Weekend at the Cabin

Our friends have a rented a cabin for the whole winter up in the Beartooth Mountains and allowed us to use it for a weekend.  Jason had a 3 day weekend and thought it would be fun to go.  I was excited to get away and just relax.  

The cabin is heated with an electric heater when they aren't there to keep the pipes from freezing but there is also a big wood stove that really gets the place hot.  Upon our arrival, the wood was brought in and a fire was made to get the place warm.

She couldn't wait to help

FIRE!

Waiting for it to warm up before getting out of her car seat

The next day dawned sunny and clear with little to no wind and a temperature around 30F.  We donned our winter gear and headed out to go sledding.  We had purchased an $8 inner tube and had to blow it up first.

Megan was in need of a nap but was unwilling to sleep

Blowing up our deal sled

They did have a couple plastic sleds which worked out to put Megan in to one loaded down with blankets.  She never moved or made a peep.  I think she may have enjoyed it.

The view from the cabin driveway

Jason thought it would be a great idea to tie Tucker to the tube and have him haul Katelyn up the driveway, which was the perfect sledding hill.

It was great and he really pulled her up the hill.  She laughed all the way.  What really sucked was what happened on the way down.  Tucker probably thought the tube was chasing him, he turned around and bit a number of holes into the tube.  It didn't last 5 minutes and we had to go in and repair it.  It was a good time to put Megan down for a nap too, which she did sleep and I could go out and join the family in some fun.

Jason became the photographer and stood in the road.

Our faces as we almost ran him over.

Daddy made us a fire to roast hot dogs for lunch.  A wiener roast in January!

The cabin and fire pit.  It was perfect, I could be outside and check on Megan through the window.  She must have slept for 2 hrs.

This girl was hungry.  She ate 2 whole hot dogs. They were so good after some sledding

Man's best friend and the best dog we know.

The first night we stayed, we all couldn't sleep very well.  Jason had the wood stove just a little too hot and made it quite uncomfortable to sleep.  We were also awakened around 2am by the howling of wolves.  A lot of wolves.  They sounded so close to the cabin.  I was laying there thinking that I didn't want to go outside the next day for fear of them.  That thought went out the window when the sun came up.  The second night, we all slept much better.  We kept the wood stove to a minimum heat.  Cooking was kept pretty simple.  Having not been there myself, I didn't know what to expect and I didn't want to cook too much. I was there to relax too.  We had a good time too just hanging out as a family.  We did have one accident.  Megan was sitting on a big easy chair with the ottoman on wheels pulled up to it in case she fell off.  She scooted to the edge and fell on where they meet.  The ottoman rolled away quickly and she landed on a floor.  She cried so hard, she let out all of her air and passed out for a second or two.  Katelyn has done this before too, so we knew she would come to, but it's still scary.  Other than that, it was relaxing and we still made it to church on time.

Sledding Farmer Style

The weather had been really cold and we kind of liked being inside, but there came a time when Katelyn needed to experience some Manitoba winter.  We had gone to Winnipeg and gone to the Forks, so we had gotten out. (The Forks is the old railroad center of Winnipeg converted into a shopping market with outdoor activities and museums.  They had ice skating on the Red River and Assiniboine River.  This is where the two rivers meet, hence the name, the Forks.  We went to the Children's museum there as well, but minus the camera.)  Daddy donned his Carharts and convinced Katelyn to get bundled up.  There may have been a few tears putting on those ski pants, but once they were on, out they went.  We were hard up for a sled so a scoop shovel turned out to be a pretty good stand-in.  

Look at her expression. Priceless!

They took out my sister's air mattress to see how it would slide.  It worked pretty well.

Making Snow Angels

My angel and her angel

Once she was out, she had so much fun playing in the snow.  I don't think she even felt the cold.

Peters Gathering

For supper on the 26th, we went to my Auntie Marilyn and Uncle Larry's place.  This was my mom's side of the family.  Katelyn got to see her cousins, Sephira and Brody and we got to meet my cousin, Candace's fiance, Ryan.  Ryan is a RCMP officer. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  The National police force.  He has jurisdiction all over Canada if he needed it)  So now there will be 2 law enforcement in the family.  That's what Jason and Ryan discussed all night anyways.  The differences in policing Canada vs. US.  It was educational for all.

