman. It was really cold because of all the new snow that had fallen that night. We hurried back to our room for some hot chocolate and marshmallows. YUM!
Day 6
We got up really early to get out of Tahoe because we had a long drive ahead of us. Today would be a 9 hour drive. The roads were already covered in snow and for the first 30 miles we were driving a bit slow, but then the sun came out as we got closer to Reno and the rest of the drive was clear. Hip Hip Hooray! We stopped to get gas and some brunch. Literally five minutes down the road from the gas station was an IN AND OUT BURGER. ARGGGH.. I can't believe we already stuffed our faces full of food. We were a little sad to pass it knowing that we were already too full. Our drive went well but it was way too long!
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