Snowstorms, Swimming and Skiing

 On Saturday we headed south towards the Twin Cities. We had planned that trip for a while but then were a little uncertain if it was going to work out because there was a big snowstorm in the Cities. We delayed our departure by a few hours but then decided to go.

   We had good roads for most of the way but then we came to the metro area and could tell very well that the snow had come down heavily there! (and was still lightly falling and there was wind.) We saw cars and semi trucks just everywhere, in ditches, parked in the middle of the freeway and then filling up exits (stopped) and making them impassable- though I guess the snow had already done that! We about got stuck once but thankfully made it to our destination which was Kent and Christy's home.

  Sunday morning Church was cancelled so Kent and Christy invited Anna and Travis and Family to come join us and we had church at home. We had good time singing together. Christy and I figured out how to get the communion ready. We had brought some Matzo bread along so we didn't have to bake any unleavened bread.

 Sunday afternoon we left to head to the Wisconsin Dells and as we drove it was a regular sight to see cars like this one just abandoned all over. They had gotten stuck in the snow the day before and since then the plows had just plowed around them.

 We went with Anna and kids (Travis had planned to come but ended up having to drive a train instead) to the Wisconsin Dells water park. We met up with some of Travis' family there. (Though we didn't see a lot of Travis' sister as she had unfortunately broke her ankle (and torn tendons) before we got there and she had to be in the hospital and have surgery.

   Without Travis and Trina we sometimes had some higher child to adult ratios than would have been nice but thankfully no kids disappeared and everybody survived. One time Ken and I were walking with 8 kids down the hallway and a man stopped and wondered if they were all ours. Ken laughed afterwards and figured that I would have wished that it was so.

  One of our activities was a rubber duck race. Harrison's and Megan's ducks were among the winners. Everybody got to keep their duck so that was fun.

Mara and Margaret enjoying the wave pool.

A very very worn out Megan!

We were very blessed to be able to stay in some very nice suites thanks to Travis' parents. I was even able to get all my laundry done while we were there since there are washers and dryers in the suites. We also brought our own food along. Anna, Trina and I all planned meals and then we just took turns cooking.

We left there Tuesday evening feeling pretty tired! We stayed overnight with Christy and Kent again and then headed home early Wednesday morning.

We enjoyed being home for a bit and then on Thursday after Ken got off work he and I headed over to Duluth (the kids stayed with my Mom and Dad) to celebrate our Anniversary.

Ken had planned the trip and booked a room at a quaint little place- the Willard Munger Inn and made plans to go to Spirit Mountain Ski area. So the last two days we spent skiing.

This year we decided to buy ski gear instead of renting it. We went to a used equipment sale here in town and were able to get skis for both of us and boots for me. We did end up getting new boots for Ken and poles for both of us but still over all we were able to get everything for about a 3rd of what it was worth. We are hoping over time to be able to save money by not renting.

The view from Spirit Mt was neat. Looking other directions you could see Duluth. At night you could see all the city lights which was pretty.

My big goal was to stay warm as I really struggle with that. So today I ended up looking like a masked bandit. :-) Ken thought he might be rather nervous if someone came into his shop looking like that. It didn't look quite so out of place on the slopes though. And I did stay fairly warm! Yeah!

While I had better head to bed- I am looking forward to being at home next week, doing a bit of creating and just enjoying this season!