Adventures in snow and skiing

We just returned from our fun filled adventures in the snow and to my parents for Christmas. This was the children's only gift for Christmas from Brad and I and they were told that Santa is only filling there stockings. Believe it or not, they were totally fine with that, even on Christmas morning, they were excited just for those gifts. Their papa, grammie and Uncle Drew had gifts for them as well. One reason for all this...do I really want more stuff in my house? Ummm NO! Do they really need more stuff in our house? Ummm NO!

This time spent as a family was priceless!

So the adventure began the Monday before Christmas as we were finishing up a basketball tournament in North Georgia. (which btw, NFHS girls WON..HORRAY!) We left around 8:30 pm and the drive was going to take 2 hours to Gatlinburg, TN. We had to drive straight through the Great Smokey National Park (30 miles) and it wasn't until we got 2 miles into the park that we noticed large gates in front of us. Yes, that's right it was closed due to snow and ice. The snow had started to appear on the sides of the road about 1/2 earlier, but nothing extreme. So we had to take a detour. The only way...east to Ashville. You are probably thinking no big deal....well once we hit Maggie Valley, NC there was at least 3 feet of snow and we are dealing we switchbacks on either side of the town. The great idea would be then to jump on I-40 and head west towards Knoxville, but we already knew between Ashville and Knoxville the interstate is closed due to a rockslide. Thank goodness the kids were now sleeping! So more back roads we had to take. Thanks to a good old fashion map (gps' don't come in handy in these times) we finally arrived at 3:30 am. That is a 105 mile detour (over 50 miles we were on snow covered switchbacks at did not go over 25 miles/hour) and 7 hour drive instead of a 2 hour drive. Our hotel never looked so wonderful!

Here is everyone in the gondola heading from downtown Gatlinburg to the ski resort.

Looking at the roads below.The only other thing that put a kink in our trip was that I got really sick. I mean what mom has time to get sick? I surely don't! I haven't been sick like this in 6 years. No toilet visits thank goodness, but just about everything else. This is the only picture of me before I got sick. While I was the only one who had my own skis and thrilled to death that I finally got to ski since it had been 10 years...of course it had to be me to get sick! A week later, the antibiotics are finally making me feel better.
While the kids were in ski school, Carsyn took a nap..outside. It was beautiful weather in the mid 50's and sunny and plenty of snow to go around.
Enjoying a snowball fight.
This ski school was the best. Aidan and Brenna were in a class with 4 other kids and they did all kinds of activities for them to get use to the boots and than the skis. By the time ski school was done, they were ready head out on the slopes.
Only thing they really worked on was unhooking and hooking up your skis. Aidan and Bren were pros by the end. Here is Aidan getting ready to head up the chair lift for the first time.
Aidan is on the left and Brad on the right.

He had such great control and I can't even count how many times we went up and down these slopes. He might be able to beat me next time. ;)
We did a bit more practicing with Brenna before Brad took her down the big slopes. We thought she might be a little bit scared or hesitant, but she was not. I felt like death by the time Brad took her on the chair lift and she went down the same mountain Aidan did by the end of the day. Horray for Brenna! (For those of you wondering (MOM), yes she did have gloves, just not in these pictures)
A great snowplow or as they called it, their "pizza slice."
Downtown Gatlinburg on our way back from Hardrock Cafe.
Enjoying some pool time at our hotel.
On our way to my parents in South Carolina, the road through the national forest was finally open. Here is one of the pull off spots. Absolutely beautiful!
To give you an idea of the mounds of snow on the road. There was snow all the way until Spartenburg, SC.

So many wonderful memories! This might have become a yearly tradition without all the detours and sickiness.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday time spending it with those you love celebrating the birth or our Savior!