My Ski Trip

The younger three went skiing/snowboarding on Christmas Eve, as I had mentioned before, but I never got a chance to go over the break. Someone kept getting sick or had plans. Life with busy teens is tricky! I saw that January 24th would be a good day to go. No one had plans, and we were to have snow again, so I tentatively put it in the calendar about 10 days ago for Kade, Austin, Erik, and me to go skiing. (Victoria and Jason still opted not to go for the same reasons as before.) 

As the day grew closer, I saw that the weather was to be freakishly cold. So cold, in fact, that school was cancelled the day before, Friday, due to wind chills at -25 degrees. Saturday was to be a bit warmer, especially later in the day, I'm talking wind chills were expected to be in the single digits as opposed to negatives, but we decided to go with it anyway. I was pretty nervous for myself, I have to admit. I thought I would be way too cold, as I often have been the last few times going. I told myself that if I got too cold, I could just hang out in the lodge and stay warm. 

I was also still nervous about one of my kids breaking a bone (it was only a few years ago that I watched Austin break his arm snowboarding, and it isn't something I want to repeat ever!) 

We double checked to make sure everyone had all the things necessary to keep us as warm as we could, and off we went. I was wearing 6 layers on top and four layers on the bottom. If it had been helpful, I would have worn 3 layers on my feet, but the 2 were ideal because I still needed circulation between my socks and boots. I wore a thicker gator than I normally do, which was the best part for me, I believe. I remember the last time we went when it was so cold I actually got a headache from the cold when I was going down the slopes. I think it was because I was breathing in that cold air, and it was freezing my insides. I don't normally like to breathe with something fully covering my nose and mouth because I feel claustrophobic, but I didn't this time, thank goodness! The day before, when I was outside for 5 minutes loading up my car with granola for my Teffola job, I could feel the extremely cold air affecting my lungs. It's not good for people with asthma, another reason for Victoria not to go skiing here.

It was -6 when we arrived, with a real feel of -6. The sun was shining, and the wind wasn't blowing, so -6 felt ok. The slopes were just about empty, not too many crazy people going in that weather, which is a big plus. We had a great time! It's amazing to me that Austin and Erik got cold before I did and were ready for lunch and our 1/2-hour break to get warm. Kade was toasty and fine, but we all broke together, which was perfect timing for me. I didn't notice that my toes were numb, and I could feel them tingling as we ate, so I got the feeling back in them at just the right time. Austin added another sweater (so glad we made him bring an extra one!), and Erik got hand warmers (seriously, he didn't start with them!), and we were able to last a lot longer for the second part of our day. More people arrived since it got up to a balmy 6 degrees, but it still wasn't too busy. 

I got adventurous and followed my boys through the trees that took us on a path where we had to duck under a fallen tree and even do a little cross-country skiing (it was tricky for the snowboarders, unless they got their speed just right, which they ended up doing), and we could ski down a very powdery, very unbeaten path that reminded me of Utah skiing. It was great! We did that path multiple times, and I think it was one of the reasons we didn't get too cold because we had to work a little harder on the cross-country parts, sometimes pulling the boarders along with our poles, and we were in between lots of trees that kept the extreme cold out. I also followed my boys off a jump just about every time. Though let me clarify, I did not do the jump, I just rolled up and down it, which was plenty fun for me. The best part was watching them jump it and see how good they have all gotten. Austin is incredible on the snowboard now, Kade looks amazing, and Erik has some awesome ski skills; he can even ski backwards! 

We stayed together most of the time, but there was a bit of time when I was by myself and felt a little lost. Since there aren't many options for slopes here, I do get bored on the same slopes, but the thing that keeps me entertained, since I don't do tricks, is watching my kids and following them down the tricky areas that I wouldn't do by myself. 

And as I say every time I go, I really do love to ski! I get nervous beforehand, but when we go, I always have the best time and am so glad my kids enjoy it too. 

I could only manage a few pics, so I wouldn't expose my hand too much in the cold.

Erik 

This was before I put that gator under my googles, so you can at least see a part of my face here.

Kade, finishing a run.

