Snow Days!

With extra hands on deck we couldn't resist a sledding trip!  The kiddos got a chance to test out their new hats from Teta Sharon and Catherine's new jacket from Mas and Pas!  Catherine's still struggling with the whole hating mittens vs. hating cold hands dilemma, but she had fun for a bit:

 Especially sledding with Papa:

And even just watching with her new word "Whoa":

And hanging out with Uncle Matt:

Matthew also had fun sledding with Uncle Matt:

 And Papa:

But mostly he enjoyed attacking and being attacked by Uncle Matt:

And then after Catherine got tired of her internal mitten dilemma and retreated to the van, it was time for someone to find the snowballs:

 The next day, Uncle Matt, Dad and I headed down to Big Sky to play in the snow.  Dad had the clear advantage as he skis about 7 or 8 days a year, and Matt and I have only made it out to ski probably once in the last 7 or 8 years.

 We stopped at the top so I could snap a picture with Lone Peak in the background as it made a brief morning appearance.  However, some overexposure and giant heads prevented this:

 Here's a glimpse of it Dad got from the lift.  On the next run we schemed our attack.  The terrain on all sides is black, but we could see one of the sides that might be plausible considering my current skills:

 Sometime between the scheming and making it up to get on the tram, the wind kicked up, the visibility dropped and it got bitter cold at the bottom of the tram.  I knew I'd be in over my head so I chickened out and took on some of the lower terrain.  It was apparently a good choice as dad described it something like skiing blindly over rocks.   I skiied over to the otherside and took a picture of the cloud dad was skiing in:

Which though it wasn't as extreme as being up at 11,150 feet, I enjoyed skiing the same path we had hiked the past two years.  Everything looks a little different in the summer:

Kudos to Dad for making it to the top and now I have a new goal for my next visit, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.  I think we're going to focus on cross country skiing for the next few seasons while the kids are little but I can't wait to get back to downhill.  Logistically and financially we probably won't get a lot of downhill skiing in until the kiddos are on the slopes on their own . . . or the grandparents start taking really long winter visits :-)

Snow, snow and video

We had our first big snowfall last week.  Just under a foot of fluffy stuff the first day and a few inches afterward and some bitter cold.  We spent the weekend cuddled by the fire, working on things around the house, venturing out only for swimming, sledding and snow cream!  

 The kiddos approved!

Catherine found it to be bowl licking good!

On Sunday the sun came out and it was prime weather for sledding.  Last year Matthew wasn't too keen on it, and this year he wasn't either at first.  Catherine was ready to go:

 Poor girl has all of her brother's blue hand-me-down snow gear but sure does rock some pink sunglasses!

 Matthew decided he'd rather play on the playground equipment:

Until he saw a cool older kid he wanted to emulate.  Thankfully it wasn't the high school/college kids who had cobbled together a jump with a long bungee, picnic table, sheet of plywood and cooler/dorm fridge but instead the, oh, probably 3 and 3/4 year old tearing it up down the hill.  Matthew then decided he needed to go all by himself with a big push:

 And one final run while big brother took little sister down the hill:

And because I often forget to upload and manage our videos here's a random collection of the kiddos being goobers, like the kids "helping" me sort and clean out our dressers/closets:

Oh so helpful:

As if just watching Matthew wander around in his costume wasn't funny enough, here he is engaging in a sword fight with his fun party favor:

And Catherine attacking Uncle Matt, both in costume:

and out: