Twenty-twenty-four is here and this past month we spent our time enjoying a few of our favorite things including some massive snowfalls, family skiing and bowling.
We rang in the new year with neighbor friends on the second floor at Clique Lanes. It was a toss up on who had more fun, the kids or the adults. Sadly, Jeff was disappointed to find that his custom bowling ball had somehow cracked, rendering it useless and forcing him to borrow a rental. But all is well that ends well, later that same week he found his way back to the alley for a new fitting and purchased a new ball.
Jeff’s new ball was put to immediate use at the adults only bowling party a few short weeks later. Clique Lanes was again the party spot of choice and we had a riot competing against our GRCS friends. Jeff and I both came out high scorers winning the opportunity to wear the most ridiculous bowling ball pin crowns whose shape was quite suspect.
This year the kids Christmas break felt extra long with how it hit the calendar. Instead of heading back to school just after the new year like usual, the kids had the full week following New Years Day off. I took the week off as well from work and we got to enjoy some quality time together. We went roller skating at GR Skate & Event Center, made a special trip to SkyZone, baked cookies, ate Chick-fil-A on more than one occasion and Natalie got her first taste of volleyball at the MSA during their two day intro camp - she loved it!
We also spent a couple nights away at Boyne Mountain Resort skiing together as a family. We all had an absolute blast hanging out with the Van Vels Family enjoying the warmer than usual weather on the hill and watching the kids push their limits with each run they took. I have a feeling a trip out West may be in our not too distant future. Aye!
The kids have also been working on their ski skills at Cannonsburg with Coach Spencer over the past few weeks on Tuesday nights. They spend most of their time on the terrain park because Thomas says he, “Wants to get good at jumps.” I’m super impressed by how far they’ve both come in just two short years and we’re extremely pumped about their love for the sport at such an early age.
One of the bigger stories state wide in January here in Michigan was the massive snowfall we received. It was SO dreamy!!! The kids had what felt like a billion snow days and they went wild with the neighbor kids building the biggest snow fort we’ve ever seen. And one of their days off matched with one of mine (bank holidays, am I right?!) and we all went sledding at a nearby park. Afterwards we had cocoa and marshmallows (and cookies!!) and I felt like Mom of the year.
We took the kids to see Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway and LOVED IT. The performers were stellar and absolutely crushed their performances - so much energy! We also really enjoyed the costumes and the dancing was out of this world. One of our favorite characters was the Genie. One thing that did surprise us was the omission of all the animal characters from the original movie including Jasmines tiger Rajah, Aladdin’s monkey Abu and even Jafars parrot Iago, who was turned from a bird to a human. Before hand we grabbed a bite at Forty Pearl where they have a great happy hour menu with drink specials and a pretty solid kids menu. Their fries are fantastic! And while we were downtown we took a very cold walk on Gillette Bridge to see a bit of the World of Winter display.
This past weekend we made a quick trip to Caberfea Ski Resort for a Sunday Funday with our GRCS crew. First we dominated the hill and later the back deck for Ski Apres. A shout out to my fellow moms who brought the crockpot heat providing a stellar communal lunch for all. Skiing is fun… but skiing with friends is even better!
We’ve still got our fingers crossed for at least one more huge snowfall before winter’s over here in Grand Rapids in hopes that it’ll bring about a few more Sunday Fundays and perhaps one more ski resort overnight up north. In the meantime, we’re crushing our daily routines at the office, at school and with all the activities in between. Enjoy that sunshine!