Lisa Snowboards '11

One of many things on my bucket list I did this past Thursday!  I took a day off and with my friend went snowboarding!!  I took a lesson with 3 other ... kids (age 7, 10 and 12).  Personally I think I did the best and was definitely the best listener!!  After an hour plus of walking up, "sliding" down, taking the board off and walking back up again the lesson ended.  All the kids went back to their respected parents and the instructor stuck with me and gave me a private "how to use the chair lift" lesson for the next 35-45 minutes.  This got me off the bunny hills at least.   

Finally, took a break and found my friend.  After we rested (and I took more Advil) we went back out.  In the entire day I got off the chair lift twice on my own without falling and made it all the way down the mountain without falling once.  A couple nice face plants made me realize the importance of taking the next lesson so I can learn how to use the toe edge of my board for something other than an emergency break.  I also never knew you could have the wind knocked out of you falling on your front ... until today.  And, as luck would have it, I ran into the instructor a couple more times and he would stay with us and give me more pointers for a couple more runs.  My one hour group lesson turned into an hour group lesson and another hour of private lessons by the time the day ended.

All in all an AWESOME day!!!  I can NOT wait to go again!  Look out Sean White.  I may not have my own private half pipe but I do have the drive!!

As cool as I look here, I am not moving ....

Using the heel edge to control speed and slow down.  When you see a snowboarder doing this it's like they are snow plowing ....

This was the position I held most throughout the day ....

I am in fact, moving in this photo

Moving here too ... good thing I had the camera set for "action" shots or this would be all blurry with the speed I was passing her by at.

Local Scenery '11

Sometimes I take the back roads home.  No matter the time of year, I am always impressed with God's country.  I have always wanted to stop and take a photo.  This time, I did.  This particular area is amazing no matter what the time of year is.  If I bring myself to doing it, I'll take more throughout the year so you can see what I am talking about.  In the meantime, here is winter ....

SNOW DAY '11

Our first real snow day. It takes a lot to close school down in WI. And we got a lot. Well, mostly we got a lot of crazy winds. But since it was snowing AND windy you just could not leave the house. Visibility was like 7 feet.

The kids were pretty excited at even the possibility of a snow day.  They have several rituals that will ensure a snow day.  Non of which I had heard of.  Here are some examples.  Place a spoon under your pillow, toothbrush under your bed and wear your PJ's inside out and backwards.  Place two ice cubes in the toilet and if they are gone in the AM you will have a snow day.  Eat something with ketchup the night before.

As luck would have it, the schools announced closure around 8p so we did not have to get up at 6a to find out we could go back to sleep!  I have no idea how much actual accumulation we got but the drifts are crazy.  I was going to take the day off tomorrow and spend the day learning how to snow board.  But, it's only supposed to be like 5 degrees and lots more wind.  No thanks!



outside the front door



front yard



front yard




side yard

 


side yard

 


Chris and Jack saying SNOW DAY!

 


front of house



side walk

 

snow drifts by side walk



front of house



kids hiding in snow drift

 


back yard

 


back yard



patio





Acacia eyeing up the bar




so she can jump off it ... there is a video of her jumping off at the end of this post

 

back yard



Acacia stuck in the plowed snow off the driveway



outside the front door



outside the front door



outside my bedroom window





Acacia's 10 '11

What can I say? Double digits! Time to party. A swimming pool party was selected this year and of course the request for a swimming pool cake. Since there was no swimming pool cake in the book of cakes that mom gave me 10 years ago I had to turn to the expert. Julianne surfed the web and came up with what appeared to be relatively easy (seeing how I do not have any actual cake decorating tools as she does). Acacia approved of the cake and off we went to purchase teddy grahams and peanut butter M&M's.

OK - so as you can see, there was a swimming pool cake.  Looks easy enough, right?  Well, little story here.  When cakes bake they kind of bake with a dome affect.  So, if you take the cake out of the pan and place it upside down on a plate the center of the cake hits the plate first as it is the highest point of the dome.  The outer edges are kind of suspended in mid air.  So, when you place two round cakes on top of each other they touch in the center but there is a large gap all the way around the outside of the cake.  So, when I cut out the little center part of the top cake to make room for the pool (filled with jello) the top cake then had nothing to hold it in place and it completely fell off the cake.  This did not happen all at once mind you.  The cake was completely decorated and ready to be filled with jello.  I left it like that over night and found it apart the next AM.  This was a terrible set back and I had no idea how to correct for this.  Back to the expert ...  "Well, didn't you level the cakes?"  Non expert ... "Um - level??"

Back to the store for more of everything.  So, instead of having Friday evening to relax I had to bake, cool and decorate this cake.  I was a little stressed (OK - pissed).  But, in the end it came out lovely!  :)

Fun in the pool.

This pool had a slide!!

The gangs all here ... notice dad trying to fling himself into the photo?

Admiring the cake.

Lighting the "10" candle.

Happy Birthday to you .....

Rachel and Mya



Brooke and Katelyn



Ani



Katelyn



Brooke

Lauren

Paige

Kristin

Ani

Mya



Rachel



Kara

Adia

Kelsey

Caitlin

Carson



Here is everyone having cake!  mmmmmmm!



Off to open presents.



Group shot (minus Mya who slipped into the locker room unnoticed by us).  :(



Every body be silly ...