Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Some family photos from the trip.

Henry and Elisabeth did play and work together at times. Here they are sledding (doubles luge) and coloring together. Here at some point decided that an old novelty cowboy hat from when I was a child would be enough to go outside. In this photo Henry is forlorn. Here we check to see the height of the icicles. Certainly taller than Elisabeth.

Uncle Andy also had motorized winter toys for the kids to enjoy. They both got to join him on the snowmobile and RZR (snowmobiling and razoring.) We also visited Sarah's horse and the kids gave her a treat and got to groom her a little. Andy also has a sauna. We all enjoyed it one night. After getting quite warm we ran into the backyard snow. Here you can see the snow angle that I made when I fell in to cool off. Exhilirating indeed! I suspect that the snow angle was made more by melting into the snow than by compacting or displacing it. The act of running out into the night in only a bathing suit did a number on my ankles. After they had warmed up again I realized that they were all cut up from the icy snow crust. Laurel and Dad joined me for the run into the cold but they wouldn't snow dive.

Sledding at Andy's place in Marquette was like graduation for the kids. The hill was longer, steeper, and had a turn. The weather was also colder. They loved it. This hill extracted much laughter, many tears over having to walk back to the top, some spectular bail-outs to avoid the trees, and a little bit of snow rash. As you can tell by now sledding was the primary activity every day. The usual vacation schedule was like this: Wake-Up Breakfast Play Games (or with new toys) Go sledding Lunch Rest time Sledding Dinner Bedtime. The indoor to outdoor transition was at least fifteen minutes and usually closer to 25minutes as we tried to round-up snow gear and get it on.

The thing about toboggans is this: You have to be old enough to realize that when you board, your ride will likely end in disaster. These young kids didn't know that. They won't really learn either. The promise of flying down a hill with several friends overpowers the caution that should be present. The other thing about toboggans is that you should always have someone familiar in the art of sled control aboard. That wasn't the case with these novice sliders. So, as you might expect that while everyone at the top was smiling there were tears and blood at the bottom. It is a good thing we took the photo at the top. As expected, despite the tears and blood, they all wanted to immediately go again! Toboggans just have to much promise of delight. Elisabeth and Mom make the Jesus birthday cake to go with Christmas dinner. A Christmas tradition is starting with this dessert in our family. The family Christmas Day photo, Andy is missing but we will meet up with him soon enough. A...

Grandma Gray makes sure that we gather for a Christmas Eve party every year and it is a good thing we do. This tradition has been passed down at least since her Grandmother (my Great-Great-Grandmother). Originally she did rely on a horse and sleigh to get to Grandma's house when the model T couldn't handle the drifts. We eat, we sing, and we do so much more. Santa and Mrs. Claus come for a visit each year. Here they are enjoying the children's entertainment. Henry made sure that he sat close - but not too close (he didn't get in their laps). The Hammond 'kids' treated us to a dance interpretation of some Veggie Tales Christmas song. I don't really know what the song was but we all laughed pretty hard watching the dancers trying to keep up with the music. I think that perhaps they set the stage for an inter-family Christmas dance competition. The applause was well earned. Nobody else was quite so brave. In addition to the dance, the merry duo were also trea...

Winter in Michigan must include some skiing. I'll start with a picture from later in our MI time; when Laurel and I were skiing at the NTN in Marquette - cold this morning but the skiing kept us warm (once we warmed up). Elisabeth improved her alpine skills with a lesson at Crystal Mtn. here she is with her instructor Chris. We also got some cross-country boards on Henry. He made it clear that he needed two skis because he is two. He also thought it funny when he considered how many skis Elisabeth would need by that same logic. Henry took to the snow naturally and didn't want to stop. His first effort was in the evening (it gets dark early in MI during the solstice). The next morning we went cross country skiing again. Auntie Kristen had come up to visit and was happy to help coach the kids along. Laurel had an enjoyable downhill e xperience (no falls or lift events). While we started the day on the green circles she quickly was seeking out the black diamonds. Here she is in f...