Chuck-E-Cheese

Rachel has been to Peter Piper pizza but she has been seeing tv commercials for Chuck-E-cheese and has been begging to go.  When we got there she ran in and tol grandpa "Let's go find Chucky!"  and playing along my dad asked "Who is Chucky?"  and she said "I dunno...either a mouse or a rat."  She ran around playing games and the highlight was when grandpa was able to find a game and win bonus tickets 2 times!  For the rest of the weekend she was telling everyone that she "Got to go to Chuck-e-cheese and my grandpa won bonus tickets and I got 139 tickets--that the most tickets I have ever gotten in my whole life!" 

Driving to School

The school where I am taking classes is 30 miles deeper onto the rez --and it is really in the middle of nowhere.  Here is about 10 minutes past my house...

Here is about 20 minutes from my house--the drive is actually nice, and even though I feel isolated because I don't get cell service, I am pleasantly suprised that I still get radio stations.

January - Winter Wonderland

We have had snow on the ground the entire month of January.  It snowed in December, just a few inches that would have melted off quickly, except we had unusually cold temperatures (low near 0 and highs in the 20s--remember all of the frozen pipes) so it stuck around for month.  Then last week we got three different storms and quite a bit of snow.  It was a snow/rain mix and if it had all been snow we would have gotten a lot more, only about 6 inches accumulated. 

This was Rachel's favorite run--with tunnels to ski through. 

An igloo at the ski resort--all the fun without having to build it ourselves.

View out of our hotel room.  The giant icicles looked too fun to resist--so Sam took off the screen to the window and reached out and grabbed one.

I may have rolled my eyes at Sam when he did this, but it is fun that despite his age he still has a silly side.
I am liking the new photo editor...except these 3 icicle photos seem distorted and I can't get them normal even when I delete them and add again. (but I think they look okay when you click on them).

Letting Rachel play in the snow before school--because I am fun like this :-)

Christmas & New Years

We had a little bit of snow here--just barely enough to sled.

In retrospect, I would not recommend sledding in an area of all dirt and rocks unless you have way more snow, I hit a rock going down and have a nice bruise on my buttocks to prove it.

On Christmas morning after we opened our presents (and waited for the pipes to thaw out) we drove to Durango. It was a cold day --and Rachel and I were big fans of the fireplace in the lodge and the hot cocoa.

Here is me attempting to get just one decent family picture on Christmas day in the hotel.

Then for New Years Eve we decided last minute to drive to Flagstaff and meet up with my sister and her family who were staying in Flag and sledding and playing in the snow for the first time.

One extreme to another-a quote from Rachel I want to remember

Rachel was playing with her friends and I went in to tell them to clean up and I decided I would help them. Rachel practically yelled--"It is OUR MESS! and we can clean it up OURSELVES" While I was glad she was owning up to her mess, I said great, but I just wanted to help--to which she switched her standpoint to, "Fine, you can be our maid."

At that point, they were left ot fend for themselves. :-)