Snow Trails

We have wanted to take the girls skiing, but we have been unsure whether they would enjoy it or not.  If they don't, we are out a lot of money.  If they do, we will be spending a lot in the future to keep up the fun!  But Jeremy and I have both enjoyed opportunities to ski; Jeremy is better than I am, but he tolerates my slower pace. 

As a compromise, we decided to take them tubing at Snow Trails.  We thought this would give them the feel for what a ski resort would be like how a magic carpet would work.  When we mentioned it to the girls, Madison was all in, but Ellie was very hesitant.  She was worried about what it would be like, not having a day to relax at home, and the general unknown.  We just told her she would love it and that she had to go.  So, we took off early-ish on President's Day... hoping to beat the crowds. 

We got to Snow Trails around 10am for our 2 hour session.  By the time we got our ski tickets on our coats, we had lost a few minutes of our time, but it was fine.  It was a small learning curve learning how to step on the magic carpet and hold our balance, but we all managed. 

Then, at the top, we went down in pairs linked together with hands holding tubes.  It was a blast!  I had never been tubing, and I didn't realize how fast you went down.  It was pretty awesome.  Ellie concurred.  The first thing she said was "This is so fun!  I want to go again!" 

And so we did.  Over and over and over again. So many times, the girls got tired of standing as they rode the carpet!

We tried different configurations going down - in a square, in a line, two-by-two, all four, etc.  It was good any way we sliced it.

We checked out the ski slopes and bunny hill before leaving.

It was a good day.

Pepper Update

Pepper has been a learning and growing experience for us.  He looked like an easy bundle of fluff.  He is more like an all-consuming bundle of fur that demands more than I can muster sometimes.  But he has come a long way since January.  And he has a long way to go! 

Positive: He loves being with you, touching you, cuddling you, sitting with you.  Yep, exactly the type of companion dog that we wanted.

Negative: He loves being with you, touching you, cuddling you, sitting with you. But when he is not with you, he is either whining to be with you or up to no good!

Positive: He has a lot of energy. So, I can actually take him on a two-mile walk if I want to, and he keeps up … even when I run!

Negative: He has a lot of energy. He doesn’t always know how to handle this energy in a positive way.

Positive: Our kids have become more accepting and less scared of dogs in general.  We can now go visit my brothers without their dogs needing to be locked up and kept away.

Negative: Our dog does not get along with other dogs… yet.  He seems to intimidate every dog he meets with his ferocious barking.  We would like to visit my brothers and bring our dog. 

Positive: He is pretty much potty trained.  We rarely have an accident anymore.

Negative: We had to potty train him and he had quite a few accidents.  (But that’s what you get when you get a puppy)

Positive: He likes people. He also likes himself in the mirror!  The one of the right is him standing impatiently waiting for the girls to wake up on a school day; he does this every day!  

Negative: He is pretty shy / unrestrained when people come over.  Can you be both of those?  I think so.  He usually just needs to sniff them out, but then he gets so excited he has trouble just sitting to get the pet he so desperately wants.

 Other things .... Our kids love him.  Ellie even wrote him a sweet Valentine's Day card. 

We took him to puppy classes where (apparently) he passed and earned his AKC puppy star medal.  He is finally acting a little more like he deserved it!  This is the girls helping out at puppy classes; this is also one of the dogs Pepper barked at - like he could take him on!

Overall, we are getting there.  I usually have less patience than Jeremy, so it is good there are two of us!