Snow Trip, Day 1

 

We had our annual trip to the snow last week, and it was awesome. We went up on Monday and came home Wednesday. The boys probably could have stayed longer, but it was just long enough for me. Chloe did a fabulous job. She tolerated the cold and slept great. She didn't even cry in the car, which was a huge improvement over our recent trip to L.A. when she screamed an hour and a half each way.

 

I think this was the first year we had all our own snow gear, although we did borrow a couple of sleds. Every year we just get one or two things, often second-hand.

This was Levi's first real snow trip, since he refused to get out of the car last year. We didn't know how he'd do - he'd either love it or hate it. Turns out he LOVED it! He was super tough and didn't cry, or at least no more than usual. He loved sledding and throwing snowballs and climbing huge mountains of snow. 

 

My boys love it there so much, and they don't understand WHY we would choose to live in a place that never snows. I think visiting snow 2 1/2 hours away is just perfect. At the end of the second day, Brennan said, "I don't think I would want to live where it snows. Every time we go outside we have to put on all this stuff."

We stayed at Shaver Lake Village Hotel, which has an awesome sledding hill right behind the cabins. Their last snow storm had been three days earlier, and there were some bare spots. But there was still plenty of snow to play in. It's always a little scary to plan these trips weeks in advance, not knowing if there will be snow when we get there. 

Dave wore his GoPro sledding and skiing, which helped us relive all the fun at the end of the day. We'd hook it up to the T.V. and all watch it. At some point I'll download it and get some still shots from it, if I can remember how I did it last time.

 

After the sledding came the snowball fight. One of my snow memories when I was little was having a big snowball fight with my dad and siblings. I think I cried. I stay out of it these days - the kids know not to hit mom. After all, I've got a camera.

Luckily no one cried. My boys are tough.

Then they made snowmen. You might recognize this set-up from Calvin and Hobbes: