I had low expectations for this year at the cabin.
The New Years of my youth and young adulthood (actually up until having children) were always hilarious, exciting and full of adrenaline rushes. We would create huge sledding hills with jumps. We would night sled down the roads and snowmobile all the way to the top. We would go on long snowmobile rides to the top of the mountains where my dad would make us ride off jumps. Back at the cabin we would eat tons of food (always fondue and wontons) and play games until midnight. Then there were fireworks, or running around the cabin barefoot, or one final group ride down a sledding hill.
The next day we would all sleep in.
Then the kids came along and it was still fun, but much more work to have that fun. Sometimes staying up till midnight was out of the question, especially if one of the babies had cried the whole night before keeping the whole cabin awake. The more kids born, the more work it has become. We stopped playing games, stopped making huge sledding hills, spending all our time on tiny hills helping the kids go up and down over and over.
It is still fun watching the kids have fun, but more work for us to have fun and honestly, sometimes I was too tired to put any effort into my own excitement.
I haven't slept in for 7 years.
I have had to lower my expectations.
So here we are at 2011 and the snowfall is subpar. I was imagining how awful it was going to be stuck in a small cabin with all those people without the snow to entertain (even though I dearly love all "those people")...kids fighting, loud movies always playing, not sleeping well. But I knew I had to go because the kids LOVE it. It's one of their favorite traditions.
SURPRISE!!
It ended up being a New Years reminiscent of my youth!
There was just enough crusty snow for the kids to sled on.
Most of the kids are old enough to play real games!
Everyone slept well the night before so all the adults were happy.
It was a perfect example of the Danish Happiness Study. I expected so little, I was blow away by how fun and exciting it was.
New Years Eve Day the kids, and my Dad sled down the subdivision roads all the way to the frozen lake. Darin and I drove down.
Will you be doing this when you are 61??
We walked/slid all the way across the lake to the island.
Most of us walked.
There were a few big holes of open water. Seems dangerous I know, but the ice really was solid. My dad told us stories of hearing the lake crack from one edge to the other. We could see where that had happened but it didn't while we were out...which was relieving and disappointing.
The middle littles stayed home and sled the entire time.
They are old enough to be outside alone and can walk themselves up the sledding hill.
Hallelujah!
(Notice Bub's eye, he was in a accident with a snowmobile...in that he sled into a stationary snowmobile)
Soren loved sledding! My Dad even sent him down alone a few times.
He was all for the action, never wanting to be left out.
That evening Sarah gave us girls a "clubbing makeup" for the festivities.
Julia and I pose for our facebook profiles.
(Doesn't every tween and teen have this exact photo on facebook...sans my crazy eyes, sexy just doesn't come naturally to me)
See what I mean?
Who cares about sexy when you have the cutest kids in the world to mother.
We played Minute to Win It.
Tons of fun and laughter ensued!
The oreo was my favorite.
On to the fondue and wontons!
The middle littles and babies went to sleep so the rest of us played games.
It is so fun to play big people games!!
At 11:30 we got ready.
Hats? check Sparklers? check Noisemakers? check Huge firework display? double check
My brother-in-law Jared timed the fireworks perfectly, the first boom went off at midnight.
Darin grabbed me for a kiss.
Lots of screaming and laughter.
Jared jumped out of the bushes and scared the pants off Sarah and Julia, it was all hilarious.
and beautiful!
My mom had the Martinelli's ready when we got back to toast in 2012.
And there we have it folks.
The Danes are on to something.
