Colorado Christmas: Hodgepodge

This is just a jumble of photos from our Christmas vacation in Colorado. We visited my mom's side of the family, and were plenty busy with a very eclectic collection of activities, as you'll soon see.

Here's my Grandma, Jane Knudtsen (I'm forgoing all Internet privacy concerns here, obviously. I wonder where I would get if I googled her name. Hmmm, now I'm curious!). This is one rugged lady. She is out at the tubing run with us here, but she decided not to tube since she had already been to the pool and cross country skiing that day. Or maybe she decided against tubing because she's almost 80 years old and has earned every bit of wisdom that is hers!These little people went tubing though. This is Eva and my youngest cousin, Drew (their birthdays are less than a week apart). They wedged their bums together in one tube while Kathrine Rachel (9 yrs.) held onto their feet to make a train. Wahoo!

Esther spent the week being held by many loving arms. She was in a I'm-not-napping-in-my-bed-on-vacation mood, but happy for her, there were plenty of people who wanted to cuddle a snoozing babe. This is Aunt Nancy, intense lover of all babies.
Esther also was held by my dad, her Grandpa.Uncle Andy got to hold Esther too. Back at the tubing run, Eva and I took a few turns together. It was fun! But my tailbone and groin really hurt the next day. Eva is hiding behind her mittens here, but don't worry, her courage built through the afternoon and she did peek out once or twice. There is my fearless (read: reckless) sister, "willing to sacrifice Levi's lunch" (as Grandma observed). After her crash landing at the bottom, I'm surprised Levi has any lunch left! "Yep," Grandma says, "There goes Levi's lunch."
Oh, look! There's my beautiful sister. And proof that Levi's lunch survived. Back at the ranch, there were many board games to be played. A few favorites were Chinese Checkers, Apples to Apples, Scrabble, and Settlers of Catan.

(L-R) Dalton, Anna Grace, Peter, Jon, Jonathan, and David. I told you there was an eclectic mix of activities. In this picture, a group of my relatives are singing Russian Orthodox chants, which is a new addition to our family gatherings.
(L-R) Grandma, Mom, Aunt Mary, Anna Grace, Uncle Steve, Eric, Dad, and Jonathan.
With this cold-blooded family (I'm not kidding... you've never seen so many Scandinavians layered in wool, polar fleece, and slippers before!), I was surprised to see the outdoor hot tub get so much attention. Then, even more surprising, the kids were able to goad the grandparents into doing Polar Bear runs. (FYI: Polar Bear runs involve hopping out of a sauna or hot tub and rolling in the snow.) It is electrifying and makes a person happy. Not kidding.

The kids started it, except for Hope (because she's too little) and Kathrine Jane (because she is wise). Soon, they were chanting for my mom and her brother (the most cold-blooded of them all) to make the run. Sure enough, they did, with lots of hooting and hollaring to go along with it. Eva and I also made a special mommy-daughter run to make snow angels. I don't reccomend running around when you're three months postpardum and wearing your high school speedo, but I'll do anything for a little fun with my girl, even galavant in my three sizes too small swim suit.

(L-R) Mom, Hope (2), James (7), Eva (4), Drew (4), Becca, Kathrine Jane (7), Uncle Andy, Kathrine Rachel (9).

This concludes my series of Colorado Christmas pictures and stories. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be back with another installment in two years!