Whoops, I never posted these pictures from our Big Sky trip! It ended up being a few day longer of a trip than we originally planned, but that was fine with us!
Rylan was supposed to have a PE tube put in his left ear the week before we went, but then the surgery was rescheduled because of a death in the Doctor's family. We had planned to leave town on a Friday after school, and Rylan's surgery was the Thursday before. We figured he would be fine to go to school on that Friday, but weren't totally sure, so his teacher had sent home all homework for Thursday/Friday and the whole following week.
Rylan's tube surgery went perfectly and he seemed back to normal by that afternoon, but after watching the weather forecast of snow and ice coming, we packed up quickly and left town on Thursday evening. It was a good thing we did too, because we probably wouldn't have been able to leave until Saturday morning if we had stayed. We drove to the ranch Thursday night and the rest of the way to Big Sky on Friday. Here was our packed truck!
Dutch was only 8 weeks old at the time, so he got to ride inside the cab between the kids. He was such a good puppy the whole trip. Dora made the trip with him too!
The kids were allowed to use their iPads on the trip, but Rylan also made a bunch of bracelets on his Rainbow Loom, Mackenzie took naps, and I read a few Lego Ninjago chapter books out loud to everyone.
Our fearless leader!
My attempt at a 'look-off-into-nowhere, super-cool, don't-care-attitude' selfie in my new $10 gas station aviators! (because I forgot my sunglasses) Haha! If you're real quiet you can hear Nick laughing at me telling me I'm so lame!
The first day there, Nick went out looking for animals one day and this Big Horn Sheep was the perfect model, showing off all sides!
There was lots of playtime outside - the weather was so nice!
Giggling girls
Dutch exploring another new place.
Gosh, look how small he is! He was only 12 pounds when we got him, so maybe 15 pounds in these pictures. Last week I took him to the vet, he's up to 33 pounds already!
Nothing like fresh mountain air!
A grandpa, 3 kids, and 4 dogs.
Dutch's first real playtime in the snow.
Grandpa and Ella
First day on the slopes, heading up the magic carpet. We weren't sure how Mackenzie would do since last year she had zero control and didn't seem too excited about it all.
Grandpa helped her down the bunny hill the first time and she made so much progress - she passed 2 ski school levels and was going on the lifts and down easy greens by the end of the week. So awesome!
Skiing with her class
Nick often would go ahead of us and take pictures as we came down. He doesn't wear a helmet (I'm working on it though) so I got to wear the goPro.
Randy aka Grandpa
Our little snow bunny, doing so well!
Brian
Katie
This was a great shot! I got real close to Nick as he was taking pictures and he got it!
I know these look the same as the ones I posted last year, but that view can never get old!
Riding the chair lift with my sweet guy! Rylan did so well again this year. He also passed 2 levels in ski school and did so awesome! I felt like we hardly saw him though because he wanted to do full days of ski school every day, so we only saw him when we dropped him off and then when we picked him up! The last day we had him just ski with us and he was actually a little disappointed that he wasn't going to ski school again. But we had a fun time - he showed us some neat little trails to go on and knew right where the natural half-pipe was that I had never been on. I knew it wouldn't be long before I was the one following him!
A dip in the hot tub every night was a must! I was sore every day, but couldn't possibly take a day off - we had to take advantage of all the nice weather. We were on the mountain 6 days in a row, it was so awesome!
Every Thursday is race day in ski school - every kid in afternoon lessons gets to be in the race. They used all the real starting/finishing equipment, had bib numbers and everything. Rylan was cruising down the mountain, doing great!
But it had been snowing hard all day and with the thick powder on a flat spot, his upper body went faster than his skis and he wiped out. But he did great getting back up to finish strong!
They all got a medal and had a great time!
Our first (of many I hope) family photo on the slopes. Nick and I snowboard and the kids both ski.
The last afternoon we took Mackenzie with us as well, but after her morning lesson, she was tired out, so it took us a long time with many breaks to make it down. Here she was lying down for a break while I sat beside her. Thank goodness Randy was with us, he had to ski backwards the last little steep part with her holding his poles. Her little legs just couldn't take any more! Both kids did so well though! We can't wait to go back again next year!
