Part 5: 1/1/11

Dash and my dad in front of the lodge where we stayed on this trip.  Evergreen had two units and a basement apartment.  We all fit.

There was a lot of snow, which made for good skiing and snow-boarding and sledding.

 

My niece, above.  She’s absolutely adorable, and won’t let the ‘boys’ in her class get too far ahead.  In fact she made it down the hill quicker quite often.

This is my Graham.  Cute, cute, cute!  He loved the helmet, thought it made him faster.

Gus, the ski instructor, with Miss M. (my niece), Graham and another ‘friend’, who was in their class.

Zeke, above, watching Graham in his lesson.  Eric is below.  It was cold, so you had to be COMPLETELY covered.

Angelina in the foreground.  And the beauty of the mountain below.  The little kids got to ‘ride a magic carpet’ to get to the top of their slope.

Eric, Angelina, and Zeke coming through the trees.

We had a little scare with keys.  A set of keys to one of the rented vehicles (not our van, thank goodness) was lost for a couple of hours.  Of course, this was during the time when we needed the vehicles to get everyone to Mass!  But, Eric made two trips and everyone in the group made it to Mass.  We all prayed for a special intention … and the keys were found about an hour after Mass.  Anyway, my brother Doug is always one to poke fun.

Eric and I served the meal on our last night together in Whitefish.  It was going to be Burrito Lasagna, but it morphed into ‘create your own’ burritos.  We served it up with Strawberry Margaritas and topped it with Fake Fried Ice Cream.  All in all, it turned out well.  The Margaritas helped!

And that, my dear friends and family, is the end of the pictures.  We were in Whitefish another couple days, but I didn’t take a single snapshot!  We were all supposed to leave on the train early Sunday morn, but our train was ‘cancelled’.  We were all left messages telling us to ‘find alternative transportation’!!  Needless to say, the last day was a bit chaotic.  However, thanks to Pat, who travels Amtrak … A LOT… all who wanted to get back on the train in a few days were able.  My mom called a hotel and made reservations within minutes, so we had a place to stay (couldn’t stay at the condos because the next party was due to arrive Sunday afternoon).  So, on Sunday we all departed, in different ways. 

Eric, the kids, and I skied while Louis spent his first day ever in childcare.  I was able to go in whenever needed to nurse him (the Kid Center is located on the mountain).  My brother Collin’s family and my parents packed up and hung around town until they could check into the hotel.  Pat and Anna hung around until they needed to head for the airport in the early afternoon.  Doug’s family, Julianne’s family and Eric M. all left by vehicle early Sunday to make the trek back to ND and MN. 

On Monday, Collin and my dad took a guided snowmobile trip.  They had an amazing time.  Anne, my SIL, and I scheduled massages and my mom was treated to a pedicure.  Eric and the kids went to a waterpark for the afternoon.

Tuesday, January 4, the rest of us finally boarded the train for the trek home.  We arrived in Stanley in the middle of the night and then loaded our vehicles and drove to my parents’ farm for a few hours sleep.  We left at 7am the next morn because Angelina had an ortho appt in Fargo that afternoon. 

I’m still trying to catch up.  Thank goodness it’s winter and I’ll get a few storm days to make me feel sane again!  While we are all a little more leery about train travel in winter, it’s still a wonderful way to travel with kids.