Austin ( I had to remind him to cover his nose and mouth).

The gang!

Life Keeps Going

 We were hit by a crazy snowstorm a few days ago that I feel like we weren't given enough warning about.  Normally, before any kind of upcoming storm, we're forewarned so much about how bad it's going to be that we're always left feeling let down that the storm didn't live up to the hype. This time it was the opposite. I didn't mind, I was just surprised by how much snow accumulated on Wednesday and into Thursday. We had a legit snow day, which made it all even better. Many times, I feel like they call snow days unnecessarily. This one, however, was needed! The roads were bad for much of the day on Thursday, which would have been the day the kids went to school. Wednesday evening, they were the worst that I have ever driven on here. Erik still had to play at the Cluster Concert (another reason I felt we weren't prepared, they didn't even call off this concert because no one knew how bad it was going to be!) He had forgotten his trombone at his school (it was a crazy day, and no wonder he forgot it), and he was to play at the high school, so I tried to drive at almost normal speed to get his trombone and get him to the high school in time. I quickly learned that I couldn't do that as I slid through the intersection when trying to make a right instead. Even after I realized we couldn't rush, we were fishtailing and drifting all over the place. Erik thought it was great fun. I was just happy we didn't end up stuck on the side of a road, as some cars were. Anyway, we made it through, and now we have a nice covering of snow again. 

The Cluster Concert was a great honor for Erik to play at. Each middle school band teacher chose a select group to be in the honor band, which was the group of all the chosen middle schoolers together. They had a little performance on Monday for the parents. They performed for the Cluster Concert on Wednesday, which was only for the 5th-grade students in the district and their parents. I've posted about this concert before, but it's been a while. It's where 5th graders watch a selection of choir, orchestra, and band students perform to help them decide what they want to participate in when they reach middle school. My other 3 kids were all in the 8th-grade orchestra, and so were all required to go to the concert when they were in 8th grade. I think Victoria sang at it as well when she was in the choir. There are many more band students, so they have to select individuals they feel will highlight the band the best. Here's their final song and the main tradition at the Cluster Concert, a medley of songs by the Beatles. (It's like 5 minutes long, so no pressure to watch the whole thing. They sound fantastic, though! Jason worked hard to get more of Erik's head than we can usually get in a recording.)

To add another accomplishment to Erik's week, he had a late game last night, and his team won, which was a first in a handful of games. The best part about it was that Erik made his first score in many years!! The team as a whole worked well together, including when Erik scored. His teammate had a great assist. It's funny, because I had been recording some of the plays and I almost recorded the moment, but didn't. I did, however, record some similar moments with Erik. With him playing center mid, as opposed to defense, he was able to have the opportunity to score. It was a fun game to watch!

Since I didn't follow my instinct and record his score, I missed his genuine smile afterward. However, the score that followed by a teammate, he gave a similar smile that I was able to capture. 

My Missionary

 With the new year, Victoria has come up with a good schedule for her service mission. Her mission leaders are excited and hopeful that she'll even make it back to Mexico. Yes, she's got a good groove going on right now, but no, she most likely won't be going back to Mexico. Though she has improved, she still needs to work on the effectiveness of her medication and possibly needs to change a few things with it. Time will tell.

In the meantime, she's crocheting, teaching yoga, going out with the full-time missionaries regularly, working at and attending the temple regularly, keeping up with her language and Gospel studies, and working in one more volunteer opportunity. We have a good system with our cars as well- it's called communication! It's helping all of us, but especially me, so I don't worry last second who's driving what car. It's a life skill that my drivers are improving at.

Victoria attended a bridal shower with me last week for a girl a couple of years older than her. Victoria was the lucky toilet-paper-wedding-dress model in our group for a game. It was fun!

It's amazing what you can do with toilet paper!

She's decided that for her real wedding dress, she no longer wants it to be a mermaid fit. 

Last night, she helped with the dinner for a family who had just lost their great-grandma. Payton helped too, and they were twinning! Payton leaves for her mission in about a month, but a lot of people thought they were companions on a mission here. It was cute. 

Cuties!

