New Puppy

I have been trying to talk Robb into another dog for a while now. I have been watching for dogs to adopt and have put in an application for a couple, but I swear it's harder to adopt a dog than it is to foster a child! We typically don't qualify because we don't have a 6 ft fence. I saw this flyer for the Beatrice Humane Society and put in our application. This organization didn't require a fence, so we were good. They did a lottery with all interested applicants, and they were going to start calling people at 3:00 to let people know if they got a puppy. The kids were all texting at 3:00 to see if we had got a call. When it was 6:00 I was sure we hadn't been chosen. We were on our way to eat out for Abby's birthday when I got a call from the Humane Society. The kids were so excited! We were going to be getting Rain, a little blue-eyed girl. We just had to bring Lucy there to meet her the next day. Well shoot! I didn't realize we had to have a meet and greet with Lucy. I don't think she will hurt another dog, but she certainly isn't friendly with other dogs. We all crossed our fingers that Lucy would be nice, all of us except maybe Robb who thinks 4 kids and 2 dogs and a rabbit is excessive.

Rain had been dumped with her other 9 siblings and the mama. She was currently about 10 weeks old and had already had her shots and been spayed. They wouldn't even venture a guess on breed though. The mama, although underweight and young, was about 40lbs. 

Lucy wasn't excited about the puppy but there were so many smells at the Humane Society that she was distracted enough that she didn't try to bite the pup, so we were good to go. The kids were beyond excited! We had to share the puppy in 10min increments all the way home. 

She was so little when we brought her home! She was only 5 1/2 lbs and she was skin and bones. She was so sweet and sleepy. 

 

Happy 12th Birthday

Happy 12th Birthday Abby! 

It is hard to believe that you are 12 already! You are a wonderful young woman, and we are so proud of the person that you have become! You are laid back, sweet, and nice to everyone and have the patience of a saint. You are a good friend, a wonderful sister and a blessing to us! I hope 12 is a great year for you!

Best Friend: Addsion

Favorite Subject: Recess

Favorite Book: Babysitter Club graphic novels

Favorite music: Pop

Favorite Show: Instagram Stories

Favorite Hobby: Crafts

Favorite Food: Jambalaya and Ice-cream

Favorite Season: Summer

Favorite Sport: Volleyball

Favorite Color: Teal 

Future job: Veterinarian

With Covid this year we didn't get to do a big party, but you are hoping to have a couple girls overnight one of these weekends. You chose to go to Chipotle for supper and to Cherry on Top for ice cream afterward. 

We love you!

 

Last Day of Vacation

Everyone was a little bit tired and a little bit sore but really wanted to get one last day in of skiing. This day was a little colder than any of the other days and we had a few fair weather skiers. These goofs spend some time laying in the club house in front of the fireplace. 

Emmy and Abby were the only kids that made it to the last call for the lifts. We skied until they closed it down. The boys had a blast and the girls have discovered that they also love to ski. It was crazy that while we were in Colorado, we were getting 14inches of snow at our house. Gus was staying here babysitting Lucy and he was snowed in for 2 days until we could get someone to plow the driveway. We could have used 14 inches on the mountain but not at home. It worked out okay though, the kids had 2 snow days, so they didn't end up missing as much school as they were going to. It also worked out for me for work. No one had done visits on Monday and Tuesday, so I wasn't anymore behind when I got back than anyone else.

We had an amazing vacation! I would love to make this a yearly thing, but skiing happens to be an expensive hobby. I am so glad that we have been able to teach our kids to ski. I hope that it is something they continue to do.

 

Skiing Day

Monday we all skied. It was not busy like the weekend and the weather was great! I think Emmy went down the bunny hill a hundred times! She would ski down as fast as she could and get right back in the lift line. Bob and Susie also stayed on the bunny hill to help anyone that needed it. Abby spent time on the bunny hill but then went on the green runs with everyone else. Brook and the boys took off and did their own thing. Every once in a while Robb and I would meet up with them and go on a couple runs with them. They loved the independence of just getting to do their own thing. 

The boys would ride up on the lift with Emmy, but it made them really nervous. I guess they do care about their little sis.

Emmy would go down the bunny hill again and again. When I finally took her on the green runs we used the ski leash which she was not a fan of. It was helpful because I could slow her down without having to catch up to her and hold her hand. Emmy really wanted to ski back to the cabin for lunch one day, so I decided to give it a shot. It required a slightly steep and icy blue run. I had to use all my skiing skills to keep us both upright. When we got down that Emmy was thrilled and wanted to do it again. I was exhausted and sore!

Bob helped Abby gain enough confidence on the bunny hill to start going on the green runs. Sometimes if the instruction comes from your grandpa instead of your parents it goes better. 

 

Sunday Funday

The mountain was a lot busier on the weekend which resulted in lines at the lift which was frustrating. We decided to take the day off from skiing. Jake and the girls came down from by Denver to spend the day. Jake coaches bball so Bryce was desperate to find a gym to play bball in. Jake's older girls also played basketball. Robb found a gym they could rent so Robb, Jake, Lilly, Brook, Bryce and Caleb went to play for a couple hours. Abby and Emma hit it off and did crafts at the house. Willa and Emmy had fun playing together too.

Later in the afternoon we all went to a sledding hill. This is ultimate sledding! You get to pick your hill, green, blue or black. You fly down super-fast with little to no control over where you are going. 

We found out that it could be more of a dangerous sport than we thought. I sent Susie and Emmy down the hill in a double tube and a lady was standing close to the bottom looking at her phone. Their tube hit her hard and she fell backwards hard. I was thinking that she would just get up but when she didn't Lilly and I headed down in a double tube to I could help. She was complaining that her head and neck hurt. I held her head and neck still and talked to her. It evidently takes a long time for the ambulance to get there, and we were all freezing. I held her head for 20 min or so until the EMT crew took over. I had given her friend my number and asked that she let me know how she did later. Luckily it was a mild concussion, and she was treated and released. No matter how hard I try I just can't get away from work!

