New Years Cottage Fun!

Every year we go to the cottage and have lots of cold-snow fun!

And this year was no different

Nick was enjoying the snow more than other years

And the dogs were in love!

In fact, they dogs spent most of their time outside. It didn't matter if it was snowing and they got covered in snow. They both loved the snow!

Of course the humans loved the snow as well.

The snow wasn't that great for sledding (the sleds wouldn't go down the hill) but it was good for making snowmen

We tried getting Nick's crutches in the snow, but he really just wanted to crawl, or be pulled in the sled

Katheryn and I made a snowman!

It was a bit windy on New Years night.
The snowman had a party and was doing the limbo!

Nick enjoys the snow, but loved the hot chocolate and cuddles when it was time to go in!

We had brought all of our skating stuff to go skating, but I was sick our whole time away and we didn't go.

New Year! 2017!

Happy New Year!

We were up at the cottage again this new Years and did some crafts to celebrate!

Of course I looked at Pintrest to get lots of ideas to do

We made our own hats, and New Years crowns

We all answered questions and put it in a time capsule to open next year

We had our treasure hunt for pictures from the year.

But as usual I had lots and pictures. We were going to divide into teams and find specific pictures. But the kids were excited at the beginning and then got bored. But they liked finding all of the pictures over the weekend that they didn't find during the game.

Everyone was excited to start celebrating once it got dark

And we got a Happy New Year picture!

Excited for 2017!

Starting 2016!

We brought in the new year with lots of fun in the snow!

It has been a great annual tradition to go up to the cottage and celebrate New Years (Kyle and the kids started without me, because I had to work New Years this year).

This year it was perfect snow for some sledding.

Nick would go down the hill on a thin sled, and then we would pull him up with a second sled

Rory had fun chasing the kids down the hill.

Sam spent his time just barking at the kids sliding down!

 

Nick spent more time out in the snow this year than he has in the past. But he does get cold faster (between sitting on the snow and not moving around that much). He uses his walker in the snow, but usually just waited at the top of the hill until it was his turn again

The kids were very excited when I said that I wanted to try. And Katheryn wanted some terrified pictures

Don't let all the snow fool you though. The lake isn't anywhere close to being frozen!

On our last night the kids wanted to do some night sledding
But it was really dark at the end of the run

They had some snow ball fights

And we had a fire (but no marshmallows)

And I enjoyed my own New Years celebration in the snow

Recharged New Year

To end up our Christmas vacation (which started after Christmas for me) was some time away from everyone and everything.

We had a pile of movies (including all the Harry Potter movies), wii, snow and sleds and lots of warm clothes. We had no plans and the only expectation is to rest and recharge ourselves. And of course have fun

we have our party supplies for new years (along with a ton of finger foods, a bottle of wine and a big prime rib)

We had our treasure hunt, and settled into cottage life. We pulled out our games and had fun

2015 came, we counted down (as close as we could using our phones as a time keeper).

Then it was off to bed (some of us sooner than others)

 New Years Day we all got dressed up to celebrate the start of the year!

At the cottage there has been snow. So we dug out a path for Nick in his walker and all went out, until we got too cold

It wasn't actually that cold, which was nice. Katheryn lasted longer than the rest of us and made herself a snow fort.

We dried off enough wood so that we could have a fire.

And we could even roast some marshmallows

Sammie loves the snow, and I loved the sound of snow crunching (and nothing else)

The snow was one of the best parts of being up at the cottage. Don't have to drive anywhere, don't care about traffic, you shovel what you want to have fun and leave the rest.

And when you get too cold (or your parents drag you inside)... There is hot chocolate and some fun dancing to do.

Our last day was cold and windy.

We couldn't get Nick is his walker down by the lake (they wanted to go down). So Nick went down on the sled.

Once you broke up the ice along the top you had packing snow to make snowballs with!

Nick (and I) went inside earlier for our daily dose of hot chocolate. But Katheryn and Kyle continued to play outside.
I don't think either of them get cold!

Our 5 days away was a great time for the 4 of us (+grandma Ridding for one night). was really great for recharging ourselves. After the bustle of Christmas running around making sure that you see everyone and everyone has fun the time, what we needed was the time to just stop and enjoy ourselves.