Ice Castles

I still can't decide if it was foolish or smart, but we booked tickets to the ice castles the same night we went skiing.  If was thinking that the kids would be relieved to know we didn't have to drive up I-70 again.  But we were pretty exhausted from our day and didn't need to stay and enjoy it long.  The kids were also amused and disappointed that we ran into the Tolleys at Noodles & Co.  We ate dinner together and once again, they didn't want to leave their new friends.  At least the colorful lights of the ice castles were enough to distract them for awhile.  

We found an ice throne, that McKenzie wants to claim as her own.  

We also found plenty of slides.  Cambrie found the big slide first and disappeared for awhile before we found her again.  She had been waiting in line for the big one, and it was pretty cool sliding through the sharp tunnels of ice.  

The other kids liked the climbing tunnels. 

And the black light cave.  

There were just pretty views everywhere we turned.

I think that out of all the ice castles I've been to though, this rainbow wall made for one of the best photo opportunities.  It was pretty as it faded from one color to the others.  We somehow managed to get it at the height of it's colored glory.

Keystone Surprises

The miracles of modern medicine!  Just four days ago I had surgery on my eyes.  Today we are up skiing at Keystone and I can see!  We decided that I should still take it easy, so Daxton and I hung out while Jeremy took the other three kids up on the mountain.  Daxton really wanted to go "ice skating."  No matter how many times I told him we were skiing, he kept saying that we were "ice skating."  

For the first part of the day we hung out on the bunny hill.  We both rode the ski lift up, then I simply carried him down the hill on my hip.  He loved making big "S" sounds as we turned down the hill.  We went over and over again.  It's amazing that kids don't wear out when they're being carried up and down the mountain.  I on the other hand...  

We went to the lodge when we thought the big skiers would be back for lunch.  As we were munching on our sandwiches, Jeremy called and asked if I had the Tolley's number.  What?  No, I don't.  We went to school with the Tolleys in Philadelphia but they have moved around a lot since then, and most recently have just returned from Japan.  Why on Earth would he need their number?  The only answer I received in return was that Jeremy had their girls and needed to get ahold of them...then he hung up.  Now I was completely confused.  About five minutes later Marc walks into the lodge with McKenzie and Sophie!  Come to find out the two guys had run into each other in the bathroom, recognized each other, and they and the kids had been skiing together all morning.  Both Cambrie and Madelyn, and McKenzie and Sophie were close enough in skill level and age that they got along great and were having an amazing time.  By the time everyone showed up for lunch it looked like those four girls had been friends for years.  They were having so much fun skiing together that they almost skipped lunch just so they could get out on the slopes.

  Daxton and I rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and met them at the snow castle.  We all played tag for awhile, and enjoyed the slides until they were ready to ski some more.  

By the time Daxton and I rode the gondola down he was exhausted.  However, I didn't think he was so tired that he would fall asleep on the short five minute shuttle ride from the gondola to the lodge.  When I got back to the lodge I didn't know the best place to lay him down, so I just plopped him onto the table.  He napped there soundly until we woke him up about an hour and a half later.  

When it was time to leave, the girls really didn't want to go.  They were clinging to their new friends and even the promise of dinner and ice castles weren't enough to get them to leave peacefully.  I'm glad that they had such a good time.  

I still can't believe we ran into Marc and Natalie up there!  We haven't seen them in nine years.  What a great surprise!

DU Gymnastics

I don't know why we haven't done this sooner.  McKenzie and I went down to DU for a gymnastics meet.  It was so much wilder than I expected!  The stands were completely packed.  The fans were cheering.  Music was blaring.  And the gymnasts received celebrity introductions before the meet started.  McKenzie was in awe of the whole experience.  There were four teams competing that night, which meant that there was almost too much to watch.  We followed the DU girls and cheered when they stuck their routines.  They are really good.  A gentleman I was sitting next to said that they are nationally ranked in the top 15.  It wasn't even a contest between the Pioneers and the other schools.  We completely dominated.  I could not wipe the smile off of McKenzie's face.  She kept telling me how she wanted that to be her when she grew up.  After the awards ceremony, they invited all the kids down on the floor to do a couple dance routines.  McKenzie ran down to be a part of the fun.  She commented how the floor felt amazing and really springy.  

We picked up a schedule so that we know when to go again, because it was definitely worth going to.

Ice n' Mud

Saturday was such a gorgeous day that we had to get the kids outside.  They rode their bikes while Jeremy and I followed.  We ended up cruising around the lake, and ended up having more of an adventure than we bargained on.  The trail was completely muddy, which meant that only a couple seconds into our bike ride the kids had the tale tell mud splatters up their backs.  

The lake has been frozen all month, so we had some fun with the ice.  We threw rocks onto the ice to listen to the cools sounds the ice made as it vibrated.

Towards the northern shore the ice was thin enough that the kids took turns fishing for giants slabs of ice.  They tried to see who could find the biggest piece, then the threw them across the lake to watch the ice shatter.  

Jeremy had an extra slab...so he broke it on the girls' heads who were still wearing their helmets.  

