A wonderful day on the mountain

The snow cleared out yesterday afternoon, and today was absolutely gorgeous. Jeff and the kids hit the slopes as soon as the lifts opened, and I met up with them at lunchtime. After they got back to it, I lingered for a while so I could see the kids make a few runs. When I was ready to head back to the apartment, Clay decided he was ready to call it a day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon building a snowman and playing in the rec room. It was a wonderful day!

A beautiful way to start the day!

These kids absolutely love skiing!

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the mountain

Leaving the slopes early doesn't mean the fun has to end!

Perfect end to a perfect day!

February

To be the shortest month of the year, February always seems so long. It's after all the holiday hubbub but so far from the next school break, and all the shine has worn off the excitement of the new year. It's cold and dark and, this year,  so very wet. And, though we usually have an extremely healthy household, this February brought us the flu and some respiratory gunk. And, a dead rat appeared on our back porch. It was a hard month. But, even with all its gloom, there were many wonderful things about February, which must be documented. And all of it is being documented at once here because, apparently, I'm on the once-a-month blogging plan.

We had our first ever Groundhog Day celebration.

We celebrated Max's birthday at Main Event.

We acquired a new-to-us vehicle.

I had a fancy makeover done.

Weston had a basketball tournament in Austin,
and he and I got to spend a long weekend together.

We soaked up as many Olympic moments as we could.

My nephew turned six, and the younger boys
and I got to go celebrate with him.

We FINALLY got around to celebrating Weston's
birthday at The Melting Pot.

The Cub Scouts had their Blue and Gold Banquet,
and Clay was thrilled to have his grandparents in attendance.

Weston was honored in the Scouts' Court of Honor with many pins
showing his advancements in rank during the last few months.
He is now at the rank of First Class Scout.

Ruth achieved the rank of Cadet Airman in CAP.

There are also several notable things from the month that aren't pictured:

• The boys earned a trip to the trampoline park by working extra hard on their school work.
• Max tried out a couple of yoga classes.
• Some of us got to spend a couple of nights with my parents.
• Ruth attended the CAP banquet.
• Weston had his bottom braces put on.
• Ruth had her first track meet.
• Weston had a camping trip with Scouts in which he got to try some shooting sports.
• Max was invited to join a special Ninja Warrior team class. 
• I was released from my knee surgeon's care.
• Weston finished up his basketball season.

I'm thankful for all the hard things this month and for all wonderful things!

Family Fun

We were blessed to finish out 2017 and begin 2018 surrounded by family. We got to spend a few days with my side of the family before Christmas and then headed down to South Padre Island on Christmas Day to spend a week with Jeff's side of the family. We had so much fun and made so many wonderful memories!

Crazy Cousins

So thankful to have these two beautiful ladies in my life!

Shooting lessons and target practice with an expert

Cousins and best friends

South Padre House

We played lots of Trivial Pursuit

These crazies thought it was warm enough to get in the water!

So much beach fun!

This little lady loved the beach and
wanted to be out with the big kids!

It really doesn't get any better than this!

Max and Slade really bonded!

Celebrating Mimi and Grandpa's anniversary at Dirty Al's

The breakfast chefs at our house were amazing!

Victoria and Clay were so proud of their pancakes,
which they made with their very own pancake makers.

It was necessary to sit in the hot tub after a cold day at the beach.

A cold beach picnic

Uncle Alan was a good sport and let the kids bury him in the sand.

New Year's Eve on the beach commemorated in shells

New Year's Head Gear

Playing Mexican Train while waiting on midnight

Ready for the countdown

New Year's Day breakfast at Yummies Bistro

The Polar Bear Club

The Buckhorn Museum in San Antonio

Grandpa bought everyone a round of root beer at the Buckhorn,
since it claims to be the place that pioneered the idea during Prohibition.

Winter Breakfast 2017

Winter Breakfast has become one of the most talked about and anticipated events in our household. We haven't yet gotten it to work out on the morning of the Winter Solstice, but we get as close as we can. Only the snowman pancakes and the white hot chocolate have been present at all our Winter Breakfast celebrations. The rest of the items change, depending on my creativity, motivation, and available time. This year the menu included snowman pancakes, white hot chocolate in snowman mugs, snowman bagels, hard boiled egg snowmen, grape penguins, and polar bear yogurt. As always, we had a blast!

Plate of Peguins

Egg Snowmen

Snowman pancakes

Snowman bagels

Polar bear yogurt

White hot chocolate

Winter Breakfast is our favorite!

We gave the kids some little surprises, and when Ruth saw these two items,
she declared it to be, "The best day of her life!"

It's beginning to look a lot like summer vacation

We woke up to snow this morning. That's right: One week into our SUMMER vacation, it's SNOWING! And, the snow only got heavier throughout the day. This thrilled my kids to no end, and they feel this is now officially the best summer vacation ever. I don't love being out in the snow, but I have to admit, it does give the landscape sort of a magical feel.

We had a late breakfast and then made a couple of fun vacation stops at an RV store and Wal-Mart, which is where everyone ends up eventually, even if they are on vacation.

Since we didn't quite get all the spelunking out of our system yesterday, we headed over to Wind Cave to have a look around. It was a much different experience than Jewel Cave but still very captivating. When we were done there, we took a little drive through Custer State Park, hoping to see more wildlife. We saw some deer, a few bison, and a bunch of turkeys, but what everyone really loved was that our ascent along the scenic route took us right through a snow cloud. The boys were begging to get out for a snowball fight, as they observed the snow piling up nicely all around us.

All the snow put me in a sit-by-the-fireplace-and-drink-coffee kind of mood, so we found a little log cabin near the park, in the town of Custer, to pass the night. This was a win-win, because there was still a little snow piled up around the cabin, and the boys were able to get their snowball fight in, while the rest of us sipped coffee and relaxed near the fire.

Tomorrow, we will leave South Dakota, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and hope to visit again in the future.

Trying to catch the first tiny snowflakes

A snowy drive

They call this room inside Wind Cave "The Post Office"
because it contains so much of what they call "boxwork."
This cave houses 95% of the known boxwork in the world.

Entering the snow zone

Little cabin in the woods

Snowball fight!

Happy summer vacation!

The alternative to snowball fighting

These friends stopped by while we were eating dinner