Ski trip to Boyne

We spent our Presidents day weekend (and Valentine's too) skiing up at Boyne Highland & Mountain. We left on Saturday morning and got to Boyne Highlands just in time to go on a sleigh ride. It was very nice and peaceful in the snow covered forest.

We had a great dinner at the Mitchell St. Pub and then the next day we spent all day skiing at Boyne Highlands. Except for one time we snuck over to another chair, we spent the whole time at the beginner area. The kids are getting good at skiing, although it was rough at first for Zack. After lunch time we let Sydney use her poles, which really helped her more than we expected.

Sydney even had her first "yard sale". Here she is picking up all of her equipment that scattered around the mountain. Luckily she wasn't hurt at all and it didn't bother her much.

We had a major disappointment after skiing when we tried to buy tickets for tubing. Apparently they changed their policy so that only people 5 years and older can go tubing. Zack bawled when he found out we couldn't go. But no fear, we had plans to go tubing on Monday, when Zack mysteriously turned 5 years old. wink wink.

Sunday night dinner was spent at Papa Lou's, chowing on some super yummy pizza. On Monday we went skiing at Boyne Mountain. We were supposed to go skiing, then tubing, and then head back home, but we found out that tubing didn't even start until 4pm, so we ended up getting all mountain lift tickets instead of the just the free area. The kids did an excellent job skiing on the green runs, and Zack said he even wanted to go on the blue runs!

Sydney's skiing improved incredibly this season. She even was a "tour guide" for us and lead us down the mountain. She is working on her turns. A highlight for her was when she went over one of the jumps in the terrain park! It was a huge jump and she popped up in the air when she hit it. She landed on her butt, but she had no problem getting up. What excitement!!

Zack was also doing pretty good with his skiing - although he is using an edgie-wedgie which we think might be a "crutch" right now, but at least it keeps him happy and going down the hill with the rest of us! :)

Spider monkey boy

Sleep and kids, it's an odd combination in our house. We have one, but not the other. I mean, you know how people say those days of "sleeping in" are over when the baby comes? well for some of us those days never pass when the babies are long gone. My kids have to get up early during the week, so they are automatically hard wired to wake up extra early on the other days too. No matter what they did the night before or what time they went to bed. It's surely a shame for those of us who think 8:00 is "sleeping in". I mean, I'm not asking for much of a miracle, but I think a rest until 8:00am would be just heavenly!! But I digress, I'm really here to discuss the odd sleeping habits of our little one Zack.

He's never been much of a good sleeper. He was pretty good when he was a baby, sleeping through the night and all. But as toddlerhood came and went we noticed he was quite a restless sleeper. There was all of those nights he would get up numerous times for no reason, and then the tonsillectomy to help him stay asleep and breath better. But it appears he just has some natural tendency for movement! Case in point, our weekend ski trip. Sydney and Zack share a bed - queen size, big enough for both of them. But for some reason, Zack is magnetically repelled to beds and laying down "still". He has this odd ritual of squirming around and around in his bed before he falls asleep. Most nights none of us need to endure this craziness, but when they have to share a bed, I feel so sorry for Sydney. He's got his legs up, then his butt, then he's burrowing his head in his pillow, then flipping around in a circle again, and kicking all of his blankets down to this feet. This behavior goes on for at least 5 minutes if not longer - causing everyone to eventually be saying "Zack, lay still!!".

When it comes to my sleeping habits, I think they were passed down to Sydney because we are both the "Monica Geller (from Friends)" of sleeping. We smooth our our sheets and blankets until they are "just so" and then 5 seconds after lights out, we are fast asleep. Apparently Zack has inherited his sleeping habits from Alan. When he was a kid his sisters used to call him "spider legs" because he never settled down. No one liked sharing a bed with him. Poor Zack... in addition to his stunningly good looks, he's got this "curse" of movement too. But don't despair, all is not lost - at some point he will grow out of it perhaps like Alan did, be able to be still, and just want to sleep in all morning just like Dad!!

Father - Daughter Dance

Tonight was the Father-Daugher dance at school. Alan surprised Sydney by getting her a beautiful rose for their night out.

I was told there was over 400 people who RSVP'd for the dance! The girls had a lot of fun. Sydney reported the best part of the night was when they got to make ice cream sundaes. I'm sure the best part really was being the star of the night with Daddy :)

Here they are doing the limbo!

I'm not sure what they were doing here, but it looks like a lot of fun!

That Library book!

