Great day for the boys

Today I enjoyed spending the whole day skiing with the boys, first Noah in the morning and then Marlee in the afternoon. Noah was said that he had fun but was not very smiley and he wanted to go home pretty soon. He still seems a little too young to ski and does not have the same "go" as Marlee did at that age. Marlee, however, did great progress again and Alex and I took him up on one of the big lifts. We found a very good green slope for practicing and I am sure that he will go down blue ones before we leave :-) Noah will hopefully be happy skiing and sledding in the neighborhood here.

On the way up for the first run today

Not on the top but on the top of one of the big lifts

I think the birch trees here look so cool!! How about the dude in front? :-)

Marlee is teaching Jillian and Noah the Swedish alphabet

Noah's first time on skis!!!

Today we took both Marlee and Noah to the slopes and they both did great progress. It was Noah's first time on skis ever and he was so good. He was really tired and only went about 5 times. After that he fell asleep in my arms. What a trooper! 

 

Marlee did great progress today with farmor and papa. I do not have many pictures of that because it mostly happened while I was sitting with a sleeping Noah :-) However I hope to see him skiing tomorrow :-)

Noah's first time ever on skis!

Noah having fun with Lo while Marlee skis

Passed out after skiing. So cozy!!!

When we got back to the house me and Lo took Noah for some more skiing on a near by little hill. First he was really grumpy and did not want to go at all but after going down one time on his own he just wanted to do it over and over again. He did so good!! And he did not complain one time when he fell. He does complain when he walks in the ski boots, though, but who can blame him...

 

Going skiing next to the house

 

 

 

I hardly dare to say it, but nothing broke today - no airplane, no skis and no car...

Third time is the "charm"?

So we thought we were done with things breaking down... But no... When going to the slopes this morning we got into a car wreck. No worries, no one is hurt, no kids were in the car, but it gave us a lot of trouble. We had to go through a lot of trouble with getting a new car and I had to take a cab to go back home and feed Gabriel. Apart from this I had a great day with a lot of skiing while Alex stayed home all day working and playing with Marlee and Noah in the snow. Tomorrow is my turn to enjoy the children and it is time for Noah to try skiing!!!

 

 

The bloopers keep coming!

Our vacation started out with a very bad for me where all the boys woke up several times and I ended up waking and getting up about 15 times during the 6 hours of sleep I had. Luckily Alex could take the boys in the morning and I slept another hour or so. It probably saved my day! He was the first one to save my day...

 

After getting everyone ready in the morning (which takes forever with 4 kids and 6 adults) we all went to rent skis and buy the ski passes. After getting everything we needed we went home where a babysitter was waiting to help out with the kids while we went skiing. Super nice to get some skiing without the boys but also felt strange to not enjoy the sloped with them.

 

Anyways, it took me and Alex a long time before we could actually enjoy the slopes. As soon as I took out the skis from the car one of the bindings fell off!! Well, good that it fell off there and not when I was skiing. We really did not want to driver all the way back to where we rented it so we decided to go and ask for help at a rental place by the slopes. They could not help us since one ski was missing a screw and the other one had a screw with the wrong dimension. The second binding fell off in there... They were incredibly nice though and LENT me a pair of skis for FREE!!! That was the second time my day was saved!

 

So back to the lift. I put on my skis and.... Alex tried to put on the snowboard, but both his bindings broke!!!!! Is that even possible that both our gear brake at the same day!? Back to the rental place. We picked a different one though since we felt a little stupid ;-)

 

Alex trying to fix his bindings before he gave up and rented a board

 

 

After that we had an awesome day and Marlee came to the sloped later and skid a little with me and farmor. I think both me and Marlee expected him to remember more of the skiing so I think that he got a little disappointed and frustrated when it did not work as good as he had expected it to. But he did good! Tomorrow I hope to bring both Marlee and Noah to go skiing. I just love watching them making progress and having fun!

 

We finally made it to the top!!!

Nice view

 

Are you talking to me?

Marlee going down

 

 

 

 

 

One day to go to Colorado!!

It has been a loooooong day with an awesome ending today!!

 

We started out 5:45 when the alarm rang this morning. Just to make sure that we would be ready when the taxi came at 6:30. It was early and arrived 6:20 but we were ready. Mentally I have been ready for months! It is a big thing for me to not have seen snow for two years and I have felt bad for Noah who does not even remember what it is like. But today we were all going to see it again!!

 

We got to the airport, checked in, went through security and got on the plane. The plane started and well up in the air they informed us that it was an emergency and we had to go back to the airport in Miami. We ended up flying around for an hour or two and to make a long story short, we got on a place about 3h later than scheduled. We arrived to the airport in Vail around 7:30 Florida-time. Starving and tired (there was no food on the plane because of all the problems). Farmor, who was already here, picked us up and had prepared a really good dinner! Wow, did it taste good with some proper food! All the boys have behaved wonderfully today despite all the waiting and sitting still! My little troopers!

 

On flight #1

At the airport in Miami, between flights

At flight #2

Colorado!!!!!

It was a warm day today and there are dry spots. Beautiful day!!!

I could do nothing but feeling very welcomed here!

 

 

I had promised Marlee and Noah that we would play in the snow before bedtime so even if it was dark outside and it was late we all went out to play in the snow. Noah felt kind of uncomfortable first but was soon "running" in the snow with Marlee. It was so much fun! I did not realize that I have missed snow this much!

 

Playing in the snow, in the dark.

 

Now pretty much everyone has passed out and it is time for me to do the same thing! I can't wait until tomorrow!

 

Pre vacation

We got down to Miami as planned and me and the boys spent some wonderful sunny, "beachy" days there with my friends. It has been warm and sunny and we have enjoyed the beach (and too much time in the car, if you ask Gabriel who really does not want to go in the car). It has been like a pre vacation for our coming up ski vacation.

Marlee playing for his brothers before leaving Ormond

South Beach - Fatima playing with the boys

Posing on South Beach

Being busy with five boys on South Beach

Relaxing in the Jacucci at night

New day, more sun, more pool

Playing on the beach on Key Biscayne

Passed out after a day on the beach

A day by the pool, Sofia and Mobi

Fatima and Noah are "making coffee"

Gabriel's first dip in a pool!!!!!!!

Climbing trees by the playground

I love these small little feet and hands!

Watching his older brothers swim in the pool

Just learned that these songs are not as Swedish as I thought...

Great social day

Our friends left this morning to drive down to Miami. We will meet up with them there on Monday. After they left we met up with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Doug at Chick fil 'e and we spend some good time with them at our house. It was very good to see them again! Later at night we had some friends over with their 8 month old son. Alex made pasta dinner which everyone liked and baked yummy cookies for dessert. We had such a good time they stayed until eleven and all the kids (except Gabriel) was still awake :-)