Mini family vacation

This weekend my family and I headed to Boyne Mountain for a weekend of skiing, waterparks, and tubing. It all started because my brother and fiancée were supposed to be coming into town. We were all super excited but at the last minute they had to cancel because of school scheduling issues. :( To say we were disappointed was an understatement, but we were determined to have fun anyways (and we really did!). Friday Josh got off work late so we didn't make it up there until late. Since everyone else arrived earlier, they went skiing and we had just enough time to check out the hotel pool. The kids loved it! The water was warm and they had so much fun swimming by themselves, having us throw them in the air, and jumping to us from the side of the pool.
I realized as we set up three sets of sleeping bags on the floor that this was their first time ever staying at a hotel! They were so excited for their sleep over (see pic). Since we were staying at the casino hotel everyone went to the casino to use our free credits while dad and I put the kids to bed. I even got some cuddle time with Nolan when he woke up before they were back.

Saturday was spent at Avalanche Bay water park. Kay loved the ice glacier crossing, Grace the purple slide, and Caleb loved the basketball kids area. They even went down the big water slide on the tube with us adults. Grace and I did fine (although it was so fast I had to hold her down to keep her in the tube). Caleb with Trev and Kay with Josh did not fair as well. When they hit the water at the end of the slide, they totally flipped backwards into the water with the kids! Kay came up sputtering, "that was NOT fun!" The rest of it they loved though. :) Saturday night we went to dinner at the casino's all you can eat buffet! Sooo good! I loved the hot German chocolate cake with ice cream, hot fudge, strawberries, and whip cream. The kids got a kick out of riding in the casino's shuttle! They thought it was a school bus! ;) (see pic).

Sunday we ended the weekend with tubing. The boys were too young but Kay and Grace were just old enough. After a rocky start of frustrated parents trying to get kids in snow clothes (ugh- my least favorite part of winter), we were off to more fun. The girls had a blast and by the end were going down in their own tube. They were so proud of themselves. We did have one unfortunate adventure down the side of the mountain in search of bathroom that led to much hilarity. We even got a group going fast enough that they sent Marian over the back wall at the end! From that point on they only let groups of three down at a time.
Overall it was a wonderful vacation filled with lots if family time, fun, and adventure! Unfortunately I got barely any photos but it still was a great weekend!