Sled-Happy

 What a sight!

 

 We were so excited to head up to the mountians for a play day, and of course the beautiful Sierras did not disappoint.

 

 Just look at the excitement on their faces!  We had entered a magical wonderland...

 

 Our wonderland came to an abrupt halt when we realized we needed a sled!  Luckily the service station was well-stocked, and twenty dollars later we found ourselves hurtling down the hills!

 

Being the non-snow people that we are, some of us had a harder time adjusting than others...

...though later our Ava was all smiles!

 

 Isabella was smart and nipped slips and falls in the bud by opting to sit for a spell.

 

 Owen, bless his heart, is not made for snow...

 ..or sand, or mud for that matter.

He likes his hands clean and freaks if he can't easily brush something away.  I'm sorry hon, the snow is EVERYWHERE!

That's just the way it is!

 

 Ava getting her sea-legs on...

 

 Mom and Gabriel watching from the cheap seats!

Isn't he DARLING?

I always tell him he's good enough to

EAT WITH A SPOON!

(And yes, I know we're going to have to beat the young women

off with a stick!  Maybe I should find one around here

to bring home with me...)

All my children are precious, and never more so than when they are all bundled up in hats, coats, and mittens and look just extra-squeezably soft!

 

 Scaling the wall...okay, baby hill.

 

 Nothing like a snowball fight!

 

 Look at the size of that one!  Luckily she threw it at Dad, but can you believe this child had the audacity to throw one at me while I was holding the baby!?!

Don't worry.

I got her back later!

 

 Iris' favorite pastime turned out to be eating snow.  Here she is literally SHOVELING it into her mouth.  What a funny girl!  I only wish I had some snow cone syrup for the girl...

 

 Samuel taking a break with our boys...

 

 ...while I took a turn at the sled.  I'd like to say I walked down gracefully, but I'll be honest, there was a fair amount of sliding!

 

 Wow!  This is FUN!

 

 So much so that we went back...

 

 ...again, and again!

 

 Just when you thought Owen had stopped crying, the tree under which his chair was placed shivered and sent forth a positive SHOWER of snow!  You'd have thought the sky was falling the way he bellowed!

 

 We spied several families making snow man, and couldn't leave with leaving something to be remembered by.  An Elmer Original, if you will.

 

 We like to dream big, but unfortunately our snow man was woefully small.  Why?  Gloves!  Or lack thereof, I should say!

 

 Since our snow man was of unusually small proportions, we opted to make a "snow-baby" instead.  We named him Gabriel, and even gave him the same hair-do as our son!

 

 Gabriel was pleased...

 

 ...and even gave us "hat's-off" congratulations!

(Bella noted that his bib said pooper and the dirt clods we used for eyes resembled...well, never mind!)

After all our scrambling around we worked up a mighty appetite and headed down the hill to IKEDA's.

 

 We had never been, but heard great things about the place. 

 

Sure enough, the parking lot was packed and inside tables were HARD to come by-a sure sign that the food is going to be spectacular!

 

 Luckily, before our order was up I pounced on an open table and we settled in for classic burgers and fries.

 

Except for me, I opted for the spicy Thai chicken over rice!

 

 On the way home we stopped to see Auntie Red.  We had a special delivery for one Miss V., who planned on making the trip with us but couldn't in the end.

Lucky for us, snow keeps plenty cool in the ice chest!

Happy Snow Day to you too!