The Kids in all of their Glory

DIANA:
Diana wasn't as into skiing as the rest of the family, but she braved the cold like a champ, and during the last hour REALLY started getting the hang of it. Christina stood at the bottom of the little slope and caught Diana as I sent her off from the top!

Dominick:
Dominick had a frustrating day. He conquered the small slopes in a couple of hours and was then ready to take on the "Grizzly". When no one stepped up to help him ride the ski lift to his imminent death, he pouted. He eventually came around and enjoyed the day on our teensy tiny safe slope!

Brooke:
Would you believe that BROOKE (clumsy, clutzy, can't-walk-and-chew-gum) BROOKE was the best out of the lot of us? She really got into it and figured out how to stop and turn all on her own. And she managed to stay on her feet longer than any of us. She was even helping me toward the end!

Christina:
Of course, Christina did well, but her treck down the expert trail really pooped her out! No worries though, by the end of the day she was crusing right along!

Olympic Hopefulls we are NOT.

Skiing is hard.

It's harder when you're 31 and you've never tried it before. Of course, Ed has done this before so he made us all look even more pitiful, but don't worry, karma came around and kicked him in the rump. (More on that later). I was SO proud of all the kids for trying so hard...

But Brooke and Christina had the most traumatic start to their day! We all agreed that starting on the bunny trail was the best idea. At the bottom there was a neat moving walkway that carried you right back to the top. APPARENTLY Christina and Brooke don't know the difference between an escalator (as we called it) and a SKI LIFT. About 15 minutes into our day they disappeared. We assumed they were on another of the beginner slopes and didn't pay much mind. After an hour we started to really worry. Ed and I had both left our phones in the Suburban and we started to wonder that maybe they'd been hurt and were sitting in an emergency room somewhere battered and bruised.

IMAGINE my relief when they finally showed up!! Turns out, they had accidently made their way onto the biggest of the ski lifts and were forced to, as they put it, walk, crawl, roll or slide down the slope. I'm still not sure how they missed the huge EXPERTS ONLY sign, but I'm glad they had an adventure!


From L-R

Brooke, random snowboarder, Christina & Dominick




Ed and I early on in the day before we felt the full effect of putting dormant muscles to use.

Just cause I'm funny like that:

Ober Gatlinburg

"Skiing: the art of catching a cold and going broke
while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk."

Ed and I on the shuttle heading to the slopes:

It took a good hour to get everyone suited up.
Who knew that fitting boots and skis was a science??

Dom, Brooke, Christina and Di.

All the gang lined up and ready to go!!

(Diana, Ed, Dom, Christina and Brooke)

Protection!

Be warned. I have my own personal bodyguard.

BEHOLD HIS AWESOMENESS!!!

 

Faulty Geography

Diana is under the assumption that as soon as we turn off our street, we've left the state of Tennessee.

Yesterday as were driving south to Knoxville, Diana used the free time to constantly quiz me about our current location. "Where are we now?" she'd ask every 5 minutes. After twenty minutes of grilling, I lost my cool and blurted out "MEXICO Diana, we're in MEXICO!" The car got quiet for a moment or two until Dominick piped up and said "Diana, we're NOT in Mexico! If we were there would be carriages, not cars!" To which Diana promptly replied "Yeah, and there would be Chihuahuas!!" A moment later I heard Dom confide quietly to his sister "AND there would be beaches!"

One out of three. Could have been worse.

Happy New Year!

 

My favorite Christmas Pictures!

Diana modeling her crown that came in her stocking cracker, and Brooke playing Jenga in all her gorgeous glory!

 

 

Christmas Lights

In search of Christmas lights, we packed the kids into the Suburban and went in search of a display that was blog worthy. We found a drive through light show just in Sevierville that was great! It was timed to a local radio station and while the carols played, the lights danced in Rhythm. Well worth the 15 dollar admission. It wasn't enough though and we continued to search for more. We'd heard of a great light display in Pigeon Forge and decided it would be worth our while to check it out. We drove and drove, and 40 miles later as we entered into Gatlinburg realized that maybe, there were no such lights. Instead we decided sustenance was in order. After much searching we found a steak house way off the beaten path, up on a mountain that overlooked the area. It was beautiful and cozy and the food hit the spot. Ed had steak and lobster, Christina had ribs and crabcakes (odd combination) and I had crab legs galore!! The little kids had something boring like grilled cheese! LOL I'm thinking we may have a "Day-after-Christmas-Tradition" in the works!!


My lame pictures:

 

 

 

 

Keyboard vs. the Wii

I don't know why the only pictures I have are of Diana, but here they are none the less. The keyboard is great fun, but Karaoke on the Wii is downright hilarious!!!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning was WONDERFUL! I made an effort this year to STRETCH the gift opening , so after the kids looted their stockings, I made them sit down and eat a delicious breakfast of eggs, pancakes and bacon. Then we all sat down to get back to the gift opening that lasted well into the morning. By all accounts, everyone was satisfied and receieved exactly what they'd been hoping most for. For Brooke that was a Sony E-reader, a Nikon Camera and a BUNCH of Manga stuff. For Dom it was the Lego city garage, the "Moon in my Room" and a new (used) laptop for his Homeschooling work. And for Diana it was the Barbie RV, an Easy Bake Oven and a baby doll stroller.

For our family gift, Ed and I just couldn't agree on what the family would enjoy most, so we decided to split the task. I bought what I thought we'd enjoy and he bought what he thought would be best. I ended up getting a large Casio keyboard with the lighted keys, complete with stand and microphone. Ed played dirty and bought the kids a Wii, with all sorts of games and attatchments. I'm pleased to report, however; that the kids play just as much with my keyboard as they have the Wii, so there!