Give me a Break!

Whether I deserved it or not, I took a break from school and research projects and went on a . . . um . . . emotionally enriching, relationship enhancing outing with my father and two brothers. Ok, alright, so we went on a snowmobiling trip for three days. But it wasn't all just fun and games, we had to work hard, relying on good teamwork on multiple occasions to dig out the snowmobiles when we buried them. Hey . . . ok, so you can snicker under your breath if you want, but it was a great trip, we had a great time, and I wasn't just trying to duck out of any responsibilities the first chance I got. In all seriousness, we had a great time, and I enjoyed spending some quality time in recreational activities with Dad, Alex, and Phillip. A family friend, Beau Nicoll, went with us and stayed both nights. Some others showed up both on Friday and Saturday, but didn't stay the night, Dave Burton, Uncle Mark Mackay, and some of his friends. Here is a clip of Alex, Phillip, Beau Nicoll, and Dad jumping. We wanted them to jump closer together but this the best we got.

The temperatures were a little warmer than usual the whole trip, especially in the cabin on the second night, the fireplace roasted us all out, but the snow wasn't sticky enough to cause problems with the sleds. We pulled our food and things up in toboggans, and they tipped over a couple of times. Although we lost eight of our eighteen eggs, which we had to clean off of the rest of the food containers (note: wrap eggs in separate plastic bag to prevent mess), and three sockets, thankfully these were our only casualties the whole trip. We did stage a fake accident though where Beau Nicoll gets run down by Dad on his big Arctic Cat. We made a fun little movie with it that I will post here when it is all put together. Alex seemed to outdo us all in burying snowmobiles. He dropped right into a creek once, which we can't fully blame him for, because he had already crossed at that location once, I guess the second time was too much and it just dropped him. He also stuck Dad's big sled pretty good when he tried to go higher up the mountain than he had just gone on a lighter snowmobile, and it got stuck pointing into the sky away from the mountain.

It took us a while to get to him, to help him get out, and Dave Burton ended up tipping his sled over when he tried to get close. You can see how deep the snow was when I post the pictures here. I enjoyed both climbing the steep hills and working my way through the trees. The snow conditions were great and let us go lots of places we wanted to. Shalae took advantage of the time I was in the mountains, and had arranged with her mother to teach two digital scrapbooking classes. She is always looking for more potential addicts to get hooked on it. It is pretty neat to see people get excited about recording family memories, definitely a worthwhile hobby that helps keep family relationships strong. The girls loved playing with their grandparents on both sides, and Mirian never let us forget that my parents dog was outside. The poor girl is pretty scared of dogs. Between daylight savings time change and staying up late talking with family, it will take us all a while to get back on a good sleeping schedule. All accounted for, it was a great break!