January Happenings

 

January hasn't been too exciting here.  This is the time of year that we are so busy with organized skiing activities that it doesn't leave much room for other adventures.  It does feel weird to be this busy again, but it also great to feel a bit of normalcy even though everyone is masked and distanced.  We are thankful this year that we are involved in so many outdoor activities!  All 4 kids are part of a nordic ski program with James and Noah starting the racing portion of their season. Both kids are enjoying racing with two races under their belts!  This year looks a lot different with many fewer teams and participants in the races, but it's still fun (and cold!). 

With more remote learning at the public school last week we were able to have another lego challenge. This time the kids had to make a scene from their favorite book, myth, movie, or fairytale and give it a Home Alone twist by developing at least 2 booby traps for the villain of the story.  Audrey chose "Home Alone", James chose 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', Ben chose "Cinderella', and Noah chose "Last Kids on Earth".  

Moving on into 2021!

We are trying to start off this new year on a high note. There still is virtually no snow, but that makes us actually able to continue to hike with relative ease.  There is ice, but without snow that makes it more challenging to climb any real elevation. So, for our January hike we chose an old standby in hiking to Poplar falls. It was a quite warm day, especially for the start of January so it made for an easy 4 miles.  We had hot chocolate when we made it to the falls, which seems to be an effective carrot to get the kids more willing to get outside.  We have hiked this path many times and rarely do we see more than 1 or 2 other groups.  Today we were glad to have gotten an early start because there was a steady stream of people hiking in when we were on our way out.  We finished the day at home with more games... a great start to 2021!

The New Year Transition 2020-2021

 

We are ending the year on a high note! Christmas added some new stuffed members of our family- Tim (son of Louie and Chocolate) and another Chewbacca... luckily this one is interactive and makes noises... We got to spend a lovely afternoon seeing our friends actually in person (masked and sitting apart, but still in the same area at least).  The kids really enjoyed getting to play outside and discuss current events and military history with people other than us.  

I celebrated a birthday a few days after the fact, but special none the less.  We spent New Years Eve trying to get out and do something despite the poor conditions for any outside activity.  Titcomb has done an amazing job so far this season trying to make snow and keep at least some of the mountain running.  Riding the tbar was a bit rough with minimal snow, and there was only really one trail open, but we got out, skied, and had a Titcomb lunch so everyone was pretty happy:)  

We have spent most of this week really enjoying our time together. We got lots of new games for Christmas and most of our days are currently being spent baking things we have seen on the Great British Baking show, putting together lego sets, and playing games. I have posted here our Thanksgiving tree for this year which seems to now be a part of our decor for November and December. There are certainly a fair number of things we would like to leave behind at the end of this year, but we do have a lot to be thankful for during this crazy time!

Christmas 2020

 

Where to start with this Christmas? We have some snow, enough to play in. Since it has been so warm the snow has been awesome for building.  James, Audrey, and I have been working hard on building an igloo around the play structure, James constructed this really cool cat/fox on the fence, and Audrey constructed a really cool snowman scene on Christmas Eve.  

It is clear from our Christmas Eve family picture in front of the tree that we are wearing a lot of pajamas these days and we watched the Christmas Eve church service from our couch;)  We still made soup (much to the kids' dismay) and opened a Christmas Eve gift.  In an effort to reduce "stuff" the kids have been doing a secret santa gift exchange with each other for a few years and they get to open their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve.  This year they also got Gabe a gift... he was super excited for this santa onesie that keeps him nice and warm (hot!).  

Christmas morning felt fairly normal except for the extreme disappointment of green grass... virtually all of the snow was gone, it was pouring, and the wind was blowing like crazy.  The upside was that we never lost power, although it wouldn't have been the first Christmas morning cooking on the camp stove. 

We opened gifts, Nannie came for a surprise Christmas visit, and we played outside in all of the puddles once the rain stopped.  We finished the day with an easy meal!  Like most things in 2020, it was memorable and eventful with a smidge of normalcy:)