Birchell Family: Ski Weekend

Our traditional ski weekend was so great. The kids, Grammy, and I left Friday morning. We went straight to Gma's and Gpa's and spent the afternoon playing and visiting with them. Bronson decided there that he would not need a nap for the day… It was the first time he has ever gone without sleeping at all! We were pretty impressed with him, and he wasn't too bad either. After visiting at the condo we made our way to Bri's favorite destination at the mall, Build-A-Bear. She loves it, and always picks this hippy tie die bears. Jake and I just laugh. She had a blast, and Bronson thought it was alright. We then checked into our hotel and hung out waiting for everyone else to show up. Gma and Gpa were there right after us, and Stacia and Charlie arrived shortly after them. We visited and went to happy hour. Grammy left to pick Del and Kirk up for the airport and the kids and I went back up to the room. Bronson was breaking out into hives and his belly was hurting. He had eaten something with egg in it. He was also exhausted. When Grammy, Del, and Kirk got back we sang Happy Birthday to Stacia and then everyone went to dinner. I opted out due to Bronson. I thought he and Bear would go right to sleep, but I was wrong! They were up. Bronson would have slept but he never would puke so his belly just kept hurting him. I didn't want to give him benadryl until after he had puked because then I never know how much he really gets. Double edged sword I tell you! Jake and Papa showed up around 9, and went and got us all dinner. Then everyone came back and we all went to bed, including the kids. We woke up around 8 the next morning. They all took off skiing and Jake and I went to the Sportsman's Expo. It was so cool! There were so many people there, but there really weren't any lines. We had to wait in line for the kids to fish (Like 15 minutes) but the whole time we were in line we were able to watch the dog jumping competition. Those dogs were awesome. It was so funny watching the dogs that were scared of the water. Some boarder collie totally stole the show! The kids both fished, and Brilee caught a big one. She was so proud. We then ran into Michelle (Birchell family friend) and we were so happy we saw her. She pointed us in the direction of the baby bears. There was NO line to see them and my kids were in love. They just loved on them and couldn't keep their hands off. Bronson actually told the lady, "I bring baby bear home." She told him if he took the bear he had to take her too, and he said, "No." The bears were the neatest thing ever. After that we left. We went to costco, lunch, and then back to the condo. We visited there and then went to meet everyone back at the hotel. My Dad had some cool restaurant he wanted us to try so we met Cathy and Roger there. It was interesting. The people dumped like ten pounds of shrimp, crawdads, and crab on the table. They give you a bib and tell you to eat up. My kids (and my Mom and I) were a little hesitant. Bronson thought they were spiders and Bri just thought it was disgusting. It was such a fun experience. The next day we went back to the expo with Stac, Charile, and Grammy and then headed home. We had a blast and love this tradition we have going with our family!

This is our new cow dog Kermit. He is an Australian Kelpy. So far he has herded me while I mowed the lawn, and then today 8 of the 11 pigs got out of their pen and he herded them right up.