Snow Tubing

We had a family day today. C and I both had the day off so we went snow tubing. Ry had a blast as you can see in the video we made. Actually we all had a great time. Whitetail is only about 20 minutes from our house so we didn't spend half the day in the car which is very nice. At one point it was snowing so hard that everything was white, yet when we got back home, nothing. We may go again very soon!


When asked later that night if he had fun Ry said we were tubing "
Rocket Style"!

Ry had a great Xmas. Here are a few pictures of our fun....

Before the madness

This was probably one of his favorite things

He was pretty happy about this one too.

This was the squeaky mouse he asked for, he seemed pleased with it.

After the madness!

Holiday Baking

Ry and I did some holiday baking this weekend, as in, all we did this weekend was bake!

Here is Ryan helping me put the lemon sandwich cookies together. Thanks to Karli for the recipe. They turned out perfect!

These are the chocolate peanut butter candy that mom always made. Thanks JuJu for providing mom's recipe and then the advice on shaping them! They turned out beautifully!

Here we have the Chocolate Mint Squares, which despite this picture turned out really well. and Haylee's "Easy Almond Roca", which even though it looks great in the picture did not turn out at all. I guess I didn't get it hot enough, because it didn't set up.

After the baking was finished Ryan went off to play, he came back and said "Mom, let's be Superheros" This was his "Superhero Getup" A lunch box and the straps to some exercise equipment. I'm not sure who he is supposed to be, but he was pretty serious about it.

Gingerbread House

Having just gotten back from our trip, I knew that I wanted to spend the weekend at home, leaving the house a few times as possible. Then Saturday morning Ryan woke up sick. He had a sore throat, slight fever and according to him a frog in his mouth. So, I knew we wouldn't be doing much of anything. I got a Gingerbread House kit to entertain us. Hard as it is to believe, I don't think I've ever put one together before. I certainly wasn't brave enough to try making one from scratch. I was a little worried how it was going to turn out, but it was really pretty easy and I think it turned out great. Ryan loved it and it perked him up from "the sickness" for at least a little while.

The finished project!

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico was so much fun.  The weather couldn't have been better, the beach was fabulous, and our hosts were wonderful!  Here are a few of highlights:

(I know I have more to say about this trip, but since we missed our connection flight last night and ended up getting home really late.  I am still too sleep deprived to think of anything clever to write.  I'll try to add more later.) 

This is a view from the beach we spent most of out time at.  We loved it because we were protected from the big waves by the rocks.  Ry really loved swimming here.

This is in San Juan

Lisa and Ryan trying to climb the wall to get into the City

More beach time

Happy beach girl

These were at the Lighthouse Park

This is a view of some of the Park. 

And even more beach time...

Okay so this was at the "Bird Park" ( I can't remember what it is actually called).  Ryan was pretty freaked out by the birds but said he wanted to feed them.  It was pretty chaotic.  

Happy Thanksgiving

As a family we have a lot to be thankful for, everyone is health, and doing pretty well. Mostly, Ryan and I are thankful that we get to leave this cold weather in 6 days and enjoy the warm PR sun.

I hope everyone has a nice holiday!
We miss you all!

Favorite things.....

Right now, one of Ryan's favorite toys is his trains. He doesn't like set the train tracks up in circular routes, however. He's more of a cross-country kind of guy. In the pictures below he put all the tracks together in one big line that stretched from one room to the other. Then he would run from one end to the other waiting for Thomas to arrive so he could turn him around. I don't know, but I think he might have a bright future with Amtrak some day.