Midway Ice Castle

Saturday the older boys and I went to see "Frozen", and then we all headed up to Midway to a real ice castle. It wasn't quite as magical as the one in "Frozen," but it was pretty cool and we had a great time. We met up with those great Cardon cousins again which always makes every adventure better.

 It is kind of amazing that the place was still standing after these two were there, but it was obviously made to hold up to a couple crazy three year olds breaking off icicles. 

 There were passageways to walk through on the outsides of the main fountain. We probably like that part the best. No idea how all of this was made, but there were people working on it all the time that we were there. Clearing the path of broken icicles and cutting new ice blocks. It was pretty interesting.

 These three are cute, even with Finn and Caleb looking on.

 This tunnel was very cool, but very narrow too.

 We arrived to discover that Stacy and I were wearing matching coats... and so were Caleb and Nathan. It's because we are awesome.

 When it started to get dark, there were even lights inside the ice.

Christmas 2013

We had the best Christmas. I already mentioned that my kids are at great ages for this sort of fun, and they really are. They slept until almost 7 and then had a great time with all of their gifts.

Wyatt was super excited to see what Santa brought, but then kept asking if some of it was for him.

 These guys know how things work by now and had a good time checking it all out.

 Wyatt got the Epic Perpelexus because he had already conquered the Rookie and the first two levels of the original. He spends some time every day doing at least one perplexus and loves them. He has been asking for this 12 and older version for months.

 They also got some new wii games to keep them busy on cold winter days.

Finn got a new monkey that he couldn't stop hugging.

 We spent our day in pajamas eating tasty food (mostly all made by Caleb) and playing with toys and some of us even got to take a nice Christmas nap. It was joyous.

 Henry got out of his pajamas so that he could wear his new belt and clip his new ipod to it.

 And Gavin even tied his own new tie... since he had to do it before we would let him open any more presents.

 There was also some exploring to do with new flashlights with light up handles... just like Christmas lights.

And of course there were several hours spent building legos.

 Caleb made us his tasty maple bacon cinnamon rolls and then smoked the turkey on the grill. It was all very tasty.

 We couldn't have asked for a better day to spend together.

The Eve of Christmas

We really love our Cardon Christmas Eve Festivities.

We make sugar cookies (picture courtesy of Gavin).

 And then we decorate them for Santa.

 And a few for us to eat as well.

 Then opening new Christmas pajamas. The kids can hardly stop for a picture once they find out it is time.

 This year we decided to read the Christmas Story before watching Muppet's Christmas Carol. As soon as Jaren heard his dad start reading, he ran and grabbed the little people's nativity and started to set it up with Wyatt's help. Those two are always a little rowdy, but it was fun to see them want to get all of the people and animals in the right place around the baby Jesus.

We then watched the Muppet's Christmas Carol and there may have been a little ping-pong challenges on the side (and the drinking of some Bundeburg Apple Beer)... you have to stay occupied during the slower parts, of course.

Christmas Eve Sledding with Cousins

We had quite the sledding adventure on Christmas Eve. We showed up at a big hill that had gotten rained on that morning and was a solid sheet of ice... with and amphitheater at the bottom. Right away some red flags went up as Mallory and Claire headed down the hill for the first run and almost crashed into the cement wall at the bottom. The next couple runs involved people crashing into the hay bales at the bottom at full speed, and then Finn getting crashed into by Libbie and then Henry. He ended up with a little road rash on his face, despite the fact that he landed on top of Libbie. The fun didn't end there... Libbie ended up missing a hay bale and being clothes lined in the ribs by a cable that supports the amphitheater roof. That was the end of that ice hill, and that was only after about 10 minutes.

Here are a few action shots. Nathan and Jaren only coming from half the distance.

 Mia showing no fear.

 Claire and Mallory making a turn away from the chaos.

 Can you tell by Gavin's face that he sees a hay bale fast approaching for the second time in a row?

 Caleb screeching to a halt.

Finally we loaded up and went to a much smaller hill for a lot less excitement, but still plenty of fun.