Presidents Day Weekend!

Typically, on presidents day we head up to Gran and Grandad's house in Sky Valley, GA. Its a great weekend to go snow tubing and enjoy some warm fires and coffee/hot chocolate.This year, however, Jeff decided to run a WHOLE marathon in Myrtle Beach, SC with a friend. Thats 26.2 miles friend!

For a while I considered what the kids and I would do, but then decided, why not go to the mountains anyway?! So I asked Gran and Grandad if they minded us joining along and they were sweet enough to say "SURE!". So that was the plan for the weekend without Daddy!

We headed up on Friday morning. The kids were great on the ride there (Thank goodness for movies!) and I was quite proud of myself for packing both kids and going solo. I mean, no, it wasnt a big deal. But when Jeff is around, I rely on him a decent amount. So to HAVE to handle everything was new :-)

We arrived at the house in time for naps (we had lunch on the way) and when we got up, decided it was time to "hit the slopes"! Scaly Mountin is just a few minutes up the road. Gran decided to stay behind and work on dinner and such and Grandad went with us. I was VERY grateful for the help!

When we got there, a church group was checking in and somehow the lady checking me out thought i was with them and gave me their discounted rate :-) I did tell her after i realized what she had done but added "i live in Dacula GA and i love Jesus, too!" Haha... 

They measured Rhyan and one lady didnt want to let her ride the big slope but the other said "yeah! she's tall enough!" and winked at me. Whew.... i was glad! Rhyan rode it last year and loved it and was dying to go on it again! She would have been super disappointed!

We headed to the kiddie slope first!

Mack actually fit IN the tube and boy, he LOVED it! The bad thing is that the snow pile/slop is SUPER slippery and we had to carry the tube AND mack up... it was a hot mess! And he was demanding to go again and again and again!

Rhyan wanted to try out the big slope, so she and I grabbed two tubes and headed up the belt...

Mack, in the meanwhile, decided he should taste test the snow...

Rhyan decided she did NOT like the big slope :-( Of course she did... after all, I had already paid full price for her... ugh! So back to the kiddie slope we went. Where Mack was having a blast, as you can tell by this pic... LOL! Typical mack!

After about 10 more minutes, i bribed Rhyan to try out the big slope with Grandad and decided to take Mack to the car for snack. He was FREEZING from all the snow he had been touching/tasting...

"Airplane"!

And while Rhyan and Grandad tried out the big slope, Mack insisted on checking out the "WATER!"

Mack was miserable, thus, I was miserable. So I flagged Andy and let him know I would take Mack back to the house and come back and pick them up. He was much happier at home, but on our ride home it started RAINING! So i dropped Mack off fast as I could (and started the charcoal grill so we could eat when andy got home to cook for us!) and headed back to pick them up! Mack preferred helping Gran!

And I preferred this fire...

Overall, it really was just too windy and cold to have fun that day! We tried. It wasnt a failure, completely, but I wouldnt say we got our monies worth, either...

Back at the house that evening, Mack and Grandad bonded over a diet cola :-)

And mack found things to get into...

We all rested well that night! And the next day, it SNOWED!!!!! It only accumulated about an inch on railings and such, only, but STILL! The kids got to see snow! HOw cool!

OH, yeah! And i brought SPUD too! Super-Mama! ;-)

This is truly what we call a "dusting" of snow! haha

Mack pretty much hated his big coat and would NOT leave on his hat. So we downsized and he froze but was much happier. Silly boy!

We had a GREAT time! It was really sweet of Gran and Grandad to let us crash their party!

Some people think its odd that I went with my in-laws but without Jeff that weekend. But heres the thing... when Jeff and I married, we married each others family. I love my in-laws! We actually get along famously and they are fabulous grandparents! I mean, they've had a huge part in my life seeing as how Jeff and I started dating at 16... thats 17 years that i've known and loved my family! So while, yes, we were all a little sad that Jeff was off running, it was a great weekend! The kids LOVE their gran and grandad and lets face it, (God forbid) if anything ever happened to Jeff, Ronni and Andy would still be my kids grandparents... and my family. And for that, I'm so incredibly grateful!

By the way, my man ran that whole marathon in 4 hours and 46 minutes. He made a little video montage of the event every 5 miles which I got to watch when we got home and it was hilarious! I am SO proud of him and his disciplined self ;-)