Mountain Trip

This weekend we went to Maggie Valley, NC with Paul's family. As always we had a wonderful time and enjoyed making wonderful memories with family!

Ruthie was fascinated by the fire.

Ruthie enjoyed the yummy breakfast that GG and PaPa made...she had her first taste of grits and loved them!

Saturday we took Emmie skiing for the first time! Both of the big girls had said they wanted to go but we had a serious talk with them on Friday night...it was going to be cold, you had to stay the whole time and couldn't complain, you were going to fall but that was ok and you couldn't get upset, and you had to take a lesson. Ellie decided that she didn't want to go but Emmie still wanted to go.
Fortunately it wasn't very cold so that definitely helped the situation!

Emmie got to ride in the shuttle from the parking lot to the lodge...it was an old school bus...dream.come.true.

We had to wait forever to get our skis and boots but once we were out on the slopes she was so excited! We also weren't able to get a lesson for her since it was the holiday weekend but she was fine with that and it worked out ok. We took her over to the bunny slope and she did great being patient while we got her skis on and once they were on she was able to "ski" on the flat part with no problems...I was so impressed! (Remember this is the child that falls walking on a regular basis.)

Ready to ski!

She had to go up a conveyer belt "lift" to get to the top and I was really worried about getting her off and on. I explained to her that she might lose her balance but if she just sat on her bottom when she felt like she was going to fall that she could then get herself back up very easily. She sat down when she first got on the lift and then was easily able to stand up and she even managed to get OFF the lift without falling. I was so proud of her!

We went over the basics and she was off! There was barely an incline so it was pretty easy for her to get to the bottom. It sped up a little towards the bottom and she'd usually fall at the bottom but she'd get right back up.

(Emmie is up at the top on the far right)


There were a few times her skis got tangled when she fell or they went out, causing her to do a split, but we were able to calm her down pretty quickly.

Having fun!

She and Paul took a break for awhile and found a hill to slide down and then she came back for more practice.

She really wanted to go up the big lift and didn't understand why we wouldn't let her! She also was not pleased that we didn't give her poles to use...she always wants to be the big kid! (Funny story, every time she'd find poles that someone dropped she'd ski in that direction and try to pick them up so she could use them...of course they were almost always adult poles so it was even funnier. She'd get so mad when I would tell her she couldn't have them!)

Wiped out...skiing in hard work!

taking a break

ready with Uncle "Bake"

Sunday Paul, Blake, and their parents were going to go tubing but it ended up raining and they didn't want to tube in slush so instead we took the kids to the "wee bowl" where they could play in the snow.

with GG and PaPa

We pulled them up and down the "hill" and they had lots of fun...at least I think Ruthie did...she was too bundled up to move so she couldn't escape if she had wanted to!

Ellie making a snowball to hit Daddy with.

Emmie playing in the snow.

Blake and Emily left Sunday afternoon and Paul and I headed back up to the ski slopes for some night skiing.

Ready to ski!

The slope was practically empty and it was wonderful! We got lots of runs in and had a great time...I even talked Paul into going up to the intermediate slope with me! After a few hours they started making snow on the upper slopes and it was blowing right across the lift exit and they had two blowing across the entrance to the trail. It was quite chilly! Paul wasn't sure he recognized me when I met him at the bottom of the slope to leave!

the "after" picture

Franklin stayed with my parents while we were gone and after hosting a dinner party on Friday night he pretty much just took walks and slept all weekend. He does love a good nap! We stayed with my parents Thursday night and had lunch with them Monday morning and the girls loved getting to play at Gran and Grandaddy's. The big girls were apparently pretty worn out Monday because they went and got in my bed and snuggled with each other and read some books...so sweet!

sweet, sweet girls!