Chronicles of Parenthood: December 2021

Friday, December 31, 2021

First Time Skiing!

There wasn't really any snow, but for a first time there was enough! We took the kids to Swiss Valley in Jones, MI. We enrolled the kids into a 2 hour ski school. By the end of it, Luke was on the ground crying. Brooke was bored. Ryan was just tired. However, all three kids admitted they had fund and they'd like to try it again! Its a great start and we expect even better on our next outing. Now, since it took 13 years to get Brooke on skiis for the first time ... lets see how long it will be until we take them out again.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Dome Dining

Our family has really come to appreciate outdoor dome dining during this pandemic. I know it will go away someday, and we will definitely miss it.

Not only do we appreciate being outside, but we really like having our own space. We can talk and act how we want (almost like we are still home) and still get to eat a restaurant dinner. Its the best of both worlds.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Twas the Night Before Christmas

After a pandemic-related hiatus, the kids were finally back in the store for our Christmas Eve tradition. This year they served hot chocolate and made caramels. Brooke always demonstrates so much interest in being a part of the process. She wants to learn and do all the things. Ryan tends to get bored quickly and shows very little interest. Luke also gets bored pretty fast ... but he was a big fan of making caramel chews this year. Maybe there is an interested kid behind that short attention-span mind.

We also resumed our Christmas Eve dinner at Koi. We don't eat out often these days, but this even warranted a celebration. Everyone had a blast. Our food was amazing, and it felt a little bit like some of our traditions are coming back. It was a good feeling.

We did hit one small snag. The plan was to bake Santa some cookies, like we do almost every year. But, we got so caught up in returning to the store and our dinner that we totally forgot. We were really lucky that I had some random cookies in the pantry. Whew. Close one!

After hours and hours of prepping and wrapping, Christmas Eve 2021 was one for the books.

Christmas with the Schneiders

We went to Uncle Brad's house to celebrate Christmas with the Schneiders. Pretty big deal because we hadn't seen the cousins in almost two years. The kids were really excited to be together and easily fell back into their typical shenanigans.