Pinewood Derby Time!!!

On Saturday, January 24th, we had our annual pinewood derby.  This is the first one that Michael has raced as a scout.  

The boys designed their own cars and did everything except the initial cutting of the cars.  They decided what shape, what paint, stickers, etc.  Both boys wanted to do a Seahawk theme for their cars.  Of course we said yes!!!

The cars all checked in and ready to go.  Pinewood derby is very specific on the dimensions, weight, etc.  If you are off on anything your car is disqualified.

The Bears had opening ceremony duties bringing in the flag and saying the pledge, etc.

Michael and I ready to get the race started.  So they had a little hiccup with the computer program.  It didn't work at all.  So David and I ended up running the show.  Which ended up really well for us because instead of being there till 6 pm like always it was over by 2:30 pm.  Everybody was excited about that!!

Michael wasn't feeling real well on Saturday, so he wasn't his normal happy self.  The next day he was running a temp of 102.8, so I can understand why he wasn't up to par.

Michael's car heading down the track way in the lead!!!

AJ's car getting ready to head down the track!!!

He was getting interviewed about his car and also was able to start the race.

Both boys did excellent!!!  AJ took 2nd place in his den by .0005 of a second.  It was really, really close.  By being 2nd in his den he is able to go to districts and go against all the scouts in the area.  AJ wants to supe up his car for the district race in March.

Skiing - day 2

Since everybody wanted to go skiing we were up early and packed up the whole car since we were heading home that afternoon so we could watch the Seahawks in the NFC championship game.  We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and blue sky!!!

I couldn't help but take some pictures as we headed up to the ski area.  This is before the sun was really up, but I do love snow on the trees!!!

You can see the sun peaking out on the top of the mountain over there.

I was getting really excited with the weather the way it was.  Yesterday was great, but really foggy and this day looked to be epic!!!

As we were heading up to the ski area the boys looked at the snow and saw it sparkling!!  They were sooooooo excited!!!  They were almost giddy,  I was smiling from ear to ear!!!

Look at that big smile and the blue sky behind Michael.  He was ready to go and went to the top of the drag lift no problem!!!!

My boys so happy to be up on the slopes!!!!

You can see the snow blowers were still going full force, but it wasn't as bad today since there wasn't other snow fall and fog.  They are beginning to look like pros!!!

They are ready to take on the drag lift again!!!  Michael wasn't even flinching about going up to the top of the drag lift today!

David is doing really well on the snowboard!!

Off the boys go into the sun!!!!

They decided it was time for a rest!!  :-)  Either that or they were just waiting for their dad to get up the lift.  :-)

AJ and I at the top of the drag lift!!!  Look at that vitamin D coming down on our face!!!!

Today you can see all across the valley, it was a beautiful sight!!!!

David getting the drag lift and the snowboarding!!!!

David and I - so much fun skiing!!!  It was great!!!  There were no stops this morning, Michael skied the whole time like the rest of us!!!

It was time for lunch, by 11:30 we were all hungry and wanted to beat the ski school crowd.  We were lucky today and were able to get a table all our own.  David and AJ - aren't they so handsome?!?  I think so!!!

Me with my Michael!!!!  We enjoyed our lunch and AJ was the first one done and wanted to get back on the slopes fast!

I had to get a picture of me going up the drag lift!  :-)

David wanted to go up the chair lift to take a run once, so up we went!!!

At the top was a tower we could climb if we wanted, but we were more into the skiing!!!

Over on the next hill top so some para-skiers.  It looked pretty fun!

So Michael said he was done skiing and ready to sled and that was totally fine.  But AJ wanted to ski one last time with me and David mentioned me taking him up the chair lift.  Michael said he was afraid, but he would like to try.  Unfortunately David wanted to be done. I can't take up two beginning skiers so he had to come with me.  Michael and Daddy on the chair lift to the top of the mountain!!!

AJ and myself heading up the lift!!!

The boys at the top of the hill!!!!  They both did great getting on and off the chair lift!!!  I was so proud of them!!!  Everybody made it down the hill in one piece!!  Then Michael decided he was still a little scared but wanted to do it one more time.  So up the chair lift we went again.   

Then we headed over to the sledding hill, we took off ski boots and put on snow boots.

This gives you a little idea of the ski area, we are over on the sledding hill and the ski area is beyond the orange fence.  You can see the fog was starting to roll in again.

Michael at the top of the hill starting his slide!

AJ's turn on the blue sled - it was much, much, much faster than the other one!

