Californians come to see the snow!

LONG POST WARNING:
My sister and her family came out to visit us for a whole week at the end of February. They have 3 kids - 2 girls (3 and 5 years old) and a boy (almost 2). They had a chance to go to Hawaii or to see us. We are definitely feeling loved! They wanted to come out during the winter to see the snow and then we almost didn't have any. On the day they arrived we had a winter storm. I had actually been praying for snow so we could do all the "snow" things we had planned. So to all of you that wanted spring to come in February... sorry. We had a blast and we almost got to do everything we planned. The only things we missed doing were building a snowman (it was the wrong kind of snow), and playing snow football (not enough snow). We also discovered during the week that our husbands are A LOT alike. All the kids got along great, too. And of course it was great fun for me to spend time with my "baby" sister. We are more alike than I realized.

They brought their wii (however you spell it) from California and you can guess what my kids did everyday after school! I don't think we'll be getting one any time soon. They forgot about homework, chores,... showering!

They arrived on a Saturday evening late enought that there wasn't time to go out in the snow, so we made an exception and let them go out and play after church on Sunday. They couldn't wait to see what it was like. This is their littlest - he was never quite sure what to think of all of this!

They had fun making snow angels and sledding on the little hill in our backyard. E managed to run into a tree on one of their runs.

Monday we took the kids out of school for the day to go skiing at Caberfae. I was surprised at how easy it was to excuse my kids from school. Some of us had a lot of fun skiing. K loved going down the bunny hill as long as I was right behind her. She flipped out whenever I tried to let go. E was only slightly less scared.

My sister's two girls were very brave for their ages. They were eager to try everything, but not for very long - thank goodness. Our backs were aching after an hour or so of "helping" them ski. My sister and I realized very quickly that it was easier to get from place to place with all the little ones when we didn't have our skiis on also. I had only been skiing one other time when I was a teenager, and this was her first time. It was very funny trying to get around on skiis while also trying to help the little ones get around! I'm sure we looked like a comedy show. I don't have any pictures of my boys - they took off for the big hills right away and we didn't see them all day, except when they were hungry, of course. S, my brother-in-law (it was his first time, too), and I actually went up on some of the big hills. It was a lot of fun. More fun than I expected. I definitely want to try that again - only next time we'll leave the little ones at home!

On Tuesday we debated whether or not to go sledding the day after such a long day of skiing. But if there's one thing we've learned about sledding in Michigan - when the snow is right you better go, because tomorrow it might not be right. It's a good thing we went because it was all turned to slush by Wednesday. My sister wasn't crazy about skiing, but she loved sledding.

J with his uncle, who enjoyed sledding as well - but not the hike to the top of the hill. All the skiing made for some sore muscles. Plus we had done "slim's gym" that day, too. My brother-in-law started referring to this vacation as "fat camp". We were "making" him exercise and eat healthy. Guess what he did the day after he got back home??? Bought a treadmill!

Part 2 will be coming later! Yes, there's more...