Winter Fun!

It was so nice to have gorgeous weather in January, at least for a few days!  We were able to make two trips to the park for some ice skating and sledding before the rain came and then the extremely frigid temps.  

Even though the day was only in the low 20s, there was no wind and a bright sunshine, so we felt much warmer than it was.  

John and Reagan skated together to get her used to being on the ice again. 

Dylan did some practicing with a chair (even though he really doesn't need it).

Reagan decided she needed a chair too (she didn't). 

Dylan soon told us his feet were tired and after a few rides on the chair while Daddy and Mommy pushed him, he wanted to take his skates off.  He was more interested in pulling the sled and digging in the snow than skating.  (And yes, there is a perfectly good hockey rink that is not flooded, next to the tiny skating pond the city created and flooded instead as a consolation prize due to budget cuts).

Next the kids and John headed to the sledding hill.  It was the perfect set up to have it all in one place!  The hill was just the right size for a 3 and 5 year old.  

Each kid took turns going down with Daddy.

Then we felt comfortable enough to send them down together.  This is my favorite sequence of pictures showing just how much pure joy the kids were having going down that hill: 

Happy

Happy

Happy

Happy

Happy

Face plant right in the snow

But still happy!

I've never been one to enjoy the outdoors in the winter, but I think we found our new favorite activities!

Pinterest Inspiration

John is getting mighty sick of Pinterest this holiday season and it's only Dec. 2nd!  Our kids were both ready for bed early tonight, so I thought I would try out one of the photo ideas that I saw on Pinterest.  Here are two of my favorites out of the many (we took 161 pictures to get these two!).  They are by no means professional pictures, but good enough for me.

 

 

 

Not sure why this one isn't going vertical, but I'll try to fix it later.  Will be cool to see how these print out, if I ever get around to it! 

Oh Christmas Tree! 2012

I love having an extra week between Thanksgiving and Christmas!!  Our tree is up, the house is decorated and now we can sit back and enjoy it all!  I can even do a few more projects than I normally would since I have extra time.

 

 

Surprisingly, Dylan helped decorate the tree more than Reagan did.  She was holding out to put the angel at the top.

 

It was looking a little bottom heavy . . .

 

Ah, there we go.  A few more toward the middle of the tree.

 

Ta Da! Complete?

 

Now the tree is complete!

(Notice how the ornaments magically spaced themselves out :))

Cameron Reunion 2012 - Colorado

After 12 hours in a car on the way home from a conference and one day sick at home, we were off to Colorado for the Cameron Family Reunion that happens every 4 years.  We were there with my mother-in-law's brothers and sisters and even some of their cousins.

 

While I was a little out of my element in the mountains, this was definitely Reagan's trip. She was able to do so many things that I don't do with her in Minnesota.

 

 

I love how Dylan just falls asleep when he's tired, no matter where we are.  My friends are all jealous that he will fall asleep and I can get him out of (and even in) the car, while he stays sounds asleep.

 

The first morning we were out there, John's mom had organized wagon rides, horseback riding, and square dancing for the families.  Reagan was immediately at the horse corral.  Kyle (our cowboy) gave her a cookie to feed to the horses.

 

 

Reagan started out with Kyle leading the horse, Intrepid, around the corral.  There were 3 other horses that then followed them around ring.

 



 

After about an hour on the horse, Kyle started moving further away from Reagan and letting her ride the horse by herself.  He still stayed close, but she was so comfortable (and Intrepid was so tame) that she really didn't need him to guide the horse.

 

Dylan was lucky that his sister did let him have a short turn on the horse. She really rode the horse for about 2 hours.

 

My niece Emma was not as adventurous with the horses. We colored with chalk and blew up some balloons.

 

Dylan with PaPa Mac

 

Reagan and her new BFF, John's cousin Caitlin.

 

Later that evening, John took Reagan down to the small stream near the cabins with a fishing pole.  All she could talk about was wanting to go fishing in the weeks before we went to Colorado, and asked non-stop to go after she saw the stream. We were so excited then, when she actually caught one! 

 

The next day we headed to Aspen with John's brother, sister-in-law and niece.

 

At the top of mountain in Aspen.

 

They had a number of kids activities after our gondola ride to the top of the mountain. Dylan found a bulldozer in the sandbox and was in heaven.

 

Reagan begged us to do the climbing wall.  She barely met the weight minimum and the operator of the climbing wall was so generous and let her climb a few times after she got the hang of it.  Seriously, this girl is not afraid of anything. She does not get this trait from me!

 

It only took a couple of tries to work her way to the top.

 

Gondola ride.  Not my favorite thing to do.  As I told John, I am not a fan of looking to my death below me.

 

 

This is out of order, but we made a stop at Independence Pass on our way to Aspen.

 

The boys and their daughters

 

Cousins

 

This is Chickadeedeedee.  Reagan had to take pictures of him where ever we went.

 

John with his siblings and cousins

 

 

Grandma Mary and PaPa Mac with their grandchildren

 

Last day we stopped in Vail Village on our way back to Denver for lunch and a walk around.

 

We all had fun, but seeing how much fun Reagan was having was the best part of the trip for John and I.



Strawberry Picking with Nana

 

On my mom's birthday, we thought it would be fun to try strawberry picking with the kids. We may have been one year early . . .

 

 

Despite being a bad year for strawberries because of the freeze that happened in April, we got there one of the few days that they were actually letting people pick strawberries. 

 

The strawberries were all tiny, bite sized strawberries.

 

Reagan was a great strawberry picker and was quite the trooper despite the heat and the bugs.  Dylan lost interest pretty quickly, so it was all I could do to keep him from trampling the already delicate plants and eating all the green strawberries.  I think ((hope)) next summer he'll be a little more helpful.

 

 

Our strawberry haul.