On Thursdays, Sydney has library day at school. She gets a new book when she turns her old one in. As we left for school yesterday morning, we were pulling out of the garage when I remembered it was library day. So I asked Sydney "do you have your library book?". Not surprising the answer was "NO!". Then she got concerned that she would not be able to take the test on the book (Accelerated Reader test). I told her I'd run in and get it, thinking that would be the quickest solution. So I ran to her room, dug through all of the books, couldn't find the darn thing. I went back out to the car and told Sydney. That caused her to get very excited and insist that she needed the book and knew she had taken it out of her room, to put into her backpack! Well, after suggesting that she go get it herself (hoping that she would change her mind...) I reluctantly went in the house with her to help her find it. After another search of her bedroom I realized that she had probably taken it with her, but left it somewhere on her way to her backpack that morning. Sure enough, there was the book in Zack's room.
We sprinted back to the car, and by this time we were quite late for the bus. In fact, but the time we got to the bus stop, the bus was there and kids were getting on. Luckily I alerted the "bus stop mom" Angel by honking the horn and they waited for Sydney, who came running in a mad rush. Whew, disaster averted!

...well, not so. When I got home that night, I found out that Sydney had indeed left that darn library book on the bus, because she had gotten distracted looking at the other kid's Valentine's mailboxes and didn't put the book in her backpack. ugggghhhhhhh

This has got me thinking about the organization (and lack there of) in our house, especially in the mornings. Some school mornings go good, others like this one fall apart in the last minutes out the door. We have a mud room, and I think it's time for some major organization to happen in it! Details to follow soon (I hope!!).

Tooth report

I took Sydney over to the Dentist on Monday to have her teeth checked out. The adult tooth is very big now behind her lower front baby tooth, and it's a toothfest in there! The dentist said to give it a few weeks, and try to wiggle the baby tooth ALOT. If it's still not out, he can pull the baby tooth out. Of course that means he'll have to numb the area (A SHOT!) so I'm hoping it won't come to that, but I sure don't want to cause her complications in the future, so we'll do what we need to do I guess. Let's just hope she gets a little more motivated to get that thing out of there!!

Sweet nothings

I took Zack over to his favorite library today because some books that he wanted were being saved for us. The book was "Big Book of Trains". He was so thrilled! He turned to me and said "You got me the Big Book of Trains??! You are the best! You and Daddy are the best parents and Sydney is the best kid". I believe he might be a future Oscar winner with that list of acknowledgements! It was so sweet to hear him say that though, I was impressed.

However, that infatuation was short lived as within 3 short hours he didn't want to go pick up his sister at school and told me that he wasn't going to talk to me anymore and he wasn't going to be my friend. Ah, it was good while it lasted.

Imagination Station

A trip to the Imagination Station is always a welcome break in the middle of a cold winter.  There was a special display today in which you could make your own movie with special effects like they used in the Matrix movie.  It was a sort of stop action film.  I only had a video of it, so I couldn't post it here, but it turned out really cool!

The tilted house is always a good time.  It's a challenge to stay standing!!

There was also a special TV set in which the kids got to be sports casters.  When we watched it on TV, they were standing in front of a football field, just like the people on TV. 

 Which ball will make it to the end first... you'd be surprised - it was the one on the hilly route!



Scrapbooking

For Christmas Sydney got a scrapbook kit from Santa. We have been having a lot of fun with it. She has made pages with pictures of her friends, Daddy (of course!), the family, our trip to Mexico, and other fun stuff that has happened over the last year. It is interesting to see her style - she likes "extraction" style. She cuts around all of the pictures so they will fit in her book. This will make a great keepsake for her. A great start to a lifetime of memory keeping just like her mom!

Pokagon toboggan run

Today the kids had the day off of school for Martin Luther King day, so we ventured over to Pokagon state park for some winter fun! We had been promising the kids that we would take them over to the tobaggan run for a couple of years now since we always check it out when we are camping there. I have only been on it once, and remember that was one heck of a fast ride!


Here are some people reaching the end of the run. Near the end of the run we reached 32, 34 and 35 miles an hour! wow, that was fast! I did hear someone saying that they hit 45 miles an hour (a sled with 4 guys on it). The kids had so much fun. As soon as the got to the bottom of the first run they were jumping up and down with excitement wanting to go again. They were pretty brave.

Good thing we got there early - we got the last "light" sled, which only weighed 35 pounds. The heavy sleds weighed 60 pounds! but heck, I wasn't carrying it so I didn't mind either way (haha, only joking Alan!!)

Our first run took us only 25 minutes round trip (waiting in line) but the ones after that were 40 minutes as it was very busy that day. Well worth the trip!!

First Tooth Gone!!

The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived!! It was back in November that I first learned about the permanent teeth that were starting to poke out behind Sydney's teeth when we went to the Dentist. We were told that after the baby tooth fell out, the permanent tooth would just make it's way into place. However, if that baby tooth didn't fall out on it's own, it would need to be pulled out. I tell you, I was quite certain that we would be sitting in that dentist chair for an extraction!! That baby tooth was not budging!! But sure enough, about a week ago Sydney was pulling open a water bottle cap with her teeth and the tooth started to move. She wiggled it, and wiggled it, but still not luck. So tonight she asked me to pull it out for her. Sure, why not! So we wiggled it, and I took a hold of it, and YANK! out it came! There sure was a lot of blood.

