Up North and Outside

We headed up north last Saturday on our first official day of Christmas break. The girls had school through the 22nd and Mike worked on that Friday too. Dec and I had the day off and spent it doing all the laundry, packing all the stuff, and building all the Hot Wheels tracks. We were all so excited to hit the road on Saturday morning and couldn't wait to find some more snow!

The road trip was fairly uneventful - which was eventful in itself. Nobody puked. Nobody threatened to puke. Q threatened to threaten to puke - but a giant burp later and all was well. We stopped just over halfway at a little cafe in Garrison and made really good time (which karma punished us for on the drive home). I fixed the portable DVD player en route, astonishing us all. It just wouldn't be a Christmas trip north without our Mickey's Christmas carols show.

The weather forecast for break was bone-chilling cold. Like days on end without getting above zero. So when the weather was "warm" (relatively speaking), sunny, and not windy on Saturday afternoon, we put on our gear, grabbed Gma, Gpa, and Auntie and headed to the town sledding hill. The snow was well-packed and the hill was really fast. It was also very sloped to the left (I remember that now from back in the day) - so we were in constant danger of going over the embankment or running into the tree and/or fence. But we had soooooo much fun!

Auntie did not account for the sloping on the first run (to be fair, none of us did) and Fiona made it about a third of the way down the hill before she went over the embankment. Then later, I scraped up my back when I took the sled to the spine to stop Fiona and I from going over it. Mike and Quinn ran into the fence. Dec was the power rider and he and Auntie slid almost all the way to the parking lot once. It was death-defying and giggle-inducing. And just the best time.

The kids wanted to warm up, so we headed back to Gma and Gpa's to decorate Christmas cookies. All three were really into the process and were taking such pride in their work. Lots of creativity and good sharing of frosting and sprinkles. It was clearly fun because I had to take the sprinkles dispenser apart to wash all the frosting off of it when they were done! Gma also learned that all three Vanneste children like burned cookies too. Looks like she and Mike are the only two non-burned cookie eaters.

After dinner, we bundled back up and went for a moonlight walk in the woods. This is something we did two years ago and loved it. Last year, the weather didn't cooperate and we greatly missed our walk tradition. We were so happy to be able to do it again!

It was only a crescent moon, so we also grabbed several flashlights. Gma and Gpa had packed trail for the last few weeks, so we had a great sled path. It was a lovely way to get out and enjoy the woods and each other. Dec and Fiona even took a couple runs down the little sledding hill. But it was pretty tame compared to our earlier sledding adventure.

When we got back home, Grandpa built a fire and the kids enjoyed sitting in front of it and watching the flames. Then after they went to bed, Yogs enjoyed taking a nap by it. Such a fun first day!