Hitting the Slopes

You all were super impressed by my blogging skills in January, weren't you?!?! Seems that February has brought back my old tricks .... that, and a wicked cold has slowly but surely knocked all the Vanneste dominoes down. It's a manageable cold, but by the end of the day, we are all done.

Before the cold took the majority of us down (Mike is on week three of his), we got together with our college gang for the fifth annual sledding party. The party gets better every year and we had the best time. After a week of polar vortex, the sunny, above zero day was beyond amazing. In fact, some of us thought it was too hot! We were sweating in all our snow gear.

Between the polar vortex and the already strange winter weather, there was not a lot of snow on the ground. But there was enough for outdoor fun - and that's all we ask. We took a few runs down the hill, the big kids adored the the giant snow pile in Phil's front yard, and the adults made any latecomers earn their way up the sledding hill - through a barrage of snowballs.

I convinced our kids to sled with me a few times, but they were far more interested in the giant snow pile. Dec figured out how to create a solid snowball fight shelter with his saucer and he and Oliver withstood several assaults. Mike created a super steep (and fast / treacherous) track down the giant hill that the big kids loved. As adults, we were all a little sad that the kids didn't stay out as long as we wanted to. The days on end of being stuck in the house were apparently harder on us than the kids.

Back inside, the kids completely entertained themselves and we all hung out, caught up, and had a great time. Phil made his famous mac and cheese and we had a whole island of food that everyone brought to share. We basically only saw the kids when they were hungry. Or at least making a pass by all the goodies.

Quinn did come upstairs for a bit. She must have needed some adult time. Or maybe just wilder people ... so Mike and Brad stepped up for her and provided quite the series of physical challenges. At one point, she quite literally climbed Mike's body to reach a balloon that he was holding above his head. Our friend Chambs was laughing so hard at her antics and was quite impressed with her strength. At another point in the evening, Cheryl told the twins to play more carefully with Q and both Mike and Brad told her that Quinn had just leveled Jack - who is twice her size. Needless to say, the word about not messing with Quinn is getting around.

Before we left, we visited Phil's "apocalypse room" ... or magic room of all his canning wares. I made sure we brought back all our empty jars - simply to ensure we could go "shopping." We came home with homemade pickles, plum jelly, salsa, and maple syrup. And an invitation to join Phil and family this fall when they go to Elissa's family orchard so we can pick apples and press cider. We can't wait!

We were tired and happy on the way home. It was a great day spent with great friends - and one of the events we look forward to every year! Things we also look forward to ... pickles and plum jelly (and Dec is not pleased that I've told him we have to finish the opened jelly in the fridge before we can open the plum jelly)!

So much snow gear