Sweethearts!

Jake went to Sweethearts on Saturday!  He got asked by a cute girl named Brooke.  She is awesome!

He had so much fun.  I was worried about how he'd do.  His back isn't even sealed up from his surgery yet.  

I didn't need to worry though.  He did so great.  Came home in less pain than Homecoming last fall.  He's only 2 months out of surgery and he's already way better than he was pre-surgery.  Such a blessing.

They met up for their day date and made a Bob Ross painting.

Then she came by to pick him up and they did pictures and went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Mike, Allie, and I went to Olive Garden too.  We thought we were way after them, but we ended up seeing them as they were finishing up.  Felt weird to spy on them, but they looked like they were having a great time.

They got really good pictures too.  So fun.
 

They came to our house after the dance for drinks.  They were happy and had huge smiles on their faces.  They had funny stories of a fish that they had brought to the dance.  I guess there was an incident at the end of the dance and now the fish is no more... :(

I love that he got to go and have a fun time.  High school can be so fun!  Live it up Jake!

A Skiing Story

The littles wanted to go skiing today.  We didn't have anything going on, so I told them I'd take them.  It's the first time of the year, so I wanted to go to Cherry Peak.  That resort is only 15 minutes away and an easy commitment for us because we didn't know how skis were going to fit etc.  

We got there and things started to feel wrong for Jason.  His gloves were full of sand and he decided that even though I got the sand out, he didn't want to go.

Nathan was so excited to get on the hill that he just took off.  He was finally wearing skis that fit and he was excited to be out on the hill.  Luckily everything came right back to him and he was off and running.  

Jason was having a hard time wanting to go.  So we found a comfy spot in the lodge and hung out for a while.

I guess he finally got bored enough that he decided to go out and ski.

Nate met up with us and Jason came down triumphant!

Then, they took off together.  We had met up with a neighbor girl and she was going to help them, so I thought things were going to be great.  They were not.  

Shortly after taking this picture, Jason tipped over and couldn't get his ski back on.  By the time I came out to check on them (I had gone back into the lodge and was waiting to see them go up the lift), Jason was completely done and was never going to ski again.

So he came in and sat with me on the couch.  I got refunded for his pass (because he never skied!) and we watched Nate go up and down the hill.

After lunch, Jason decided to give it another whirl.  He did the magic carpet again, and against my better judgement, I sent him up the lift with Nathan.

 I got back up to the lodge and a few minutes later, Nathan came running in and said "something really bad happened!" I jumped right up and we went out together.  I guess Jason was worried and the lift was going "too fast" and he didn't get off the lift.  So he rode it around and down the mountain.  Kids going up the lift taunted him all the way down.  As I walked outside, I could see a lonely little Jason riding down and nearing the bottom.  When he got to the bottom, the lifty stopped the lift and came over and chewed him out.  He told him it wasn't meant for riding down without permission and he didn't have permission.  Hello!  He didn't mean to do it!  Poor kid was crying and really upset.  He couldn't get out of his skis and poles fast enough.  He said he was never going to ski again.  Ugh.  Such a bummer that it happened.

I wish I hadn't let him go up the lift.  I wish I had pushed harder for him to just ride the magic carpet and be done with that.  I can't change it now, but next time I'll just have to take him and ride with him up the lift so that doesn't happen again.  And he can't go solo with Nathan until he can crash and get himself back up, get his own skis on, etc.  

Lets just hope there's a next time.  :)

Nathan had a great day though and loved it!  He was really happy to have gone and gotten even better than before.  He has confidence in himself now.  He's unstoppable!