After we had our fill of breaking the ice, we kept trekking through the mud to the eastern shore where the ice was nearly five inches thick.  The kids thought it was sweet that it was strong enough to hold them.  Cambrie tried drilling through the ice but didn't quite have the right ax.  

After a very muddy return trip home we had to hose everyone off, including their bikes.  Mission: outside fun, accomplished.

Dreams of new eyes

Today, if all goes well, will be the last time you will see me in these glasses.  Jeremy gave me Lasik for my Christmas present this year, and the surgery is tomorrow.  I've wanted Lasik ever since I heard about it, but it's always made me a bit nervous.  I have astigmatism which complicates things a little bit, but it sounds like the doctors are confident enough in the technology and their skills that it shouldn't be an issue.  My contacts and glasses have never been a huge problem in my life.  I picked up my first pair of glasses when I was in seventh grade, and graduated to contacts about a year later so I could still see while I swam.  Ever since then I've just kept up with the appointments and prescriptions, and just dealt with life as normal.  There are times though where I have longed for perfect sight: laying on the roof of the house boat at Lake Powell and not being able to see the stars that everyone else could see, camping and hoping that I don't roll over and squash my glasses at night, when my kids come into my room at night and I have no idea which kid it is, when I'm sitting in the optometrist's office hearing, "better or worse?" over and over again, when it's late at night and my eyes are just exhausted from the contacts, when I'm traveling and need to make sure I don't forget all of my supplies, when I'm crawling over the bathroom floor and I can't find the contact I've dropped, when I have to ask my kids to find my glasses because they've fallen under the bed and I simply can't see them, when I can't wear glasses and sunglasses, when my contact falls out during a race and I have to run the rest of it half blind, and when the contacts just hurt because they've been torn or they're dirty.  I'm going to be free of all of that.  Does the idea of a laser cutting my eye open make me a little nervous?  Naturally.  True, the doctor is very good at what he does, but there are always mistakes.  I just hope that by this time tomorrow, or at least in two days, I'll have the vision that I've waited years for. 

 

Dax turns 3

We had another birthday this week, Daxton turned 3!  The night before, McKenzie and Cambrie decorated the house for him, and were really proud of their streamer waterfall by the stairs and their birthday couch.   Daxton loved all of his balloons and promptly started popping the ones he could reach.  

It was a pretty chill birthday.  We went to church, came home, did cake and presents. Daxton insisted on helping me bake his birthday cake.  He's a good little helper...he just likes to lick things as we go along.

 Jeremy was in charge of the cake this year and he went all out.  The Bumblebee cake looked fabulous, since Jeremy is a fondant master by now, but he upped his game by adding sparklers.  Daxton wasn't quite sure what to make of them since they didn't blow out when he blew.  

The rest of the kids tried their best to blow them out too, but we just had to wait for them to blow themselves out.  Well done Jer.  Well done. 

Opening his gifts.

The gift he was most excited about were his dragon wings.  We made a pair of butterfly wings for Emma for Christmas, and Daxton was really upset we had to give them away.  The rest of the night the kids played dragon and knight, and ran around the house like crazy trying to slay one another.

Now Daxton is one interesting kid.  He's a handful, a cute handful, but a handful nevertheless.  Here's a quick list of things that make Daxton, Daxton:

~He licks up the syrup off his plate with his fingers.  Once he's done he waves his hands in the air until I can come rescue him from his "sticky hands."

~He doesn't like shoes.  He'll go barefoot whenever possible.  This was a problem during the summer when he dropped a large rock on his toe which split it open.  It took awhile for his "big rock toe" to stop hurting.

~He walks around with his hand stuck down his pants.

~He purposely drops food into his water cup.

~He completely disassembles DVD cases.  In fact, he destroys them and most often the DVD in there too.  I have had to hide our entire collection of disks in my closet so he can't get to them.  He has a handful of disks downstairs, but we've basically switched to digital because of this guy.

~He tears books.  I think he just is curious about what will happen and ruins a lot of things this way.

~He steps on all of our game boxes which means the corners are torn and every game box we have is falling apart.

~He walks downstairs in the morning and immediately tosses off every throw pillow we have on the couch.  If I clean them up, he'll follow right along behind me and throw them off again.

~He often sleeps on the floor because it wasn't his idea to go to bed.

~He snacks non-stop.  He is a grazer and won't eat his meals, but insteads munches ALL DAY LONG.

~He opens his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and eats the peanut butter and jelly off of the bread.

~He loves slides, but not swings.  He's growing into those.

~He can't stand having a dirty shirt and I find him in various states of undress during the day.

~He calls Optimus Prime, "Optimus Crime," Darth Vader, "Darth Mader," and magnets, "maggots." 

~He is incredibly stubborn and his rule is, "his way or no way."  He is constantly calling out, "I do it!" 

~He is a smart kid, probably too smart for his own good, and already knows the entire alphabet and the sounds most of the letters make.

~He also has one of the cutest smiles I've ever seen, which gets him out of a lot of trouble.  And when he comes to climb in bed with me, he'll put his little hand on my cheek and suddenly I don't care that he drives me absolutely crazy most days.