Here she is right after it was pulled out. Don't be alarmed at her chin - I mean, don't your kids always bump their faces into hot muffin pans right after they come out of the oven?? oh, no? Well, we're not sure why, but maybe Sydney was smelling the muffins a little too close, and then she found out what happens when you touch your skin to super hot metal. But I digress...



Here is a graphic photo of the former tooth location. See the red hole, that was the baby tooth. The bumpy tooth right behind is the permanent tooth moving in. Not much space left!! You might notice there is another adult tooth making it's way up in the back too... hopefully we'll have another wiggler soon.



We put the tooth in an envelope that said "I want to keep the tooth, ples". :) It is resting safely under her pillow tonight. Hope the tooth fairy has a good reward for that tooth that has been with her for 6 1/2 years!

Sledding at Brandywine

For our day 2 of weekend sledding we headed over to the local golf course (shhh, don't tell anyone). The hill here is faster than our hill at the park, and also a bit bumpier. We even bought a new sled last night. We thought all of us might fit in it, but it was more like 1 adult and 2 kids.





The hill doesn't look very covered, but it was good enough to get us going.



Following this shot, Alan wiped out!

A spinning fast ride is the kid's favorite.

First sledding day of the 2009/2010 winter season!

Yeah! We got enough snow to go sledding finally! We hit the slopes (a small sledding hill at Sidecut Metro park...) in the morning.


It was a beautiful sunny day.


We still had our bale of stray from our fall decorations in our front yard, so we took it over to the hill and put it in front of a tree as a crash protector. Fortunately for me it also worked as a nice place to take pictures!

Slumber party night

Sydney has been asking (well, begging is more of the word) for a slumber party night with Daddy. Basically this means getting rid of Zack and Mommy and spending the whole night with Daddy. Since our winter break is almost over, we decided last night would be a good night for that. So Sydney and Daddy got to camp out in front of the TV downstairs, watch a movie, eat popcorn and spend the night on the pull out bed. Also, Zack got to do the same, but spend the night in our big bed. This idea worked out quite well, except for Zack and I trying to watch "Chicken Little" which has way too much scary stuff such as aliens trying to vaporize everyone (so we didn't finish it!). Both kids loved the "one-on-one" time together and it kept them out of each other's hair for a while. They have been fighting a lot lately and it was definately time for a break!

Ski day 2

For our next day of skiing, the kids really got the hang of it and wanted to ski on their own. That was a relief as my legs were getting a bit sore from snowplowing down the hill with Zack between my legs!
We went to Boyne Mountain and spent the day on the *free* beginner area. It is a really nice area and perfect for the kids. The kids were basically only interested in "racing" us down the hill. They were pretty quick!

Sydney was a bit too competative and kept the race going until the very end of the hill, this close to the gate and line.... (yikes!)


Don't we look like we should be up in the Swiss Alps somewhere?? :)


A good time was had by all, and we skied until around 2pm and then headed back home.


Alan and mini-Alan.

A day on the slopes

wow, what a day of skiing we had. It started out pretty good - when we dropped the kids off at ski school and got to enjoy 90 minutes of skiing along I mean! haha but seriously, the kids did enjoy their ski instructions at Nubs Nob and we were told that that they did good. Sydney definately can ski better than Zack, but Zack is doing well too. Unfortunately Zack gets so angry when he is frustrated and skiing can definately be frustrating for beginners. We had a lot of fun, but a bit of tears from both kids too :(

Here is Alan getting in trouble - he had been skiing backwards and didn't know he had snow making equipment behind him. doh!!

We enjoyed our lunch of PB&J's and HoHo's and Nutty Bars after ski school and then we were ready to take the kids off the beginner hill and on the green runs. We were surprised to find out that the green runs that we thought were so simple were actually a bit too fast for the kids in places. So after a couple of hours of skiing on blue runs we ended our day with a cup of hot chocolate in the lodge.

The hot chocolate was very hot (as usual) and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw Zack spill a whole cup of steaming hot drink all over the front of himself! He screamed and I started trying to get his cocoa soaked clothes off of him. Thank god for layers of clothes - it only soaked through his snow pants and didn't actually touch his skin. From now on that will be known as the "hot chocolate incident" :)

For dinner we went to Papa Lou's, a rustic little bar in downtown Petosky.

They had the best pizza!

Petoskey

We headed up north this morning for our annual post-Christmas ski trip. The car ride was pretty nice - not snowing too much, and oh so quiet because we got a DVD player for the car. Money well spent for sure! When we got up to Indian River we stopped by to see our friend Gina. Then it was off to the hotel. A nice place, very close to the slopes (Comfort Inn).

We decided that it would be a good night to go tubing, so we headed over to Boyne Highlands. The tubing hill is so cool! I had forgotten how fast those tubes get flying down the hill. Zack had to ride down with us since he was under 5. He'll be so happy when he can go by himself next year... although I wonder if he'll be ready. It was a scary ride! Within an hour I was getting chilled to the bone, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we left

Dinner was at LaSenorita's, right down the road from our hotel. Yummy Mexican food! And our day ended, with two exhausted kids (and 2 tired parents).