The same day my in-laws all left, the Kuchs and Lutzs all arrived for a New Year's 3-day long party!
This is what mornings looked like---early risers cuddled up in front of the cartoons.
And boy was it cold--I think they all brought the cold from the cities with them, but the temperature that morning was -20!! And that's just the temperature--you can imagine what the windchill was!
But Matt and I were committed to doing something active (mostly because I get cranky if I can't work out) so -20 degrees wasn't going to keep us from X-country skiing! But when we got back, I had ice particles all over my head and face. I was surprisingly quite warm while we were skiing, but you can see that as soon as the warmth from my head hit the air, it froze immediately....
Check out the ice on my eye lashed!!
So now I can add extreme sports to my list of things I've done at Stormy--we water skied last summer in 62 degree weather WHILE it was raining and we X-country skied in -20 degree temps.
Despite the cold temps, we still bundled everyone up and headed outside for some sledding. It wasn't too cold to be outside playing in the snow, so long as we came inside after about 30-45min. to warm up. But it was just enough to get everyone out of the house and get some fresh air--because 15 people all in the same house (with 9 of them being kids) can get a bit hairy!
Matt's first run down one of the longer runs in the 'back bowls'
Matt was carrying one of the kids' sleds down with him to give to someone, but when he had to put his hand down to guide his own sled, well......
...it flew into his face and....
..he hit a rock and broke the sled. (in his defense, it probably broke because the plastic was so cold, but it was still quite hilarious!)
The kids were having a blast taking the jumps, so the dads thought they'd have a shot at it. But of course they couldn't just go down sitting on the sled....
The dads had quite the audience to witness their crazy antics...
When all our families get together, my kids are the oldest and then the next closest kids are 5 year olds---4 years younger than Wyatt. But he does such a great job being the oldest kid and helping out the younger ones. He stayed at the top of one of the runs, helping each kid on their sled and then giving them a little push.
The climb out of the bowl to the top of the runs is no easy feat!
I decided to try and get a different angle just to show how much air these kids were getting---
..as Erik and Matt looked on.
And Sadie laid in the snow (I'm quire trying to figure out how she ended up with all these crazy boys)
Our time together wasn't all spent outside--Wyatt and Sadie both did a fair amount of reading to the kids....
Sadie showed Angie how the rainbow loom works
The boys gave the Wii their best shot (it's quite comical when you have 5 kids, 4 remotes and 4 kids ages 5 and under---let's just say Wyatt was very patient and recognized that this was all about each kid having fun rather than actually winning any of the games)
And of course Sadie was perfectly content to hold Conner and help with anything baby related. Thankfully Conner is a very laid back baby who didn't mind being taken care of by a 6-year old!
Erik and Matt hijacked Wyatt's chess board a few times...
..Cooper and Blake managed to find the iPad more times than we could all count!
And then the snowmobiling--there wasn't as much of this as in past years since the temps were so cold, but we did try and take the sleds out a few times. I had to take this picture of Blake because I think we can all remember feeling like this--getting all your snow gear on and waiting around long enough for everyone else that you get so hot and the gear all starts to feel too heavy.
The little crew--Danny, Blake and Coby (photobomb cred:Sadie)
Erik and Coby having a little one-on-one before the ride
Ending the day with a little movie or cartoon inside--this is the only picture I got with all the kids in it--yes, all 9 of them!
And what would time with the Kuchs and Lutzs be without the guys all ending up in a pile on top of one of another at some point---not a great picture but clearly the wrestling never ends!
And to end the night, the younger boys all took turns sleeping in the bunk next to Wyatt and he would read them a book right before they all went to bed. Love these pics of Danny and Wyatt, with Danny wearing his trusty head lamp!
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