Sidecut Metropark

Today was the celebration of the new ice skating rink at Sidecut park and also to show off the portable lighting for the area.  Luckily, it was one of the only snowy days we've had this season!!  There was enough snow for sledding, but the ice rink was definately not even near frozen.

It was pretty cool because they had s'mores for everyone.  Make your own, at one of the really big fire pits.

I think this is my new favorite photo place!  Look at this awesome tree, so many options!

 Here I am modeling my new ski jacket.  Snazzy eh?

 A handsome, rugged, young man!

The kids thought the s'mores and hot chocolate were delicious!

This is how crowded the sledding hill was.  It was fun, but I have never seen so many people here!  It's too bad they had to advertise this event because I liked the sledding hill to be our little secret :)

 Part of the event was ice sculpting.  Very pretty.

 

After sledding my little man was just too tired (aka, lazy) to walk to the truck.   Luckily Sydney pitched in and gave her bro a ride.

So sad

Quote from the backseat on our way to the hotel... "I'm so bored here without any electronics!!". (from Zachary)

Happy New Year!!!

We decided that this was the year the kids could stay up until midnight to help us ring in the New Year.  First on our agenda was to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  We had just finished the book a few days ago and we were all very excited to see the movie.  Initially Sydney had no interest in it (too scary!) but after reading the book she was quite intrigued also.  The movie was good - I had seen it years ago but had forgotten pretty much everything in it.  The book definately explained a lot more, but the movie was good.

Then we played a new Wii game that Sydney had gotten for Christmas.  Appropriately it was called Wii Party Games.  It was pretty funny.  We all had a good laugh out of it, and soon it was time to turn on the Rocking New Years Eve show on TV.  I'm not sure what the kids thought about the ball once they actually saw it.  They had many questions about it during the last few days.  It is really quite an odd event when you think about it :)

A few minutes to midnight we busted out the bubbly and had snacks.  The kids had the sparkling grape juice and Alan and I had rose champagne.

 Hang in there Zachary, you can stay awake!!

 Cheers!!  Here's to a healthy and happy new year for everyone!

 No party would be complete without some explosives (huh?) so we shot off a couple of party poppers.  It did make a bit of a mess, but who cares!

 After the toast and the new year kisses, we headed outside to launch a Chinese lantern for each of us.  We all picked out a different color and lit them up.

 It took a little while to get them burning and floating in the air, but finally they did fly.  One of them had a bit of trouble making it past our house and bumped into our roof.  I thought we had just started the fire that would burn down our house!  No worries though, it just kept on flying.

 They did go up pretty high into the air, and eventually they turned into just a speck of light in the distance.  I wondered if any of the neighbors saw them, and thought they were UFOs!  Or worse yet, if they had started to decend, still on fire, and landed on a neighbor's house!! 

 This is a bad picture, but the lantern is the small light to the right of the street lamp.

It was a fun New Years Eve, and we all had a good time.  The kids didn't get to bed until 12:59 - which might explain why they are both so tired today and are starting to catch a cold.  Ooops.  :)

Skiing at Boyne

Once again we got on the first chairlift at an impressive 10am, which was super shocking considering we had to drive farther and check out of our room. Today's forecast was for a high of 32 but it certainly didn't feel like it! There was quite a bit of the mountain that wasn't open yet. Zachary really wanted to go to one of the large terrain parks and also see the half pipe. Unfortunately both of those had not been shaped yet because of the lack of snow and we ended up being on a part of the mountain we really had no right being on! The only way down was via a black diamond run and that certainly wasn't any fun. The kids were crying the whole way down because they were frustrated (rightfully so). I didn't think they were ever going to get down!! But eventually we did get to the bottom and we took a well desired break to enjoy some hot chocolate.
The rest of the day got better as we stayed on the green and blue runs. We stayed until 4pm! We had a good ride home since the roads were dry an clear.
Now our next big event will be our Harry Potter night happening on New Years Eve. We finished reading the first Harry Potter book on the car ride home, so we will be watching the movie that night. It will also be the first time the kids are staying up with us to ring in the new year. We have seen that they certainly have the ability to
do so (as evidenced by their sleepovers) so it should be a fun evening!!

