Winterfest with a Bunch of Characters

We've been out all last week (hence the sporadic posting).  Well, we haven't just been out.  We've been in the mountains.  Covered in snow.

We were able to take a family trip with Papa, Grandmere, Uncle B and Aunt B and their seven children.  Yep, our motto of "Go, go, go" may have hit it's all time high.

We traveled to Beech Mountain, NC.  From all respects, we had perfect "skiing" weather.  It was clear the day we came up, snowed the next day, clear the next, snowed a lot the next day, and then clear and cold after that.  By the time we had to leave, the roads were all clear.  We praised God throughout the week for the weather He sent.  We fully expected to just see snow on the slopes and at the ski resort, however, we had it everywhere.

So, while we continue to unpack, and recover from a stomach bug (we traveled didn't we???), I'll share a few things I need to remember:

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Liam got a kick out of telling his aunt and uncle jokes.  They encouraged it too.  At one point, Liam announced, "It's flowing out of my brain and down to my tummy."

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Our nephew H (once described as Liam on speed but has since slightly, ever so slightly toned down to "just like Liam"), has now been renamed as "Me too."  Everytime we (especially Mark or I) would announce we were going to do something, he would pipe up, "Me too, Me too."

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H is also quite the daredevil/stunt artist.  Mark was able to observe him on skis as he went down the learners' slope and straight into the mesh gate.  He and Uncle B were exclaiming, "H stop, H stop!"  And as he quickly neared the gate, "H fall!  H FALL!"  They continued to watch as he ran into the gate, bounced off, laughed, and turned and skied off.

I got to observe this daredevil spirit when we went ice skating.  He got tired of waiting on his mom to take him around the rink so he just took off without anyone.  Skated two steps, fell hard, laughed, and got back up and did it again....wash, rinse, repeat.

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Mark and I both got a kick out of the sweetness of the cousins.  They all played together so well (which was a blessing in place crammed with nineteen people).  We got to watch Josiah cuddling with a cousin to look at a book.

Mark told me about Zoe and Cousin O on the slopes.  They would  race Mark to the lift, get in on a lift in front of him and he would watch them giggle and talk and play the whole way up.  It really warmed our hearts!

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We learned that all ski personnel are dudes.  When we referred to any of them we would say, "There was this dude."  As we discussed this, I remarked my snowboard instructor (yes, I said snowboard...yes, I tried snowboarding), was old.

Aunt B replied, "He's an old dude."

By the end of the week, we even had Papa calling them dudes.

Is that all the funnies???

I think that's enough.  Stay tuned for pictures, between the three families, we have about four hundred of them...don't worry, I won't totally bore you with unbelievably cute pictures of my kids, nieces, nephews, and family...or maybe I will (insert evil laugh here).