Christmas (2014)

We tried something different this past Christmas.
Instead of our normal "at home" Christmas Eve and Day, we rented a home near Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and spent our days skiing.
Renee was without her boys this year, so we asked her to join us.

We did keep things festive around our house prior to our trip during the month of December.
Jenelle, in particular, had a hard time getting used to the idea of not being home for Christmas morning, but having the tree up in the house and doing some usual Christmastime baking helped her know that the holidays would still be the same...just in a different place.

We arrived in Sunriver, Oregon and checked ourselves into our nice home away from home.
It was a beautiful home.
We had plenty of room and a hot tub!!

Christmas Eve skiing was pretty cold and foggy.
We did happen to see Santa getting in a few runs before his big night though.

Michelle and Ivan

 Santa!

On Christmas morning we took it a bit slower and exchanged some gifts.
Santa managed to find the kids all the way in Oregon and left them a stocking!

Christmas Day was nicer than Christmas Eve.
It started out foggy, but cleared up in the afternoon!
We were finally able to see how gorgeous Mt. Bachelor really is!

Skiing on Boxing Day was even more amazing!
It was a blue bird ski day!

This trip turned out to be such a good idea!
Great memories were made!

And when we returned home, exhausted but fulfilled, we found that Santa had been at our house as well!

It was a very Merry Christmas!

Spring Break Skiing

To kick off spring break, I took Ivan and Jenelle skiing.

Hannah was off in San Francisco and Donald was at work, so the three of us headed to the mountains!

This was the first time I'd ever taken the kids skiing without Donald.

My only concern was how Jenelle would do. 

She'd never skied with poles before and was used to having Donald help her along some flat or uphill areas and assist her in getting up when she fell.

Well...she did so great!

She was very independent and able to handle herself in every situation!

And Ivan even did a black run by himself!

We had sun off and on all day, but when we first arrived, the clouds hadn't completely socked in Mt. Rainier and we could just see the very top of it before it was covered completely.

I was expecting it to be pretty busy since it was spring break but we lucked out and there were very few people there!

No lines at the lifts!

After skiing down the front of the mountain for a while, we went to the newer Basin area.

It is so gorgeous there...like being on top of the world!

We skied until they closed the lifts and it was just in time because my knees were about to give out and we were all tired!

So much fun!

It was a great day!

Skiing in the Spring??

Well, it didn't feel or look like spring AT ALL...but technically, I guess it was.

We rented a condo for two nights during spring break and skied our hearts out for two days straight!
There is nothing as rewarding after a day of skiing as swimming in a hot pool, eating a warm meal and sitting down with a glass of wine.

Well deserved!

I only took my ipod on the slopes for photos this year, so the pictures aren't as crisp as I would like...but they captured our days nonetheless.

We are all ready to go back again!!

We headed up to the top early...you can see the runs are still nicely groomed!  We were anxious to try out the new part of White Pass that opened last year.

Sadly, barely any sun for us this time.  Luckily, the temps were in the 30's, so we didn't freeze too much.

 Me and Hannah and our snowy skis!!

She looks so grown up!!

The new runs are up at the very top of the mountain and so when we weren't completely enclosed in clouds, we could see sooo much!

I just love Jenelle's ski style.  

She still uses the "pizza/french fry" method and very confidently makes her way down any slope...even having time for giving me a thumbs up!

 Gorgeous view and a bit of blue sky peeking through!

Me and SnowBunny Nell!

When we came in 2009, Ivan and Uncle Daniel took a wrong turn and ended up on a black diamond.  This was not a problem for Uncle Daniel, but it was certainly new for Ivan.
He had a yard sale on the way down (all skis flying off), but after a few tears and minutes to relax, he was pretty proud that he "skied" a black diamond.
This year he did it on purpose.
He and Donald took a trail down called Waterfall.
Trust me when I say that from the bottom it looks like no problem, but it's quite a different story from the top.
Ivan made it down, with Donald's instruction, safely both times and we were very proud of him.

Jenelle said it's her turn next year.

Hannah and I will watch happily from the bottom!  :)

When we plan our ski trips, I always get a bit anxious.

There's so much gear, so much responsibility, so much to handle.

But once we get into the mountains - once we get on the lifts and head up to the top - I am so happy.

I am so grateful that this amazing place is only 45 minutes from my home and I love the time spent with my family!!

White Pass Winter Carnival

Every year our local ski resort has a winter carnival.

Not sure why we haven't gone before, but with not much going on locally, and a great need to get out of the house, I decided to take the kids this year.
The roads were bare and dry and we headed out after 3pm so as to get there when the day skiers were heading home.
Without Donald along, I chose not to bring skis, but once we got there of course, we wished we had them for some night skiing.

Even without skis we had a fun time.
They build an amazing snow castle each year that kids can walk through, climb on and slide down.
They did all of that.

They had cool (and odd) snow sculptures to see too.

It was a good evening.
It ended with fireworks but my hands were way too cold outside of my gloves to keep taking pictures, so you'll have to imagine it.

Once the fireworks were over, we made a mad dash to the car in order to stay ahead of the crowd...had an uneventful (safe!) drive home in the dark...and started making plans to return...with skis!!