A cold, cold Christmas vacation

We spent the week between Christmas and New Years up at the Lodge, and boy was it a cold one!  Temperatures ranged from -25 at night, to a high of -5 during the day.  Without wind chills.  And it was windy.

Christmas was on a Monday this year.  We spent the morning after cleaning up the house and packing for the week.  The big presents this year were, for Eli:  a sewing machine, xbox one, legos; for Aaron:  electric guitar, books, pokemon;  Tommy:  legos.

On Wednesday we headed to Cannon.  It was so cold we headed home after lunch.  Dave and Eli explored Mittersill for the first time, and they will be sure to head back.  In the afternoon Dave took Aaron and Eli to the skating rink in downtown Franconia.  Eli is having  a blast learning to play hockey.  Aaron is still learning to skate and is getting pretty frustrated by it.

On Thursday we just stayed home, played outside and did some sledding.  In the afternoon Dave and Eli went back to the rink.  This time we discovered it has a little shed that you can get changed and warm up in.  Also, the rink has lights so you can play anytime at night.  I love this rink, we’re so glad we found it.

On Friday, just Dave and Eli went to Cannon, and the rest of the fam stayed back at the Lodge.  We did a few runs and headed back around lunch time.  At night we went into Littleton for dinner and a Chutters candy run.

On the Saturday the whole fam went to Cannon and we made it a good way through the day.  The Tossup terrain park is open and in full effect.  This park is nuts with some epic jumps.  The kids love it.

On Sunday we headed to Bretton Woods.  I’m pretty sure it was even colder there then at Cannon, with some strong winds that didn’t help things.   We ran into our neighbors and had fun skiing a couple runs with them.

On Monday we skipped skiing, again.  We spent most of the morning cleaning and packing up.  Dave and Aaron went on a hike in the woods, and discovered a sugar shack nearby.

Overall we had a real fun week, even though we skipped a bunch of great snow days at the mountain, we made the best of it.  We had hot cocoa, went sledding, went for hikes in the woods, decorated the lodge, played board games, had movie nights, and relaxed.

 

Ingalls Family Visit

This weekend we had a few visitors.  Michele’s brother, David, visited us from South Boston.  Also, Michele’s dad and step mother visited us from Florida.

We had several contractors scheduled at the house on Friday, so worked remotely.  We had a chimney sweeping, couch delivery, and a quote for a new boiler.

On Saturday, we started the day with a quick hike up Artists Bluff.

After Artists Bluff, we hung out at the Echo Lake beach.

In the afternoon, Steve and Mary arrived.  We just hung out at the Lodge the rest of the night.

On Sunday, we headed over to Loon Mountain to check out the gondola ride.  At the top, the kids got to explore some caves.  After Loon we had lunch at our favorite spot in Lincoln, Enzo’s, then got some candy at Chutters!

 

 

Parents visit for the first time!

This weekend Dave’s parents visited the Lodge for the first time.

Michele was traveling for work over the weekend, so on Friday night Dave drove up with the boys.

On Saturday morning Dave took the boys to the playground in Sugar Hill center, to kill some time before the parents arrived.

Turns out the playground was a big hit, there were a ton of trucks for Tommy to play with, and enough to keep the older kids occupied for a little while.

After the parents arrived we then had to hang around the house for the internet guys to arrive and install service.  We definitely wanted to get internet, primarily for remote home monitoring services (nest, security, etc.), and satellite was the only option.  Turns out the satellite internet is fast enough for netflix and everyone’s devices to be running in parallel.

After nap time we went into Littleton and did Chutters, the music store, and the toy store.  The kids know how to capitalize on the grandparents visit!

After shopping we went to Dutch Treat in Franconia for dinner.  It’s very much a local place, but good atmosphere for the kids and decent grub!

On Sunday we went to the transfer station to get rid of all our garbage that has accumulated from the move, and then got a ladder at Lowe’s, things made easier by borrowing my parents pickup!

After chores, we went to Clark’s Trading Post.  The boys had a blast on the snake slide, train ride w/ the wolf man, the bear show, and of course, shopping in the gift shop.

Once we finished up at Clark’s we headed back to the Lodge, my parents left, then I fed + bathed the kids, and we went back home.

All in all a successful, fun weekend at the Lodge!