Tubing Fun

We had a great weekend with our good friends, the Salyers. It was both families first time to "hit the slopes". . . No, we didn't ski, but I would say that tubing will be the closest that I come to a ski slope. I was watching some of the skiiers come down the slopes, and thought, "hmmmm, I might like to do that", and then I saw the man being carted off on a backboard by the EMT's and taken off in an ambulance, and thought otherwise. . I will probably just stick to tubing. . .

Our weekend started off on Sunday after church. After about an hour and a half drive, a few curvy roads, and Macey getting a little car seat-we arrived in Boone, NC. The kids were so excited because there was snow all over the ground. Unlike our house. Our first stop was the Mast General Store. I love to go here. It is just an old-fashioned store, that is downtown. They have lots of "barrels of candy" that we had when we were children. Lots of neat things, good deals, and HEAT. When we got out of our cars in Boone-It was absolutley freezing!! I think the temperature was something like 17-plus it was windy. We all thought, "we are going to freeze to death tomorrow" (But it ended up being the most perfect day ever on Monday-Sunny, no wind, and the kids actually got too hot-believe it or not!) After our stop downtown, we decided to go on to our motel and warm up. . . We just spent the afternoon watching some awesome football games. (These pictures were taken with Macey's camera that she got from Santa. . We chose not to take my camera for fear of something happening to it. . . Her camera is pretty nice too--She is in the process of starting her own personal blog to post all of the pictures that she is taking. I will post the link when she and I are finished with it)Cade loved playing some of Landon's DS games. . . Cade just has 2 games, and Landon had tons for him to pick from. . . He enjoyed himself. . Ian watching the Packers game. . . . . Then we decided it was time for dinner, and we headed to my and Lisa's favorite restauraunt-Ruby Tuesday's. . .They have the BEST salad bar ever. . . Once we got everyone back in the motel, air mattresses inflated, and sleeping, it was almost midnite. . . and they were so excited about our upcoming day of tubing. . . .

Here is a picture of us heading up the hill to Ski Hawksnest. . .

We are here. . and we got the last 8 tickets for the 11am session. . so we were so excited. . .only 30 minutes and we get to go tubing. . Here is Ian getting on all of his layers. . . we made the kids wear quite a few. . .Macey and Cade too cute. . .and ready to go. . .Here is a picture of the tubing runs. . . We couldn't wait to get down there. . .Posing for a picture before we headed to the runs. . .

Here is list of the rules that we were to abide by. The rules made Macey a little nervous. . . She was afraid that her feet wouldn't touch the ground to stop herself. . She gets a little nervous about anything that she tries that is new to her. . .But she had a great time. . . Here we are looking at the ski slopes. . Lisa is taking a picture of the slopes. . . not knowing I was taking a picture of them. . . : )Here are the slopes with the snow blowers in action. . . The kids thought this was too cool. . . Landon, Cade, Macey and Ian ready to go!!!!

The Allen Family. . . Thanks Lisa for taking this pic for us. . .We love our Winter Family Photo!!Cade loved just playing in the tubes. . before he even went down the hill. . .He is too funny!Macey sitting here, worrying, and very nervous about her first trip down the hill...Ian and Landon. . . no nerves there. . .They were ready to head down the hill. . They actually got pretty good and skipping line. . and no one seemed to even notice. . . except mom. . . Lisa and I took a turn by ourselves. . Cade rode on Lisa's lap. . .He laughed the whole way down. . The more times we went, the faster we went, because the snow got packed down. . This last time down the slopes--we flew!!!
Cade had hat head when we got back to the van. . . Too cute. . .Everyone is tired and hungry. . . Macey ready to go and eat some lunch. . . Daddy with 2 of his babies. . .Ian rode with Brian and Lisa. . .Ian and Landon had a great time riding together in Lisa's car. . . Me and Miss Mace. . .She had a rough day. . She went down 2 or 3 times and then got really sick at her stomach. . She got too hot, and had to take her coat off, and I think the motion gets to her. . She isn't going to be a "ride person" like the rest of us. . . Bless her heart. . . Love you Macey.James and I. . . We had a great time this weekend. . . Thanks for taking off from work so we could all go!! Love you honey. . . Thanks Lisa and Brian for a great weekend!! We had a great time with you guys. . . The kids are already talking about going tubing again before winter is over. . . .

A couple more "Thank You's" are in order. . . Thanks to Mamaw and Papaw Horne for buying the kids waterproof "gear", snowpants, boots, ect. Thanks to you guys--they all stayed dry and warm. . . also thanks to Kurt and Bicki for letting me use your child's snow boots. . .(yes, I do have that small of a foot!!)that is why my feet stayed dry and warm also. . . Have a great week. . . .