Michael coming down on the other sled, it wasn't as fast, but still fun.  They had a great time sledding as well!!  We were all pretty tired at the end of the day and headed back home.  It was a much quicker ride home and we were able to get everything unpacked and settled before the game started.  It was another wonderful weekend and everybody is ready to go back on the slopes!!!!

Skiing!!!!!

On Saturday we woke up early, well David and I did, the boys were already awake, to head to the slopes.  Luckily we arrived early enough to get parking up top!!!  Everybody was excited except Michael.  He chose to do lessons with me this time and AJ was doing lesson with Thomas school again and David was also since this was the second time he has ever snowboarded.

The boys ready to go!!!

David working on getting his snowboard boots on.  He commented all day long about how nice it was to walk in these boots instead of ski boots.  He thought he was hot stuff.  :-)

My boys are sooooo hilarious!!!!  I asked them to pose and this is what I got.  :-)

Now one with their faces, much better!!!  I didn't plan the color coordination it just happened.

David is always good about taking pictures of me and the boys!!!!  I don't quite join in the color coordination, but I still think we look good!!!

AJ riding the drag lift like a champ.  Just like riding a bike - he took to it quickly.  He had about 30 minutes to ski before his lessons started.  Since he was put into the intermediate one this time, I thought it might be good to take a few runs before he started lessons.

This is what Michael wanted to do - play in the snow and have a snow ball fight!  Unfortunately the snow wasn't good packing snow, but that didn't stop him from having fun!!

I had never seen snow bikes before.  But they are pretty interesting.  You put small skies, boot size, on your feet and head down the hill.  Very different, but they seemed to have fun.

AJ skiing down the hill ready to hit the lessons!!!

Michael found a comfy seat, when I told him it was time to get out off  because we were going to ski.  So as I said Michael didn't want to ski.  So we started off with me dragging him up the hill a short ways and then skiing down with me walking in front of him.  I can tell you I got my workout in for the day!!  We did this a few times and he said he wasn't going to do the lifts at all, but I told him  yes he was because I paid for one.  Michael wanted a break so I told him I was going to go and look for his dad.

David learning about the snowboard before they get on the hill.

David also did a lot of hiking, since he was a beginner, they didn't do the lifts at all during the 2 hour lesson.

You can see how foggy it was, this is even a little cleared up.  David sitting and waiting for his turn to go down.  So after that I went back and hauled Michael up the hill some more.  He finally said he would go on the lift but only up to the first orange one (this is where I had been hauling him up anyway, but at least this way I didn't have to pull anymore).  He was able to get the drag lift right away and up he went.  Then he was done and we had about 30 minutes to wait for David and AJ so we went and sat in the car for a little bit.

Then off for some lunch with my goofy boys.  AJ by this point wanted to get back on the mountain.  So he took off a little before we did and was skiing.  I am sooooo glad he loves skiing!!!

And of course their pouty faces!!!  They always make me smile.

Michael skiing - he was getting braver as the day went on.  He went to the 2nd orange pole which was about half way up.  I told him I would follow him and get off when he did.  I didn't want to push because he was actually skiing!!

AJ caught up with us.  He would go to the top and then ski down to meet us.

AJ having a great time heading up the lift!!!

You can barely see him - but that is David snowboarding.  Our visibility was getting worse as the day went on.  But he was doing really well!!!

Michael's turn going up the lift.  He said he wanted to go all by himself and I was to stay at the bottom!  I finally had him comfortable that he could stop when he wanted to stop which was a huge improvement over last year!!!

David heading up the drag lift.  He hung with us the rest of the day working on his skills as well!!!

Michael in action, concentrating hard.  I am so proud of how far the boys have come with skiing!!

And when they were done, it was snowball fight time.  I asked for one run by myself up the big mountain.  I had been going really slow all day and wanted one run to go my speed.  So I headed over to the chair lift while David stayed with the boys.

The boys skiing/snowboarding down the mountain!!!!

I LOVE this picture!!!!  Look at those smiles on their faces - all of them were having a great time and so was I!!!!  We left the mountain around 4:30 and we were all pretty tired.  Luckily I had a crock pot at home waiting for us, we played some games and then had dinner.  We had a discussion at dinner as to whether they wanted to go skiing the next day or not.  It was unanimous, everybody wanted to go back skiing, even Michael (the one who didn't want to ski)!!!  I was excited to go back!!!  So after a little wrestling, a few more games and a little packing we hit the sack.