Practice run before lessons started...Emmett was a little rusty.
Gracie working on "pizza" before heading up the hill for a few runs. Both kids were in "Group" lessons, but were the only students to sign up for that time, so they had one-on-one time with their instructors - it was great!
Emmett quickly re-learned his skills, so his instructor took him up the chairlift for the first time. All he can talk about is "When can we go skiing again?". Definitely Jason's son....... :-)
Jessie hung out with Dad, making her own fun.
The mountains are getting another 24 inches of snow right now (we should get 12 on the plains), so it looks like we'll be up on the hill again Sunday. Thanks for the lessons/passes Grammy and Pa!
On November 23rd we transitioned into Christmas and the kids all helped unwrap ornaments to decorate the tree. This year we decided to put a few lights on the house and setup a small artificial tree downstairs just for the kids. We'd also heard about a train ride called the North Pole Adventure out of Lewistown where the kids dress in their pj's, eat cookies and cocoa, sing carols and pickup Santa at the north pole... we decided to give that a try, too.
But first, Emmett's Christmas program was fun to watch and he was not shy.
One more photo of Emmett hamming it up after a hunt a few weeks ago. His version of what Dad missed that evening.
We left for Lewistown Saturday morning, about 110 miles east of here, and it was snowing with about 6 inches of white stuff blowing at 50 miles/hr. We took it slow and had only told the kids that we were going there to swim...
At lunch we told them about the train ride to the north pole and that we'd be picking up Santa along the way. They couldn't wait! The 'train station' was about 40 minutes north of town and we started loading at 4:30pm. It was about 9 degrees and howling.
Each car had about 8 tables and was decorated throughout. The kids were given a packet of coloring sheets and a blank letter that had to be written before we picked up the Big Man in Red.
We're coming up on the North Pole. It was about 1 acre Christmas lights -- lighted reindeer, buildings and a landing strip.
While we waited for Santa to make his way down to our car, we sang more songs and built up our courage. We had 3 elves assigned to our car and they were great! The trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun without Elf Elke.
Everyone got along with Santa this year -- all smiles!
It was a beautiful day on Sunday so we headed to the sled hill at Giant Springs State Park. Everyone had a great time! It's fun watching the kids become a little less reliant on Mom and Dad to pull the sled back to the top of the hill :)
It feels a bit like Christmas outside with 11 inches of fresh snow. Tomorrow it's supposed to get down to at least zero (0) degrees. With the wind it will probably only feel like -15, so... no problem. The kids can't wait to go sledding and make a snowman.
Thursday they sent us all home from work at 2pm, a new record we think for the Base. Then again, our boss' last assignment was in New Mexico :)
Thursday evening making a fort.
Friday morning the fort is buried.
If she's not in school she has to work...
I bought a snowblower from the neighbor this summer for dirt cheap. He
wishes he had it back but we do his driveway anyhow (he got the good
deal...) Amy wanted to take it for a spin, too.