Another Year Older

Two days before Kade's 19th birthday, we traveled to Chicago- all 6 of us! Jason and I both had a free night's stay at a Marriott, so we booked both rooms together at a hotel in downtown Chicago so we could go to the Shedd Aquarium on the 29th. 

We planned it so we could be back home by the 30th for Kade's birthday. Some of us were supposed to go skiing/snowboarding that day with a few of Kade's friends, but that didn't end up working out. 

Here's the recap of our less than 24 hours in Chicago, though. 

It's only a 4-hour drive, so we easily made it after church and lunch on Sunday. We started a 9-hour audiobook that most of us agreed upon and enjoyed, which would allow us to finish it on the return home. We had bought these delicious beef tips microwaveable dinners from Aldi, along with rice packets, a salad, and precooked pasta for Erik. You may be thinking, "Delicious microwaveable dinner? No way!" but they are super good and serve 3 people, so they are meant for a quick, small family dinner for people on the go. We tried it before, and the kids were super happy to have it again. After dinner, which we ate while watching part of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, we ventured out into the streets of Chicago to take pictures of the city at night. We didn't really have a plan, but quickly found we were only a 12-minute walk from Millennium Park, which is where the Bean is. We stopped for some pics along the Riverwalk as well. 

View from our room.

Riverwalk

Each of the kids had their own photo shoots on their phones. 

Millenium Park 

The live tree smelled so good!

The Bean!

We had a great time there!

On the way back to the hotel.

The next morning, we enjoyed Marriott's excellent breakfast with more people than I have ever seen at a hotel breakfast!! The line was always long. Even the hotel gym was packed. All of the machines were in use while I was there, and there were 8 machines, plus people using free weights. Since our rooms were on the 14th floor and it was downtown Chicago during the break, I guess it's not too surprising how busy it was. We are more used to staying in hotels in the middle of Nebraska, Wyoming, or Iowa, which aren't really destination points. 

The night before was slightly warmer than normal, but it snowed overnight, and the temperatures dropped significantly. So, the next day, when we ventured out before heading to the aquarium, it was freezing! Our time to enter was noon, so we had some time to wander around the area and see Lake Michigan from the other side. We even got to enjoy Chicago-style hot dogs from a stand before going in!

This was a protected area of Lake Michigan, but we heard that there were gale warnings on the lake due to the storms.

And here are some of my favorite shots at the aquarium.

Feeding time!

Seaweed native to California beaches!

Beluga whale showing off. 

Beluga whale underwater.

Penguins!

The aquarium was amazing, as it should be since it's one of the best in the nation. I can see now why they stagger entrance times because it was so busy at each tank. 

When we had seen everything, we left for an early dinner of Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's before our drive home. There was a snowstorm, so we went the slightly southern route, which helped, and we only tacked on a little bit of time. We still saw two semis and a car that slid off the road, which is always eye-opening. 

Giordano's

Look at the differences between their faces! 

We slept late the next day, Kade's birthday, partly because Chicago is in the Central Time Zone and partly because that drive wore us out! Kade had already decided we weren't going to ski that day, so the day was pretty low-key. We had waffles for breakfast, leftover pizza for lunch, and Kade requested the alfredo meal that we had on Christmas Eve for his birthday dinner. He decided later in the day that he wanted an ice cream cake for dessert, so I picked one up from DQ. We played some games, watched Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, and Kade opened some gifts. It was a good day. 

CDs (Sublime and Linkin Park)

paintbrushes

New shoes (they came a couple of days late, but he was really excited for them!)

Kade got really sick a few days later. Luke sure loves cuddling with him!

He saw friends the next day for New Year's Eve and will have a group celebration with some friends sometime soon to celebrate a few birthdays in their friend group. 

Kade has made good friends at Schoolcraft College. He had a successful first semester and will be starting some harder classes next week for his second semester, which include calculus, computer science, and chemistry. He's still considering meteorology as a career, so he'll have some challenging math and science classes. He loves his job at Zumiez in the mall and is one of their top sales associates.

It's hard to believe it's 2026 now. Kade will be 20 in this calendar year! Happy Birthday to Kade!