A Road Trip, A Snowy Winter, and A Baby

Ok, stop freaking out!  I know you all read that title and the only words you saw was "a baby".  No, I am NOT having another baby.  A sweet friend of ours had her long anticipated little one arrive this month and we are all very excited for her.  More on that later.

So first I will apologize for taking so long to update this here little blog.  I have received many complaints that it has been so long since an update.  So, I am so very sorry.  I will update you all on what has happened these past few months and give you all glimpses of our lovely little faces.

The last post was the big winter storm we received the day we were leaving for vacation.  We headed off that afternoon through all that snow and headed to Missouri to see some of Cameron's family.  I have been begging him to see them for a very long time so we were all excited 1. to be going on vacation and 2. to be seeing family whom we hadn't seen in so very long.

So we started out with our typical Richie trip glitches.  Our power plug up front decided to stop working.  Not that big of a deal except it meant no GPS.  So we had to stop and buy a road atlas.  I was secretly glad.  I love using a map and finding the way on my own.  As I cracked that atlas open I was instantly transported back in time to our family road trips.  I could hear my Dad's voice teaching me how to read the map, how to add up how many miles to our next stop, how to tell where the next rest stop was, what the different color roads meant.  Very nostalgic that little map!  I loved being my Dad's co-pilot.  Loved it until I would doze off and he would whack my arm out from under my head.  Ahhh the memories!

Our trip was a wonderful, relaxing vacation.  I love seeing family that from the very beginning are instant friends and even though you haven't seen them in so long it is like you just saw them yesterday.  All the kids who had never met were instant friends and I barely saw my children the whole week.  Seriously, I saw them in passing as they went from one house to the other.  So much so that I barely got any photos the whole week.

We went geocaching one day.  We learned a couple of very important lessons.  1. it really is not fun to geocache in the cold.  Really, trying to find the micro caches when your hands are freezing takes all the fun out of it; and 2. it is much more fun in one vehicle or on foot than trying to coordinate two vehicles.  But we really did have so much fun.  We love that Missouri bunch and can't wait to get back there again.  This summer you Funderburgs, be prepared we are coming back!

On to our snowy winter.  We are so glad the white stuff was back this year.  Snow on the ground is much more fun than ice on the ground.  Yes, there is a difference.  That snow we got right before our vacation was the start of the snow this winter.  It has been on the ground since that day.  We have had a few warm days where some of it melted off but for the most part we have had snow covered ground all winter.  The kids have had soooooo many snow days this year.  Which means they have to make some days up, but they were pretty happy with all those free vacation days.  And what is there better to do on a snow day but have a snowball fight.

We love the snow.  Love the sound of it crunching under our feet.  Love the snowball fights, the snow forts, the snowmen.  Watching it fall outside as we are cozy around the fire inside.  Yep, we are pretty much in love with all the seasons up here in the great north.

On to that gorgeous little baby.  Our good friends welcomed their beautiful little girl this month.  Rachel and I were privileged to throw them their shower.  They were so excited to be having a girl so we overdosed them with pink.  It was beautiful.  And the new little baby girl is even more beautiful.

I apologize again for the long wait, thank you for being patient with me and I promise to TRY and post more often.  Love you all!

Photo of the Week - Week 45 - SNOW DAY!!!

Week 45 of 52

Location:  Mecosta, MI
Subject:  Warm Snow Day

As has been discussed, we did not have any "real" snow in November or December.  January on the other hand, has given us plenty.  So much so that the kids had three snow days in a row with a weekend and a holiday thrown in between so they were off school Friday through Wednesday.  Whew - thank goodness for snow plows and salt!  Thursday they were off to school.

One of the snow days turned out to be pretty warm.  Well warm as far as a Michigan winter is concerned.  We got all the way up to a balmy 40°.  All the beautiful snow covered trees dropped their white blankets and we headed out to play in the white stuff.

J. and Z. had been working on a sled run and finished it off with a jump or two so the could catch some air.

Which they did.  Then they decided two would go down much faster than one so they gave that a whirl.

Then A. finally decided to come out and join us.  No sledding down hills for her however.  She said she would have until they added the jumps.  Our goal this year is to get her to discover the thrill of flying down the hill on a sled.  So far mission goes unaccomplished.

Probably because she saw too much of this:

Anyway they had a ball on their snow days and were not too happy to be headed back to school.  But soon enough they will be tired of all the snow and be whining about when it will be gone and summer here so they can head out to the lake.