The whole group.

Even after the scary incident we still had a lot of fun. My favorite was when we would hook all the tubes together and all go down at the same time. It was really fun to see Jake and the girls too. Bob made a comment later when I updated then on the woman being released and having a concussion. He was worried about getting sued for the incident and I was worried about how she was doing. Once a nurse always a nurse, even on vacation.

 

I Love the Mountains!

We had a great Saturday on the mountain. Brook and I were able to talk Emmy into taking another round of lessons. I told her she wasn't cleared to go on the bunny hill yet. Oops, little lies are okay right? Emmy did a morning of lessons that were with another little boy her age. They stayed on the ski school hill and I'm not sure she got that much out of it. We decided that I would take Emmy on the lift, and we would try the bunny hill for the day. 

Abby and Susie were having fun on the bunny hill. Granby has a great area to learn. The bunny hill is big enough to learn but pretty non-threatening.

I was a little nervous being the first one to take Emmy up the lift but she did great. I must say my skiing skills probably got better on this trip because I constantly had to worry about helping Emmy and making sure she didn't crash.

Emmy and I went down the bunny hill together time after time. I would hold her hand and we would fly down the mountain. Emmy didn't really like to turn much to start with. As we worked more and more on it, she got better at her turning. What she had going for her most of all was the fact that she has no fear. She would go as fast as she could. 

Brook had advanced to going down the greens with Robb and the boys. She was having a great time.

Bryce and I did a couple blue runs together. I love that all of our kids have decided that they like skiing.

Robb and I didn't get to ski together much and I'm not sure we ever rode the ski lift together by the time we had split up to go with the kids, but we were both having fun. Emmy reminded me that I had to put the funny story in of Robb falling hard on the ski slopes and not realizing that he ripped the butt of his boxers out. We all got a show as he started to change out of his snow pants not realizing that his underwear were ripped in half. Sorry Robb, it was Emmy's idea to add this. She said it was one of the funniest things of the year.

Brook and I were finally able to convince Abby to go up the big mountain with us and go on a green. She did great. The last stretch that was a little steep made her nervous, but she did great. 

Bryce and Caleb really liked having the independence to come and go as they wished. They liked being able to go back to the house for lunch or leave in the morning as soon as they were ready. The ski in and ski out worked great for this vacation. We had such a great time having Brook, Bob and Susie with us. 

 

Dog Sledding

Since we were staying for a week and we knew that Abby, Emmy and Susie wouldn't want to ski every day, we tried to find a couple of other fun things to do too. Susie had booked dog sledding for Emmy, Abby, Bryce, and Brook. The staff there was really good, and they answered all the kid's questions and told us about the dogs. They had a team there that was doing training for a 120-mile race. I also thought it was interesting that most of the dogs were Alaskan Huskies instead of Siberian Huskies. They are smaller, thinner and bred to race. Emmy's favorite was a dog named Pirate. All the dogs were really friendly.

Bryce was the first to go. With Covid, they were making you ride on a sled behind the musher so that 6 ft of space could be maintained. This made things a little interesting because you had to be able to lean appropriately so that the sled didn't tip over. Each ride was approx. 20min long. It was a little bit of a disappointment because this meant that Emmy couldn't go. She handled it well and had fun playing with all the dogs.

Brook went next. She was a little nervous, but she had fun once they were going.

Abby played with Nan, the grandma to a lot of the sled dogs. She was 14 and could hardly keep her eyes open most of the time but the handler said that she got really depressed if he didn't bring her and let her pull the sled at least once during the day. I thought that was pretty cute.

Abby was next to go. She had a little mishap, and they tipped the sled over, but no one got hurt and she didn't seem phased by it.

Since we had bought 4 rides and Emmy couldn't go, Susie took the last ride. We all watched for her to come around the corner. She also tipped the sled like Abby. Thankfully no one was hurt, and her beaver coat was unharmed. 

While we did dog sledding Caleb and Robb spent every minute they could on the mountain.

First Day of Skiing

We decided to go back to Granby Ranch, a smaller, family friendly mountain. We had taken the boys here to teach them to ski and it had been a good place to learn with lots of runs for beginners and all the runs come down to a single base area, so you don't lose anyone. Susie, Brook, Abby and Emmy were all scheduled to take lessons together. This made Emmy feel better about things. We all felt a little bad for the guy that got assigned to this group, but he did great. After the initial lesson Susie, Brook and Abby were ready to go on the lift to the bunny hill and just work on their skills. They encouraged us to have Emmy take one more day of lessons to work on her turning. Emmy was not so sure that she wanted to do lessons by herself. Skiing overall, after getting all the gear on, went better than expected. Abby was a slow and steady skier. She was very careful and deliberate and did well working on her turning as she went down the bunny hill. Brook did great and went on one of the green runs with me for the first time. Even Susie seemed to enjoy skiing this time around and spent the day at the bunny hill with Bob.

Robb, Bryce and Caleb were off. The boys were skiing like they didn't forget anything this time around. Robb was a little bummed because the harder part of the mountain was closed because they didn't have enough snow. It was nice because it wasn't very busy. The staff was very adamant that masks be worn and worn correctly at all times on the lifts and when you were at the base. They were taking the Covid19 precautions very serious and that made me feel better about things.

Abby had said in the past that she didn't want to ski because she doesn't like being cold. I'm glad she changed her mind. I think she will be a skier after all. 

The house that we stayed in was great! It was a ski in and ski out house and we could get on the lift from the backyard. The kids loved the hot tub outside too.