This was our last and maybe best day of all at the Winter Park house.
In the morning, after playing and eating breakfast, we took the big boys snowshoeing on a beautiful trail through the nearby the Experimental Forest. The landscape was a mix of stately coniferous trees with views of snow-capped Byers Peak. We walked, climbed and ran on the snow in 14-degree weather, warm in our layers as we looked for animal tracks and jumped through the deep drifts.
Thanks to Shawn for the above photos.
Isaac got his snowshoes as a Christmas present from Grandma and Boopa. I was excited for him to get comfortable on them, but I had no idea how special this would be - trekking through the snow with two of his best buddies, three big 4-year-olds exploring together. I loved watching them. And Isaac really caught on fast.
When we got home, it was time to warm up with some lunch and some hot-tub time. Isaac, on the second day he'd ever been in a hot tub, was a pro. He heard the word, disappeared, and returned minutes later ready to go:
As if it weren't enough fun already, while they were all out there, it started snowing hard. Warm water, icy flakes on your head - what could be better after a day playing in the snow?
Thanks to Albert for these adorable hot tub photos.
The big boys ate dinner and then got to work planning a performance. There were some conflicts - Isaac wanted to put on a very accurate Lion King show; Zack was okay with that, but he wanted to be the lollipop. But in the end, things seemed to work out, and we watched a show that involved some talking, several determined directors, and a lot of drumming.
Here, the audience is settling in for the show. There is no telling what Jonah just said.
And it began like this:
Our two main drummers:
Soon the younger boys decided to join the performance too.
A theatrical moment:
And more drumming:
The audience was amused.
One of my favorite parts of the night was watching how all the kids ran to all the adults, moving in complete comfort between their parents and their friends' parents.
Of course, both our boys eventually lost their pants. Isaac pulled his back up and kept dancing, but Jonah lost his in such a dramatic fashion that he actually seemed quite embarrassed. Brian tossed him up in the air, as he had done many times already - but this time, as Jonah went up, his pants did not. They must have been caught on something, because this time, Brian tossed him straight out of his pants. We laughed so hard, and Jonah is such a tease that I expected him to laugh too. Instead, he just got really quiet and looked down. Poor guy. But after some snuggles, he was ready to party some more.
Finally, the adults started to get sleepy. But the kids didn't stop until we turned off the music.
