Tubing!

We went to Pando Tubing hill today with a group from church. We had a lot of fun!





You grab a tube, wait in a horrible line--I was very patient until our last time up and I yelled at a few kids who were cutting in line (Kelly was embarrassed!), then hook up to the tow rope and it tows you up the hill!






We bought a 3 hour ticket and we went up the hill for 3 hours (well, Jenny and I took a break but everyone else kept going) It was around 25-30 degrees and it snowed during most of the time we were out there. Some times it was hard to see when you were going down the hill because the snow kept falling so hard!

There were no jumps at this hill but Dave a few guys found ways to make it dangerous. They would go down right after each other and somehow bump into each other and try to knock each other off the tube.

It was a long run for the tubes and fairly fast but after a few times, you got used to it and it was really fun. I took Jenny with me everytime because the little kids didn't go far and if another person comes behind them that is heavier, they knock right into their tubes and they go flying.

Kelly and Abbey had a lot of fun and now Kelly thinks she wants to go there for her birthday next year! We'll see about that!

At the end of the day, we had no injuries but it took us a while to de-thaw. Our cheeks (the ones on our faces) took a while to thaw out. But we had lots of laughs and fun!

Jenny starts Girl Scouts

Jenny started Girl Scouts this week. We had a short sledding event on a Saturday during Christmas break but we had her actual meeting on Monday. She has been watching Abbey for a few years and was SO excited to have a group with her friends. I waited to see if anyone else would step up to start one, but no one did so I went ahead and started one. It's been fun so far and several mom's have stepped up to say they will help and be at every meeting! Boy, 1st grade girls are a little crazy when they get together! (And Jenny may have been the most hyper!) We earned a badge our first meeting just by talking about Girl Scouts and learning the Law and Promise and by having 'smores for a snack! (Did you know why they call them 'smores? Because when you are done, you want 'smore!

New, Finished and Fun

NEW: This is Kelly's new haircut! Doesn't she look like a teenager? She's got another year to go and she'll be one! Our hairdresser always jokes that she'll be in trouble with Dave because she always makes our girls look so cute when she does their hair! Kelly really likes it so far...we'll see if I can help her copy the look after we wash her hair!

FINISHED: Abbey finished her dog picture! I think she did a good job! She is very proud of it and wants to frame it. I told her we could go get her a black frame tomorrow.

She loves to draw and has been using pencil more and more. We got her a starter pencil drawing set for Christmas (although she used a clicky pencil for this one.)

FUN: This is this scene in our house on most afternoons. The neighbor boys love to come over and play the Wii. The two families are both on the hunt for their own Wii but until then, they are welcome here anytime. They've been very good about sharing and taking turns (so far!) Kelly likes to show off her abilities on Guitar Hero and when Dave comes home, the boys all like to challenge him to something! One of the boys has beat him twice on boxing...Dave claims it's low batteries in his remote!

Trying to be like Uncle Dan

Abbey came home from school today with a book she got from the library about a dog. She had started drawing the dog at school and when she got home she came right to the counter and started drawing again. She's been at it almost all afternoon and a little bit this evening.

This is how it looked when she got home. She did not trace the dog and then start the coloring in, she drew it free hand from the actual picture on the book.

This is how it looks now--unfortunately she has to go to bed. I'll take a better picture of it when it is done. What do you think Uncle Dan...do we have another artist in the family?? You can't really see it in the picture but the dog has a collar on and she just put some squiggles on it but it looks good.

Spartan Fans

I guess we are officially Spartan Fans now. We went to the Women's B-Ball game on Sat with friends and we sat in the front row right next to the floor. The girls loved it and we said "Hi" to Sparty a lot! The little girls had fun teasing Sparty about his only having 4 fingers and they had 5!

Our friends, the Riekse's are related to Alyssa DeHaan who is the 6'9" star of the team so we are always rooting for her! Abbey really wanted to get Alyssa's autograph and she was signing things but the line was way too long and we would have had to wait for about 2 hrs to get it so we left! Another time.

I don't have a picture because I forgot my camera but my friend Amy does, so if I can snag her camera, I'll put up a picture of all the girls with Sparty!

We are back to school and work and back to homework and early bedtimes. So far it's going well! I will be working everyday for the next few months and hoping to get hired in soon at the Public School food service. The hours are exactly what I want, 10-1, and the pay is decent if you get hired in!

Happy New Year!

We had a fun New Year's Eve with friends and then spent time on New Years Day sledding with them! These are all the Feenstra girls and the Riekse Girls. (L-R Taryn, Sydney, Jenny, Jenna, Abbey and then Kelly sticking out front)

We had a fun time sledding at a hill by a nearby school. They went down together a lot. Some how the little girls, Jenny and Taryn, always went near some jumps. It was pretty funny to watch them fly, especially when they didn't even know the jumps were there! Jenny came back up after the first one and said "Mom, I went over a jump down there!"

They decided that the inflatable sled worked the best but the parents decided that the inflatable sleds broke the fastest!

Dave also enjoyed sledding and took over the new inflatable sled and tried to hit the jump (between the two orange cones--on this shot he missed the jump and my batteries died before he actually made one). He missed a few times but the first time he hit it, the sled went out from under him and he landed half on the sled and half on his stomach. He walked up the hill a little slow after that one saying his back hurt. He says it doesn't bother him now but I'll let you know tomorrow if he still says that!

We had a fun time in the middle of the snowstorm and it was a great way to bring in the new year! We are taking it easy tonight and might get the kids to bed before 10!!!