Wintergreen...

A few weeks back we headed up to Wintergreen to avoid the craziness surrounding Inauguration Day. We brought Mark, Kathleen, Olivia and puppy Holly along with us and enjoyed a great weekend in the mountains. 

The (older) kids had so much fun playing in the woods most of the time. The weather was really nice and they even had a picnic in the woods just the two of them - so cute how well those cousins get along. 

Harper had fun exploring the house and going for a hike on the golf course where Andy got to fly his drone. We also stopped at a few of the overlooks and snapped some great pictures of the mountains peaking out from what seemed like an ocean of clouds - it was pretty cool. 

We enjoyed some fun meals, a lot of laughs, and a few house issues - but that's par for the course (sorry Mom & Dad!). 

Sadly once our weekend escape was over we still had to return to the reality that is #45....sigh. 

Valentine's Weekend at Wintergreen...

For the third year in a row we journeyed up to Wintergreen for the long President's Day/Valentines weekend with Kristine, Kathleen, Reid & Ava. This year we had three new participants in our gathering - Harper, Sadie & Finn. 

The kids had so much fun together spending much of their time outdoors - which was shocking as it was 10 degrees out there! Kids definitely have a much higher tolerance for the cold - and playing in the woods building forts I guess keeps you warm. The adults (and Harper) stayed close to the fire - we're smart like that. However we did brave the elements to go tubing with the kids, which I had never done before - and now I'm hooked! It really is a lot of fun and with the snow falling during our tubing time it really was the perfect winter activity. 

When the kids weren't outside they were inside playing and spending lots of time with Harper. Reid and Ava just couldn't get enough of him - and Harper definitely enjoyed the attention. 

Since we were there for Valentines Day we thought we'd do something special to mark the occasion so we did cheese fondue as an appetizer and then we did steak and shrimp fondue with lots of dipping sauces for our dinner. It was so delicious and the kids loved doing it. Chocolate fondue was on the menu as well but we were all pretty well stuffed from the first two courses. Chocolate covered strawberries served as the perfect replacement dessert. :) 

It was a great weekend spent in the mountains and with the extra snowfall we even got to extend our trip by a day. The dogs enjoyed their extra play time as did the kids and happily the adults came well prepared so we had plenty of extra food and wine to get us through. Looking forward to next year's trip already! 

New Year's at Wintergreen...

We headed to Wintergreen to spend some quality family time and to ring in 2016! It was Harper's first visit to the mountain, and I think he liked it! Uncle Mark, Aunt Kathleen and Olivia joined us as well for the fun. The weather was still pretty warm so there wasn't a single snow flake on the mountain to be seen, so we swapped out skiing and tubing for hiking the golf course and spending time at the park! 

We also spent some time at Devil's Backbone enjoying some brews and pretzels. They recently renovated the place and added in this huge beer garden with a big fire pit. With temps in the 60's we didn't really need the fire, but they built if for us anyway and we did enjoy the fun atmosphere. 

The kids had so much fun together. Adam and Olivia really are good buds. I loved snapping some pics of them at one of the overlooks - again, notice, no snow on the slopes! 

New Year's Eve was fun. We had photo props that made for some good laughs, and pics, throughout the evening. The kids did their countdown early thanks to the Netflix countdown videos and had fun dancing and cheering their way into 2016 (even it there were still 3 hours to go!). After the kiddos were off to bed we played some Cards Against Humanity until it was time for the real countdown! Always fun jumping into the New Year with my bub - a hop and a kiss and ready to tackle a new year! 

Here's to a crazy but memorable 2015 and here's hoping 2016 is fun and perhaps slightly less dramatic as 2015. ;) 

4th of July at Wintergreen...and a birthday celebration too!

After a week at the beach it was time to head to the mountains for some family time celebrating our nation's birthday - and Auntie Anne's birthday too! 

The weather was actually pretty cool up there, not uncommon for Wintergreen of course. Luckily we had all packed sweatshirts as they were needed. Andy got to play a round of golf with my folks while Mark, Kathleen, Olivia, Adam and I relaxed and hit up the park. 

We didn't think we'd get any pool time in, but the sun did come out and warm things up a bit on the 4th, so the kiddos got to splash around a bit - was still a little too chilly for the adults to brave it! 

While we were there we also got to visit with Anne which meant we got to celebrate her birthday as well! To start the celebration we left Adam and Olivia with Grandma & Grandpa while we took Anne down to Blue Mountain Brewery for some brews and lunch - of course being the sneaky (and great!) aunt she is, she stole the tab and took us out for lunch instead! Stinker. After that we headed back up and were surprised by some cute decorations that Grandma helped the kids make - Happy Birthday signs and posters posted all over! Then it was birthday gifts and a strawberry pie to cap off the celebrations. 

Of course the celebrations did continue as it was time to focus on another birthday - that of the good old US of A! We were all looking forward to another fun picnic on the slopes (sans snow of course) and the kids even helped me whip up a festive and patriotic dessert. We found a great spot to park ourselves for the evening and then it was dancing, eating, chatting, a little National Anthem singing (which was cute to see Adam sing along to the parts he remembered learning in school) and then the main event - the awesome fireworks! They still give me chills and I always find myself reflecting on how lucky we are to live in this country and how proud I am to be an American! 

Happy birthday America...and Anne! :)