Scout Lake Camping

Pictures from our recent camping trip to Scout Lake.  

The Difference a Week Can Make

Last week I posted a video of Cade skiing, it has been a little less than a week and now look at the little guys moves.  Turning?!  If I don't get myself up to the mountain he is going to be better than me! 

Tyler said he was even doing some jumps with a buddy... PTL for helmets!

Little Ripper

Ski Bum

I think we are going to have a ski bum on our hands!

Cade started his ski school, Mighty Mites on Saturday and he LOVED it!  I don't know why I worried about him so much.  I was nervous for him all day, the class was from 10-3 which in itself is a pretty long day for a 4 year old.  Then throw snow, cold & wind in the mix and I was praying all day that he would have a good time.  Well my prayers were answered because he was a natural and the elements didn't phase him.  He says "mom it wasn't a big deal when it was snowing & cold because I have good clothes" 

oh ya of course you do!  And I'm so glad he did!  

Tyler was up on the mountain as well but the class is just for kids.  There are 5 kids in his class and 1 teacher.  Lucky for him he is good friends with one of them & then the other boy is in his pre school class.

On Saturday they worked on stopping and getting comfortable on the skis.  So far so good, Cade tells me "I'm really good mom!"  I didn't get to go up and watch this week but I think I may have to spy on him next week, at least for a little bit.  

I think Cade is going to be just like his dad... good at EVERYTHING he does!

The gear

Cade & Kian

Ski buddies

Christmas Tree Hunt

One of my favorite parts of Christmas, is hunting for our perfect tree and this year did not disappoint!

We always go to Jack Lake Road out past Sisters and we find the best trees!

The boys had a blast traipsing being carried through the woods.  It was cold & windy so we tried to speed the process up as much as possible.  Luckily we didn't have to walk to far and we had lots of help chopping our tree down.  Cade could not wait to get his hands on the saw & he did a great job! (supervised of course)

Not only did we get a tree, we also got some Christmas card worthy pictures.  I was starting to think that cards weren't going to happen for us this year.  The thought of getting everyone dressed, situated and smiling for a photo was just daunting to me.  But I lucked out and the good ol' self timer pulled through for a family shot & the boys hammed it up for some brother love picts.  

While I can't disclose the pictures for the card, I do have some fun ones that weren't quite right 

for the card but are still absolutely adorable! 

Blake couldn't figure out why we were walking in the woods & still can't figure out why we have a tree in our living room!!

What more could a girl ask for?

Such a tired boy

Our lovely tree

Takes lots of concentration ie. tong hanging out

Trip of A Lifetime Part 6

Day 7:  Cannes


On Thursday of our trip we found ourselves in Cannes.  The Beverly Hills of France!  Unbelievable cars, high end shopping, celebrities & home of the Cannes Film Festival.

At this stop there wasn't an actual port for the boat to dock at.  Instead they set anchor out in the ocean and we got to take the life boats in to the little docks.  We had an excursion booked for this day, however we were SO tired and really just wanted to relax on the beach.  So we had a relaxing morning and just took our time getting off the boat.

Once we made it to land we hopped on a bus to a locals beach where we just laid in the sun, swam in the ocean and had a great time relaxing and pretending to be a local :)  After we got got tired of the sun we grabbed some gelato and walked around.

The yachts of the rich

 Life boats

 Our ship from the life boat

 Awesome cars like this everywhere!

Locals beach (don't look to long you may see some topless old ladies)

Fun in the sun

Day 8:

Our final stop was in Marseille.  The stop here was very short as we had to be back on the ship by 3pm to set sail back to Barcelona.  Tyler and I opped to stay on the boat this day.  I don't have any fun pictures :(  we just laid out, went to the spa and took a nap.  It's a vacation right your supposed to do that!

The travel back home was brutal!  With an early morning flight, delays and a 9 hour time difference we  were traveling for a total of 24 hours by the time we made it to my parents house!  So tired but so worth it.

It definitely was a trip of a lifetime and we are so thankful to have gone and seen/experiences the things we did.  It was such a blessing to have my sister as well as my parents to watch our boys.  They did so good while we were gone.  We called every morning & they were usually too busy having fun playing to talk to us!  That made it much easier to be away from them.

I hope you enjoyed the re cap of our trip!!

Spain airport treat (Mc Donals icecream cones come with a kit kat!)

And they have beer!

Trip of A Lifetime Part 4

Day 5: Rome Baby!!

So I don't even know how to begin to describe our day in Rome.  I could go on and on about how amazing the sites were and how cool it was to be driving in the city and all the sudden see ruins pop up in the middle of the hustle and bustle.  Words like incredible, beautiful, and spectacular don't even begin to touch this city.

Some friends of ours had gone on this cruise last year and they recommended doing a private tour of Rome.  We took there recommendation and booked our tour with the same people.  It's called Driver Guide Service and it was AMAZING!  We invited another couple to join us so there were 4 of us.  Our guide/drivers name was Pietro and he was there to make our experience perfect for us.  We could take our time at one location and be quicker at another, stop for lunch, coffee, bathroom..  he was so accommodating and because he was from Rome he was extremely knowledgeable of all the facts and history of the ancient city.  With this tour we were able to see way more than we would have been able to with one of the excursions the cruise ship did.  We were also able to avoid all lines and had our own guide for the Vatican Museum & the Sistine Chapel.

What we saw in Rome:

Coliseum
the Roman Forum of Caesar
Circus Maximu & Imperial Palace
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
Pantheon 
Vatican Museum
Sistine Chapel
St. Peters Square

Coliseum

The middle area that is "cells" where the eild beasts, slaves and prisoners were held before they were killed

the "stage" looking floor is an example of what was laid over the top of the cells where the battles were fought

Forum

The field is the Circus Maximus where the chariot races were

The Palace behind it is the Imperial Palace

Amazing sculptures 

 Trevi Fountain

Statues on the fountain

 The size of these sculptures were incredible 

The amount of people at the Trevi Fountain

 Spanish Steps

There was a Mc Donalds in Rome... weird with the Pantheon to the side of it.  That is what was so crazy about Rome, the city is just built around all of these antient building.

Pantheon 

 Navona Square where we stopped for lunch

La Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi; one of the 4 fountaing in the square

close up of part of the fountain

Vatican Museum (in most of the Museum photos are restricted so there aren't many pictures)

Real mummies in the Museum... I found these SO cool

 Amazing painting on the ceiling.  It looks 3d w/ crown molding but it's all in the painting

Forbiden hallway to the Vatican City

Sistine Chapel

Guards guarding the Vatican city

    St. Peters Square.  The large buidling in the center is where the Pope lives

This square is where people gather each week to watch the Pope give his  speech   The white screen there in the center is used to project him on for a better view. 

   Well I hope you enjoyed your tour of Rome.  If you ever have a chance to go I highly  recommend  the service we use.  I usually don't write reviews on the websites for things but this one was so good I wanted others to know how much we liked it!