Skiing at New Fork and other New Year's fun

For a long time, it's been a Scherbel tradition to cross-country ski into Camp New Fork, a BSA camp in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. The year that Dave and I were sorta-kinda engaged, I got to go. Since then, school, work, moving and Jed's birth have kept us from going in with the family. This year we got to go again! There wasn't enough snow to actually ski or snoweshoe in to camp, so we drove. I must say, it made it a lot easier with Jed just driving in. And we still got in plenty of skiing and snowshoeing.

Jed snoozing on the drive from Montpelier to camp

the Snake River all icy--brrr!

Our new camera makes it so much more fun to see wildlife along the road, because we can actually get good pictures now!

our cute fam by the gate to New Fork

Dave in his Wooley-Pulley sweater in the lodge

Auntie Hannah and Jed trying to stay warm as Daddy stokes the fire. The lodge took a while to warm up but once it did, it was toasty.

Matt, Hannah, Jed and Elsa

The first night, after Jed was snug in his bed, Scott, Matt, Hannah, Dave and I went for a moon-lit ski to the lake. I am not nearly as good on skis as I wish I were (that problem is to be remedied thanks to the $10 pair of skis and poles we found yesterday at the local thrift store. Score!) and I fell down a lot. And I was pretty darn scared of going down a little, tiny hill. But I am getting the hang of things. We skied out to the waterfront and listened to the ice creak on the lake.

all in one piece!

Look at me, I'm standing! For a while, anyway...

there's not much to say, really.

I love Matt's face here.

Thankfully our cabins were heated. Well, a few of them were, and Dave, Jed and I lucked out and our heater actually worked. So we stayed pretty cozy.

Jed loves Nalgene bottles. Seriously, he should be a spokes-kid. Here he's practicing drinking from one. He and Dave both got pretty wet even with a splash guard in.

Gotta love the artwork on those staff-cabin walls. Everyone thinks they need to leave their mark. I am so crazy about the look on Jed's face here. Silly guy!

We spent Tuesday skiing and snoweshoeing. Wednesday morning before we left, we took Jed sledding for a little while.

Sorry, I'm not sure why this is in black and white. But here's Dave and Jed on their first run down the hill.

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I love how Jed looks just like the little brother from "A Christmas Story." Poor guy, I don't think he put his arms or legs together for 3 days.

getting ready to go for another run

Matt, Dave and Malcom were determined to ride the sleds down the hill snowboard-style.

Matt got the hang of it and did pretty good--after several major crashes.

Daddy and Jed getting packed up to go back to Big Piney.

Oh, cute, the three of us outside the cabin.

We saw a huge herd of deer on the way to the house--at least 50 or 60, with several large bucks. Gorgeous!

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For New Year's Eve we hung out at the house, eating too many treats and playing games.

Jed had a lot of fun on the rocking horse

"How do we go faster?" Jed takes after his Auntie Hanna

"Oh, hi Mama"

Jed loved my festive necklace

I think my favorite thing we did New Year's Day was to open the time capsule Scherbels made in 2000. Everyone had written down predictions for 2010 and it was hilarious to read them. We learned why Sarah is short and discovered that Dave and I should have had twins (Sorry Ruth and Aaron and Pete and Amanda! Maybe next time...or not!). We learned that Ben should have at least 4 kids and that Karl and Holli should live in Utah. We learned that Alan should be in the NBA and that Peter should be making boatloads of money. We confirmed that Matt is a stud and that Hannah is all girl. It totally made me want to do one for our family.

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Back home, I have a ton of projects to start and things to clean up. Dave is ready to get back to work and Jed is already doing what he normally does...

biting any and all available noses and...

hanging out with his ducks in the tub.

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Happy New Year!