Bringing in the new year

Last year on New Year's Eve, we were frantically trying to find plans to celebrate the coming of the new year....so we called our friends the Parks and had a ball. So this year, we decided--what better way to bring in the new year, than with our great friends the Parks! So we called and asked if they would spend New Year's Eve with us again, and they so kindly obliged. We put the kids to bed and played games together until the countdown. Of course we're always laughing until it hurts, and this night was no different. We poured our sparkling cider, counted down to the New Year, and shortly after, called it a night.

Next morning, (after the boys ruined their bodies at yet another round of Turkey Bowl....or should I say new Year's Bowl) we hit the road to play in some snow. We picked up Audrey so the Parks' oldest daughter had someone her age to play with. We drove for a really long time and as we drove through the cottages that were supposed to be surrounded by snow, we got more and more worried. We drove so far, and at this point were sitting in traffic to get to what we hoped would be snow. After making a pit stop to buy some sleds, we finally arrived to see some dirty patches of snow and spent then next 20 minutes bundling up the kids. We trekked our way down through thorny bushes down the hill to the crowded spot. We slushed through mud and icy snow until we decided to give the small patch of snow a try. The kids didn't seem to mind and made the best of it.




Then Dan spotted some others walking a bit further up the hill and sledding fast down this icy section. I wasn't thrilled about the idea, but up he went with Allison and the sled. I was nervous. And for very good reason. The only way to stop really was to skid onto the dirty bark.
So Dan preps and gets ready to go....and then hits the ice, starts to lose control, and when the mediums changed and they hit the bark, Dan and the sled stopped... and Alli kept going and face planted right into the ground. decided she liked watching better than sledding.
The chilling part about it all, is I got it on video and as I re-watched it, I noticed she literally came millimeters from hitting a large rock the size of her head. It actually looked like she hit it in the video. Instead, she hit the bark, which DID make her lip bleed a little. My stomach dropped at the thought. I immediately said a thank you prayer for her protection. It HAD to have been divine intervention. I KNOW it was. Dan was so sore from the morning of flag football, and had THIS to add to it. (I guess he and Alli ran over a huge rock before skidding to a stop...and the rock decided to kiss Dan's thigh--OUCH!) After that, Alli
About an hour or so later, we trekked back to the car and peeled off some layers...in Dan's case, (as we discovered later) he peeled off one layer too many... and we drove back into town and decided to eat dinner at Red Robin. Dan had double-layered ski pants on and had removed the top layer...only to discover while sitting in the foyer waiting to be seated, that what he had left on, were more like black long johns. He lifted the flap in the front, trying to figure out why there was a flap on his pants, and he quickly realized what it was..., and so did another girl waiting near by. We all got a huge laugh out of that one when we were seated and Dan informed us of his realization....and the girl's.
We ate to our hearts content, and then regretted it after reading the summary book of calories. GROSS!!! We discovered that in the meal that Dan and I SPLIT....it was 6000 calories. No wonder our country's fat. Then we headed home with tired kids....and it was so late, we forced the Parks not to drive all the way home and stay with us another night. I whipped up some fantastic mini pizzookies and we fell asleep to a movie.