Family Visits: The Morris' come to Indiana!

Hi Y'all!

I know it has been a while since I last blogged...more than two weeks actually. BUT, some things have been going on making life crazy and busy. I didn't mean for that to sound negative if it did because God is SO good, all the time! I have a post in progress with life updates, but in the meantime I wanted to share with you about our awesome weekend last weekend!

The Morris family from Florida came to visit us! I had been looking forward to this weekend for months and I think the Morris girls had been too! Hannah and Haley are the sweetest and funniest girls to be around, we just love them! Their Mom & Dad aren't bad either!

I was able to take a half day from work on Friday and meet them at their hotel around lunch time. We grabbed a bite to eat at The Boathouse in Winona Lake and then took the rest of the afternoon pretty easy. Eventually we made it to our house where we watched Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and relaxed. Our nieces were able to come over after school too, which was great. Emma, Ainsley, Hannah and Haley were flower girls and jr. bridesmaids in our wedding and they hit it off great together. In fact, Emma and Hannah frequently write each other letters to this day. How sweet is that? Needless to say, it was exciting for them to see each other again!

We had dinner together at El Mez (our favorite Mexican place near our house) and went bowling afterwards with the girls. We had a great time at the bowling alley and I think the girls did too!

Other than visiting us and seeing our house, the purpose of this trip was for the girls to see snow. Of course, they came when we had zero snow. Actually, we had some snow...dirty snow in parking lots and on the side of the road. It didn't matter to the girls though! Saturday we drove to Michigan for some snow tubing. Once Haley got over the fact that she had to wear to many clothes (funny!) we had a great time. The girls LOVED tubing and said they could have done it all day long. This was perfect because they got to see snow...not real snow, but still. Here are some pictures from the day:

The tubing lanes...ending right in the middle of a muddy corn field.

I LOVE this picture of Haley...so cute!

At the end of the middle lane they had built a speed bump out of snow...too bad we went over it many times into the corn field. My back is still a little sore!

Beth got some great action shots while we went down the hill. I thought she was so brave to have her camera out on the ride down!

After tubing Saturday we had a sleepover at our house with Emma, Hannah and Haley. We enjoyed a night of pizza and movies. I think everyone was tired from the events of the day because we went to bed pretty early with no arguments from the girls, ha! I will say that it felt so good to lay down after our fun and adventurous day!

Sunday morning Hannah & Haley's parents met us and we went to church. After church we decided on a whim to head to a State Park we had heard about and read about in the newspaper. Pokagon State Park was a little bit of a drive for us, but it was totally worth it! They have a toboggan run that was built in the 30s or 40s that has been maintained and is still open in the winters. They have a system that refrigerates the track so you can still go tobogganing when there is no snow and the temperature us above freezing. How cool is that?

The only negative thing was the weight of our toboggans. They were 60 pounds! I think that we all got our exercise carrying those back up the hill after our runs! Oh, and they tell you your speed at the end of the run, too. Our fastest was 35mph, and the record is 42mph. That is fast!

...and they're off!

The last time we went down we were all too tired to carry our toboggans back up so we brought down the car and shoved them in the back. Redneck? Maybe! BUT, we did see other people do it. Sometimes that makes it okay!

We drove around the park as much as we could to see it, and it really looks nice. I think this may be a potential camping spot for us in the future...maybe next fall we will do some tent camping? We'll see!

Sunday night we had dinner at El Mez (again) and just took is easy...Monday was back to the grind for Stephen and back home for the Morris'. I had Monday off to take Louie to the vet (more on that later) and I was so thankful I had a day to relax and do some laundry...it was an exhausting but FUN weekend for sure! Thanks for visiting us Morris' family! You guys are always welcome, anytime! See you in Florida in 23 days! :)

Thursday-Ski Michigan!

NYE holiday weekend started around 3pm on Thursday for us. I got the okay from my boss to leave work early, which was so needed! We all layered up in snow and ski clothing and headed towards the Indiana Michigan state line. We made really good time getting there and even stopped along the way for dinner.

The woman at the ticket counter tried to talk Hunter out of snowboarding and said that it was really hard and not as easy as it looked. Hunter told her that he did not want to ski and thought that he would be able to handle snowboarding...so we were off to get fitted for our rentals! The Mr. and I had to go to the ski shop for ours and Hunter had to go to the board shop. At this point, I am the person on this trip with the most skiing experience-which is very little! Once we get all fitted and equipped for some time on the slopes we were off to find the bunny hill!

Hunter went up the rope tow first and then The Mr. and I followed later. He rode the rope tow up, then walked further up the hill, thus riding a intermediate hill down for his first time ever. While The Mr. and I were towing up Hunter went flying past us on his board. It was so funny, but of course he was good...really good. So, now The Mr. and I are at the top of the bunny hill and he goes down...I follow a little behind him. You should know that I did not like skiing the past two times I have done it, but I was willing to try again because Hunter wanted to go so badly and because I had new snow pants and a jacket. Well, I still hate don't really like it. Back to me skiing rolling down the bunny hill...I started out vertical and doing good. I was keeping my skis straight and knees bent. Sounds good, right? Well it was, until I started going too fast. I tried doing that "cut the pizza" thing that they tell you to do to slow down...it does not work-and so I resort to my only other option. I lay down. This is how I have stopped every time I have gone skiing and not felt good about my speed or the whole skiing thing in general. So I lay down, and slow down...then stop. Agh! Now I have the fun job of getting my skis off...that's another story.

At this point, The Mr. and Hunter are ready for bigger and badder slopes. I, on the other hand; opt to sit out and let them enjoy this. Thus, I am left with the backpack, The Mr.'s under layer of clothing, Hunter's ski goggles, and gloves. Honestly, I enjoyed this time. I loved it!

Hunter could have kept boarding for hours, but The Mr. was tired and I think he felt bad because I was not doing anything-so, we turned in our rentals and headed to buy tubing tickets. We did not have any idea what time it was, and as it turns out it was a little after 8pm. They sell their last ticket for tubing at 8pm :( We missed out on that opportunity.

Really the only way to get all the details of this adventure are too look at the pictures. I am warning you though, there are a lot! Here ya go:

Just got his board...ready to go!

My oh so handsome hubby!

Not so sure this is a good idea, but ready to give it a try...again!

Look at me, I am standing up :)

He was ready to go too!

At the top on the bunny hill...ready to go down. This was actually an accidental picture but I like it!

At this point he is trying to figure out how to get hooked into his board. He of course would not ask anyone...

Hunter after a run, pretty excited and ready to go again!

There he goes!

Timber Ridge at night!

Action shot of The Mr. as he went flying past me. I think this looks kind of cool!

:)

Hunter laughing so hard trying to tell me about something-I don't know if he ever got it out.

"My eyes are crying I was going so fast!"

This is what I did while the boys skiied. I layed and looked at the starts. The medic actaully came to ask me if I was okay since I had been laying down motionless for awhile. Opps!

Pro skier right there!





Jumping...on his first day. Silly talented boy!

Snow Shadows!

The end of a good night!

We had a great time at Timber Ridge and I confirmed once more that I really do not like skiing. I like snow, and I like playing in it...but that is about as far as it goes! We will be heading back to TR in February with a group from church and I will just be tubing likely. No need in wasting money again, right? :)