More Winter Wonderland Fun!

 The next day Uncle Damian came back down for another round of croquet...they had to improvise and use some brooms and take turns with the mallet since most of the mallets were broken yesterday.  They still had a good time though!

 Justin spent most of his time as the human zamboni, clearing the ice to keep it nice for skating.

 Uncle Sid was up for dinner at Aunt LeAnns, so he decided to pop down for a visit...and look for his dogs :)

We finally brought the fire pit down to the ice so we can have a fire while skating sometimes.  We didnt have one today, but im looking forward to skating and warming up by the fire soon!  Why, just look at how cold my beer got sitting outside!  Cant have it freezing on me now :)

What a day!

Ice Croquet

 Two days ago, the Doc told Jordyn to take it easy...so what do they do...put on their skates and play a little ice croquet!  :)  I guess thats better than the rope swing though!

 Jordyn takes a cheap shot on Uncle Damian while he's retrieving another ball...but no worries, he's back in the game and ready to go!

 Jordyn tries to steal the ball from Daddy with no luck, but they did manage to break three of our mallets!  Doh!  Maybe we should invest in some real hockey gear?

After the game, we warmed up with cocktails and cookies...what a great combo!

Happy Thanksgiving ~

 Thanksgiving morning was snowy, chilly and icy...in fact, i was half tempted to back out of our dinner with the family in town, but we decided to take it nice and slow, and give ourselves plenty of time to get to the restaurant, so away we went.  Thats right, we all met up at a restaurant...the Cracker Barrel in Loveland.  Originally we were going to go to Grandma Anita's new place, but they couldnt house a party of 23, so the family improvised and picked the Cracker Barrel instead.  On the way down the mountain we saw these gorgeous big horns in the snow, so we stopped to take a few photos. Im still trying to learn all the ins and outs of my new camera, so i only got a few good shots before they got away, but at least I got a few.

 The restaurant was incredibly crowded, and we had a reservation, but folks were camping at their tables, and we had to wait for over half an hour to be seated.  That would have been fine with me, because they have a big beautiful gift shop at the entrance, but it was so crowded in the gift shop, that folks couldnt even find a place to stand, let alone move around.  A bit of a nightmare really...but we were all in good spirits and it gave us a chance to visit some, so all was well.

 They ended up splitting our group up, so the kids sat at one table and the adults sat at a table next to them...hey, sort of like a dinner at home after all :)  It was loud and cramped but the food came out quickly and it was delicious.  I would love to come back and experience this restaurant on a much calmer day, as it was quite charming otherwise!  Most of the family ordered the Turkey Special, but im not a big fan, so i opted for the ribeye, which came with a salad, broccoli and grits!  Yep...i couldnt resist grits...havent had them since our trip to New Orleans :) YUM!

After dinner most of the family went their own way, but Justin and his stepbrothers Todd, Troy and their families all headed to Frank and Pats, so thats where we went too.  Its been almost two years at least, since we were all together, so we wanted to have more time visiting with one another.  At Frank and Pats house, we played Balderdash for a while, listened to the guys play music while Mandy sang, and enjoyed some laughs with the family.

 John and Jamie were out from St. Louis, so it was great to visit with them too!  We couldnt believe how much the boys had changed since we had seen them last, we almost didnt recognize Tanner and Jarod!

 When the sun set we headed home.  Thankfully the roads were a lot less icy than they were that morning, so the drive home was less stressful.  It was a nice visit with everyone, but now im beat!

G'nite everyone....Happy Thanksgiving!!!

More Ice Skating Fun ~

Thanksgiving break was kicked off in the morning by road crew worker Jordyn, setting up hot wheels all over the living room!  Then as it warmed up a bit...and i mean, it finally made it into the double digits, we decided to go outside and hit the ice!  Literally!

 Aunt LeAnn decided to join us on the ice for a bit, and then Justin decided to use Jordyn as a human shuffleboard piece!

 Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

 Does this look like a bad idea?  Rope swinging your way onto the ice wearing a pair of ice skates?!?  Well, I thought so, but hey, she's fine right, shes wearing a helmet...

 whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

 She started out slowly, just putting her feet down on the ice to glide away as she let go of the rope, but each time she got a little more daring, until she was basically letting go of the rope and landing on the ice at full speed!  She beefed it right after this shot and smacked her cheek.  I should have stopped it there, but she continued to "launch" herself onto the ice, which we have video of by the way!  Yikes!  She ended up smacking her face again, only that time she went down pretty hard.  She started to complain of a headache and telling us how tired she was, so we thought, "here we go...", so we loaded her in the car and took her to the ER, just to play it safe.  Doc said it was a possible mild concussion and to take it easy for a few days.  So there it is....no more stunts like that until she gets a full face guard helmet!!!  It was still a fun afternoon, thought the icy drive home was a bit stressful...kinda glad Justin was driving instead of me!  Happy skating everyone!

Ice Skating Fun ~

 Jordyn and Daddy broke in the new ice today...it was a little rough, but still lots of fun!  Even Kato got in on the action!

 Jordyn did pretty good considering it was her first time out all year...here she is trying to look cool, right before she beefed it!

 Then of course, Daddy had to photo-bomb her!

Gotta love life at the black bear!

Pot Belly Fun ~

 Spent the afternoon having lunch and cocktails with these lovely ladies and we had a blast!  Lots of laughter and fun!  Been a while since i did anything like this, so we promised to do it again soon...in fact, we are planning an overnight in Golden after the holidays...and i cant wait!

A Saturday afternoon with friends....good times!

SNOW ~

Heres a shot of the house as we were pulling out for school this morning....and no, the roads to school were not plowed yet!  We got 7 inches of snow at our place, but there was 10-12 inches on the Manhattan Road, but still a beautiful drive! 

Cuddles with Kato ~