Sephira and Kately looking at Cinderella in Sephira's bed.  

Brody and Megan on my dad's lap.  I think Brody liked Megan.  She was more his size.

Katelyn borrowed some pj's and the girls were camping in the living room.  Complete with backpacks and food.

Working on a surprise dish

We went out for breakfast one morning, the whole clan so I could see my cousin Jolene who wasn't able to make it out for the gathering.  Katelyn and Sephira have a great time playing together.  Sephira asked if the "nice girl" was coming.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was relaxed.  No one was up at the crack of dawn begging for presents.  We all got up late and first had a breakfast of crepes, bacon, eggs, toast and grapes.  Then came the presents.

The official taste tester for Nana's crepes

Getting help from Big Sister

Dr. Pellegrino got a pink doctor kit.  Many check-ups were made clean bills of health were given to everyone .

Pink Legos

Pink Leap Pad.  Can we sense a theme with pink? This girl loves her some pink

Skyping Auntie Gina and showing her the new Leap Pad

Daddy got a bench grinder

That evening, we had my Grandpa and Uncle Pete come down for Christmas Dinner.  I had made my parents and grandpa and calendar with pictures of the girls and two wallet size pictures.  Grandpa was so proud of the calendar, he had to show my uncle his gift.  I was so happy that he enjoyed his gift.  That way he could see us more than just a few times a year.  He put those two pictures in his wallet right away, so he could show his friends his great-grandchildren from Wyoming.  

Cooking with Nana + Auntie

My parents were the hosts for my dad's side of the family get together or gathering.  With that came many hours in the kitchen for my mom and us, preparing food and goodies.  On this day, they were making caramel dipped marshmallows rolled in rice krispies.  

There were a lot of caramels to unwrap

 Another day, they made homemade Poppycock with peanuts.  It's a sticky popcorn treat. For this you need a lot of popcorn.  Katelyn was all to eager to help make the popcorn.

Helping Auntie Janesa with the butter

Grandpa keeping Megan happy. I think she was looking at Janesa barbecuing.

I know I ate may share of Poppycock.  It was good and something that we make only at Christmas.

Trimming the Tree

Since we weren't home for Christmas, we didn't have a tree of our own at home.  Nothing to clean up when we got back, which was nice, but I missed the lights when December did role around.  Since we didn't have a tree, Katelyn couldn't decorate one.  Oh what a surprise Katelyn had when we got to Nana and Papa's house.  They had left the decorations off so she could help them put them on.  What fun she had.

Papa the "Personal Ladder"

This is where the other part of the family  parked themselves for the decorating.

If it were up to K, the tree would have had every hanging ornament available hung at her height.  She was good if we moved them though, as long as she could do the moving.

Pellegrino Christmas & Bismarck

Our car was packed for a winter drive to Canada, but first we stopped in Billings to see Jason's parents and have Christmas with them.  His parents are about 2 hrs away and we thought that this would make our trip even shorter the next day, since we had a 2 hr head start.

Grandma Pellegrino had to wrap and bring out the presents.  No Peeking.

 Katelyn got some goodies for the drive, a penguin pillow pet that is a night light as well and some Crayola paper and markers.  I'm sorry, Megan but I don't remember what you got.

A new pretty pink bracelet.  This girl is all about pink.

Our friend's Adrian and Erin stopped by with their son, Simyon who likes to play with Katelyn, stopped by to say Merry Christmas and to tell us that they are going to be moving to Hawaii in the New Year for Adrian to work on a movie about the story of David.  Adrian is a stuntman in many big name movies and he's a fellow Canadian.  It's nice to have connections in warm places like that should the need for a trip ever arises.
We got up the next morning and left around 11am but didn't get out town till 11:30.  A little later than we wanted, but we were only driving to Bismarck, ND.  Only 6 hrs away.  Jason got us the Presidential Suite at a hotel for $100!

The total square footage was almost as big as our house!  It was pretty nice.

Our bathing Beauties sure enjoyed the pool and hot tub 

Even Jason thought it was pretty great, to go on vacation and get paid to swim.  First time in his life that has happened. 

Our girls are awesome travelers.  Can't say we had anything really happen.  Just keep them occupied and fed.  We couldn't even use the dvd player we borrowed and we still survived.  We just have great girls!