We had a great time in Leavenworth, WA. It is a neat town and has alot of cool shops. One of our favorites is the Nutcracker shop. It boasts of having the largest Nutcracker display in the country. It is pretty impressive.
We took the kids snowboarding while Dwayne , Nick and I went skiing.
Here we are on the ski lift heading up for another run.
It was the first time for me in over 20 years. I have to admit that I was falling alot those first 2 runs. Dwayne was like, Hon you okay? I would be laughing so hard - Fun? I was having a blast.. even though I was falling I still had a great time. I did start to get the feel of it and after Dwayne went down with me to show me how to cut back and forth it made a huge difference. :) Fun times!
Kay and Nick arrived on the 26th at around 7pm. They were tired but once they arrived to the house we ate pizza and then opened gifts. Nick was about to fall asleep. We got up the next morning at 4:30am and headed up to the mountain to start our adventure. We took the kids snowmobiling for a 3 hour tour. It was fun but I think everyone agreed it isn't something we would pay to do again... However, we did have a blast, played hard and enjoyed the scenery!
This big guy was at the lodge where we went snowmobiling. It was so cute to see him go outside and dig in the snow and lay down. Here he is as the snow was falling and covering him up. I am sure he was glad to see us go!
Here is Dwayne. He was incognito covered up from head to toe. All you can see are his eyes. He liked it that way especially as he wiped out. Now everyone must know that I was absolutely impressed with my honey. He can ski and he looked so cute out there cutting back and forth. I laughed hard though as I watched him fall on one of the 2 times he actually fell. He said, I didn't care because I knew no one could see me. The other time Dwayne fell it was our last run of the day. Mind you we had been skiing hard since 12 noon and it was now 6pm. We only took a 45 minute break for lunch. Well, Dwayne wiped out and this instructor ski's by and tells Dwayne to Be Responsible. Hearing Dwayne tell the story to us in the truck on the way out we were all laughing so hard. SO that was the phrase for the rest of the night and the next day.
He Be Responsible... what ever that means!
We ate at Gustovs for lunch before leaving Leavenworth. We couldn't pass up the photo op. Finally we had to start ordering to get Dwayne to join us. :)
This was taken while Snowmobiling. We had a blast. It was bumpy at the end but for the most part it was fun. We laughed really hard though ALOT! Before leaving on our tour the guide reminded us all of how very deep the snow was and that we needed to stay on the trail. She warned us of turns and making sure we take them wide. Well, on one of the turns Nick and Kay take the turn a bit tight and they turned the snowmobile over. It was like they disappeared in the snow. It was too funny. Here is a picture after the first time - the kids thought it was really cool that they could walk off the trail and fall up to their waist in snow. :)
Josh really enjoyed snow boarding. I was so very impressed with how fast the kids picked up on this sport. Those who know Josh knows that he doesn't lack confidence and I tell you - it just blows my mind that this child of ours can say, I can do this and then he does.. It was fun to see them come down the mountain.
Here's Justin on his Snow Mobile. :) Fun fun times.. Justin really enjoyed getting Nick with the snow. On too many occasions he really nailed Nick and Kay... :)
Here's Justin with his Snowboard. Justin was the dare devil- which shouldn't surprise anyone. He kept trying to jump and he and josh both went down the more advanced slopes. Too scary for me. On one occasion Justin said watch him as he jumped this one spot. All I saw was Justin go up in the air and then all I could see was hands and board as he fell ... He jumped up and said, Man that was cool! :) He shocked some of the other boarders - they were like man your good and Justin would say thanks. They would say how long you been boarding and Justin would smile and say, Today is our first time. :) The guy was like NO WAY! :) Ofcourse that made him and Josh both feel great!
This is the only picture I have of Kayla snowboarding. She really picked it up fast as well. I mean to tell you the kids were going down the slopes with out falling that is how good they were. I was so impressed. I went down with Kayla 2 times and she would just turn and switch directions without any problems. It was great to see the kids enjoy themselves. Nick did try to snowboard but he decided to change to skiing. He rocked on ski's!
This is looking down the street in Leavenworth.
Here Dwayne and I are as we prepare to head back to the Hotel. It was a great day and everyone had smiles on their faces. We all pondered how sore we would the next day. At the moment though we all wished we had more time and several more days!
Our trip was a success and one we will be making again very soon. Dwayne was so scared that because I was falling so much that I wouldn't really enjoy it but I did and I really want to go back. :) The boys are already talking about getting the gear and can't wait to go snowboarding again. :)
Kay left yesterday night and the boys leave in just a few more days. I can't hardly believe how fast the time has gone by.
We have had a great Christmas with the kids...
Happy New Year everyone!
