From Sparklers to Sleds: Ringing In The New Year

2012 was a pretty darn good year for our family, but like all years, it was soon time for 2012 to end. Luckily, Nathan got a little time off around the New Year, so we were able to ring in 2013 as a family.

We started our New Year's Eve day by going to a restaurant for breakfast. We always enjoy Cracker Barrel, so that's where we went. It was a chilly day, so the warm food (and the roaring fireplace inside the restaurant) were very welcome. While waiting for the food, Nathan played some games with the kiddos:

Aurora felt very grown-up playing checkers! (although I suspect she was also in it for the rocking chair).

 After a fairly lazy afternoon, we had some family friends over to celebrate New Year's Eve. We had a lot of snacks, the kids played on the Wii, and there was some good socializin'. The Powells also brought some sparklers to ring in the new year, which thrilled all the kids.

 

 

When it got late (not midnight late, but "past your bedtime" late), the Powell took their children home and then returned to play some card games with Nathan and I. It's so nice to have friends whose kids are old enough to look after themselves! Hopefully we'll be there in just a few more years... Anyway, our friends finally headed home at about 11:30, and Nathan and I stayed up to have our obligatory ball-dropping-on-Times-Square "Happy New Year" moment.

This year, Lorelai was a trooper and made it up to midnight! Even after all the other kids had left and her sisters had gone to bed, Lorelai was insistent on making it to the New Year. She was pretty tired (she spent much of the evening watching movies on the television in a stupor!), but she was proud of her accomplishment...and so were we!

The next morning (after all of us managed to sleep in a bit), I turned the Tournament of Roses Parade on (that was a New Year's Day TV tradition in my family growing up!), and then got to work making our New Year's breakfast:

Monkey bread, sausage links, orange slices, and sparkling Martinelli's (of course, duh: it's the new year! Gotta celebrate!). Monkey bread tastes like pure sugar and fat, but I only make it once a year, so I feel justified. As you can imagine, the rest of our New Year's Day was spent resting, reading, watching TV, relaxing, and pretending that Real Life wasn't creeping up on us at last (although we did manage to sneak out for a quick game night with some other friends).

Sadly, Real Life got Nathan before the rest of us; back to work he went the very next day. However, I decided to thumb my nose at reality by driving the kids up to Mount Lemmon to see the recent snowfall. We took this trip last year as well, but this year, there was a new twist: we'd borrowed a friend's sled!

The weather heading up the mountain was a lot better than last year; the skies were clear, and no snow was currently falling (good news on the Mt. Lemmon road; it's not as "snow-proofed" as mountain roads in Colorado and Utah). When we finally pulled over, the girls were very excited!

 

I bundled them up well, and for a while, they seemed to be enjoying themselves...

Lorelai was the first to take a solo sled ride, and did pretty well for herself.

I went down on rides with each of the girls in turn; Lorelai and Celeste loved it, but Aurora was terrified and only made it down the hill once. We did eventually find a steeper hill than the one shown in Lorelai's trip, and we had a lot of fun trying that one out!

As you can see, we are not expert sledders. This comes from us being: A. Wimps; B. Girls; and C. Residents of Arizona--we can only go sledding maybe once a year, if we're lucky. We still had fun, though, even when we weren't sledding. Lorelai made a few snowballs (and almost hit me with a few of them)...

...and she had a fun time attempting a snow angel (sadly, the snow was not fluffy or deep enough to make a good angel; better luck next time we hope).

However, due to the three aforementioned reasons (plus a couple of faceplants in the snow due to poor footing), fatigue and disillusionment began to set in among my two younger girls:

 

 

Finally, the whininess escalated into full-volume wailing and complaining ("I'M SOOOO COLD!!" Celeste was heard to yell over and over), and I sadly realized it was time to pack it in.

Lorelai could probably have stayed longer, but my other girls need a few more years to build up their tolerance. That, and I need to dress them in more layers of clothing next time...one sweater isn't enough, and a single pair of jeans isn't enough either, even if it's a warm pair. I've forgotten my "snowy weather dressing etiquette" after years of living in the desert.

I fed them some lunch in the car, which cheered them up a bit, but then (oh, the indignity!), I made them get back out of the car so I could take a few cute pictures of them in the snow.

The looks in Celeste's and Aurora's eyes say it all...completely reproachful! "How could you DO this to us, Mama?? WHY  did you drag us all the way up here, where it's COLD and we're miserable. SHAME, Mama. SHAME." So funny! (For me. Not them.)

Luckily, after a warm drive home, an afternoon spent watching TV next to a burning fireplace cheered everyone up nicely. It is fun to have an adventure like that once in a while! That was it for our "New Year's" adventures...now comes the "adventure" of seeing what 2013 has in store for our family. We've got high hopes and big plans!