sweet home colorado: Snowy Fun!

This post is devoted to some Wintery fun we've had lately.

Mark's Aunt Sue reserved some private ice for the whole family at Evergreen Lake House at the end of January. The boys had never gone ice skating before, so we were excited to try something new with them! The weather was beautiful! Blue sky and bright sun! So it was perfect for some outdoor family fun!

The ice was actually a little soft and our skates dug in a bit.

But the boys did great trying out ice skating for the first time! Nolan wore old skates that Oma & Opa had- I think they were Uncle Brad's.

Mark is a great ice skater. So he took the boys out to practice most of the time. I am not the best ice skater...I can stay up and make my way around, but I'm not very fast or steady. But I was proud of my performance on this day! I skated in a very fancy pair of old white skates that were Cara's. But they were actually very comfortable- more supportive like hockey skates.

Nolan taking a break with Uncle Dave and Aunt Sue.

Daddy is patient and encouraging and the boys liked trying this new activity with him!

We just kept Brooks in his boots. He walked around on the ice and hogged this ball whenever he could. He looks like such a cute little dude in this pic.

We smacked some pucks around and played a little informal broom ball as well.

We brought our little pull sled and the kiddos took turns taking rides and whipping around on the ice.

Oma, Cohen, Arie, Heath, Nolan, and Brooks

After a little practice Nolan braved skating holding just one of daddy's hands.

Heath took off his skates first and RAN around on the ice with his boots on. He was literally running back and forth. Then he would wipe out, but he would just pop right back up and keep going. He was cracking me up.

Nolan took his skates off after awhile too.

Such a little lover!

Ready to head to the cabin for dinner.

Cara, Wes, and fam joined us partway through our ice time. Payton and Brady are becoming good skaters- it was fun to watch them go! By the time we took this photo Brad, Jayne, and the boys had already left for the cabin.

We had a warm chili dinner together and the boys enjoyed some indoor cabin fun! They LOVE the cabin. And we all enjoy spending time together there...such good memories made. It was a great day! Thank you so much Aunt Sue for planning this awesome day! We love you!

And then a few weeks ago, we finally had enough snow and some free time, so we planned a little impromptu night sledding. We took the boys to the park hill last year, but this year it was time to move on up to Chaparral. All the big kids at Nolan's school talk about how this is the best sledding hill around. So we were excited to give it a go. It is steeper than the park hill. And there are even areas steeper than the section we sledded on. We are already talking about tackling the bigger hill if we get more snow!

We sledded under the parking lot lights with a view of Parker in front of us.

In typical Nolan style he was hesitant the first few times we pushed him down but ended up loving it!

He did such a great job of trudging back up the hill carrying his own sled every time!

Heath was fearless. (Which was a pleasant surprise because with him you never know what you are going to get- stubborn or brave or crabby or wild or happy or crazy...this kid always keeps us on our toes!) He hopped right on the sled and went down excitedly! He also liked climbing these dirty snow hills.

He carried his sled up by himself a few times, but mostly complained while doing it, so to keep everyone happy, Mark and I dragged it back up for him a lot.

And then there's Brooks...that 3rd child has no choice but to go along for the ride. We plopped him down on the sled, gave him a push, and watched him go...

He loved it!