Movie Night

Movie night is so much fun now since we have that cool new popcorn maker!  The popcorn is DELICIOUS!!  so yummy.....

Skiing at Boyne Mountain

After a slow start, we made to Boyne Mountain.  With it being a holiday week, it was busy at the rentals and they were running out of equipment.  We were sweating it!  Thankfully, they had what we needed for Sydney.  The lines weren't too bad and unlike yesterday the sun was out making it feel a bit warmer.

We got stuck in a few places and had the make the kids go down blue (Intermediate) runs.  They did pretty good - a bit slow which was expected, but hardly any complaining :)  They will be great skiers in no time.

Since the roads were so good, we decided to stay until 4:00 for our full day of skiing.  A great trip!!

Ski day at Nubs Nob

Day 2 of our after-Christmas ski trip. It's so nice to have the week off of work as the new year is beginning, not worrying too much about the house being cluttered with opened presents, and wrapping paper (still) and of course the decorations that we love so much, but end up wearing out their welcome after a month :) I'm always sad to see the decorations go, but there is something to be said about that feeling of great organization when they get packed away and a cleaning frenzy begins!

We decided to get full lifts for the kids instead of just sticking to the free beginner area.  That worked out good.  The kids also got to partake in our "bad junk food" menu for lunch - Little Debbies!!

When we were skiing at Nubs Nob today, these highlights occurred:

* Zachary no longer needs his edgie-wedgies!! yahoo!

* The kids skied their first blue runs - well, by mistake, but still, they did it!

* Alan ran into a kid while he was skiing backwards!
* Sydney's boot buckle broke off her boots and we needed to rent skis & boots for her :(

* Zachary ran into a tree! Luckily it was only his leg that hit it, but he still got his ski knocked off and he fell down :)

* I jumped off a chair lift while trying not to "land" on Zachary getting off the lift!

Finish it off with a late dinner at Lou's Pizza, meeting up with Dawn and her cousin, and it was a big day indeed! That must be why Alan fell asleep at 9:30 :)

Day 1 of Boyne Ski trip

We hit the road in the morning (made it out at 9:15, yahoo!) and was thrilled to find that the roads were clear and it was an easy 5 hour drive up north.  Even more enjoyable was that the kids were occupied with their new DS's so we didn't hear any complaining or fighting the whole trip!!  That was the best! :)

We went tubing over at Boyne Highlands.  It was a lot of fun.  This year they did not have a "fast" and "slow" side, but just one run.  Still, it was good and we were there for an hour before dinner.

Dinner was at the Mitchell St. Pub.  Good food, and hot nachos!  Who would have guessed that "spicy" on the menu description really meant spicy!!  (not me I guess.  haha!)

Artwork

Here are some random pieces of artwork that have been decorating our house for the holidays...

Checking out the Christmas loot!

We had a day full of checking out the new toys.  Sure, it still looks like our house exploded with all of the toys and boxes all over the place, but there's nothing like a few lazy days after Christmas :)

Christmas at the Bachli's

Time again for opening presents!  We had a delicious dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's house with the whole family.  Then we opened gifts. 

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was a blur! Zachary climbed in our bed at 5:50 am. Santa hadn't visited us yet, because the Christmas tree lights weren't turned on yet. So he squirmed around, waiting for the tree lights to signal the toys had arrived, and for his sister to wake up. Around 6:20 we noticed the lights were on - and he jumped out of bed telling us that he was going to wake up Sydney! Luckily we stopped him and we got a couple more minutes of laying in bed :) Soon enough Sydney came running into our bedroom and the craziness began!

It was flying wrapping paper everywhere - gift after gift!!

They were very excited for their gifts from Santa - Sydney got a Password Journal, MP3 player, and the Blackout Bingo game. Zachary got an MP3 player, Hot Wheels cars, Pokemon cards and a baby penguin. The kids also got a bunch of gift from us, including (Zachary) OSU blanket, sleeping bag, car calendar, Bakugan balls and from Sydney he got a night sky projection kit, and a race car kit. Sydney got the Apples to Apples game, a sleeping bag, snowmen earrings and from Zachary she got a spiral art toy and pretty ornament he made at school. Both kids also got us presents such as wonderful Christmas pictures and decorations. With some help from Grandma and Grandpa Willford, both kids got DSi's. The DSi's were definately a hit, but they did love everything they got.

Reindeer food

The kindergartens were all sent home with bags of "Reindeer food" for Christmas Eve.  As it got later in the night, and we started tracking Santa's travels on NORAD, it was time to put the food out to welcome the sleigh to our house. 
This is what our Reindeer food said:
Sprinkle on the lawn at night

The moon will make it sparkle bright
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam
This will guide them to your home

We found the perfect spot for it out in the backyard and sprinkled it around.  I think it's going to work!!

Christmas Eve Fun - a skiing refresher course

The kids needed a refresher course before hitting the slopes of Boyne soon, so Alan took them over to the new sledding hill.  It went pretty well - the top of the hill was too steep for the first run, but by gradually working their way up to the top they were able to conquer in no time.

After skiing it was time for sledding.  Sometime during this fun Zachary had requested to be spun as he went down on the circle sled.  Alan was glad to oblige and said that he would spin him so fast that "his eyes would bleed!".  Apparently that was an omen as Zachary did crash and come home with a bit of a bruise/scratch from this morning!  (photographic evidence to be seen in just a few days....)

Warming up by the fire.  Ahhhh.  The best part of the trip was when they stopped over to my office and miraculously I was allowed to go home from work after their visit.  Good thing my boss has a soft spot for families!!

Can we PLEEEEEEASE open a present??

First the kids kept asking why there weren't any presents under the Christmas tree.  Given that Santa doesn't bring all of the gifts at our house, there were getting downright anxious and curious where the gifts were.  So I put a few under there.  THEN, they begged to open just one present.   Alan had the perfect idea....  so we gave them each a small present to unwrap....

They were quite surprised to find the gift contained their own underpants and socks!!  haha  Hope they remember it next time they want to open a present!!