Ski day at Nubs Nob

After a hearty breakfast (yummy spiced waffles!!) we headed over to Nubs Nob. Kudos to my family for getting on the first chairlift at 10am and even getting a front row parking spot!! The snow on the slopes was nothing too exciting, but given that there was NO snow outside of the mountain, it was actually an impressive detail. The kids did a great job of remembering how to ski again. Our biggest challenge of the day was the cold temperatures. It was only 18 degrees when we finished skiing. Luckily I think I was the only complainer about it - I was happily surprised that the kids hardly said anything about it.
For dinner we went to the Mitchell Street Pub which had a long line. The wait time seemed longer, but it was really only a half hour. Hooray for iPhones to keep us entertained.

Ski trip up North

With Christmas over, and the scraps of the last wrapping paper shreds picked up, it was now time to turn our thoughts to the other awesome event in December... the annual ski trip!
We headed up North despite there being hardly any snow on the ground. When we got there, we were bummed to learn that the Tubing area wasn't even open yet. We stayed in our favorite hotel in Petoskey. The one with the beautifully decorated lobby, super comfy beds, and those yummy waffles in the morning.

Halloween fun!

Look out, it's that time again!!  Halloween!!

 This year Sydney wanted to be "something scary" so she picked spider witch.  Luckily it was the costume I bought on clearance last Halloween.  bonus!  Zachary was a Ninja.  For some reason he didn't want to wear his hood other than for a few pictures.  Odd, because when he has his hoodie on, the hood is usually up!  go figure.  Anyhow, here they are ready for some candy.

The night was just a blur - I didn't even get any pictures of Alan and I with the kids!  Luckily Grandma & Grandpa Bachli came over to pass out candy so I got to run around with Alan and the kids.  I need to be better organized next year and come up with a costume for myself.

We ran into one of Sydney's BFF's (Rebecca) and spent the night running around with her.

After 2 hours of running around, we were all tired and we retreated back home to the warmth and to count out the loads of candy the kids received.  It was so much the kids could make life size models of themselves!

Good thing our neighbors give out lots of Reeses PB cups... they are my favorites!! :)

Apple picking at MacQueens!

With the weather feeling so much like fall (and really it is fall around here now) we decided to head over to the apple orchard to pick some apples.  We had intended to get to the orchard before their festival (an apple butter festival I think) happened, but even now the orchard was a mad house of people with the same idea.  Imagine that!

The kids couldn't wait to shimmy up the trees and pick some apples.  They were big helpers this year.

 Of course I made the family pose for pictures.  The apple orchard is just perfect for pictures!

Yep, I see some family xmas cards...  :) 

 Hamming it up!

This is the best part of owning a truck... climbing on it to pick the big apples that no one else could reach! 

Travel back in time...

Imagine if you will, being back in 1850 traveling on a canal boat in Ohio.... We visited the canal boat today in Grand Rapids. We have seen the Volunteer many times running on the towpath trail (well, Alan has seen it many more times than I have!).

The tour was a 45 minute ride in which people in period costumes explained what life was like back in 1850. Imagine ripping down the canal at a whopping 4 miles an hour to Cincinnati (in a mere 6 days!). It was quite interesting and the fall weather was beautiful. When we got to the locks (the only operational historic lock in Ohio), we had to be pulled by the boat employees.

We also learned what a Mule was (not a donkey!) The mules pulled us along the canal.

Imagine me forgetting to grab our hoodies for the ride though! Good thing I had a blanket in my car to keep us warm. Well, it was warm at our house when we left, who would have thought it was going to be so cool. Looks like Zack was not so thrilled that I forgot his coat. oops!

After our boat ride we took a tour of the mill.