Winter 2009

Our winter fun started right after Christmas when we went up to the cabin for the day. We couldn't believe all the snow they had. It must have been almost two feet deep! We went on a family snow mobile ride through the woods. It was really beautiful. There was piles of snow on all the tree limbs. After a night at the cabin we headed further north to Traverse City. It was raining when we got there. We intended to ski, but the weather was not looking good. We shopped and got a movie. Overnight it got cold again and the rain turned to snow. We woke to a couple of inches on the ground. So we headed to Mt. Holiday right in Traverse City. It's a small ski resort and also a non profit organization. Therefore the prices are very low. In the early afternoon we did an hour of tubing. It was really fun. They let you hook up your tubes together and go down the hill. It's really fast. A tow rope takes you up the hill. You just sit and ride. We went back to the condo for a rest and dinner. After dinner we went back to Mt. Holiday for a Sunday night special. For $15 you get lift, rental and an hour lesson. The kids took a lesson and we skied. Then we came back for the kids and they were ready to ski with us. Nathan just wanted to climb a snow hill so we took turns going on the chair lift with Katie and Noah. It was really fun! Definitely check that place out if you want to take your kids skiing. It's inexpensive and perfect for beginner skiers.

Since we had such a good experience skiing we wanted to go again. We got our chance in Ohio when we got a snow storm resulting in Ken and the kids having off from work and school. We braved the roads and headed to Bellfountaine to Mad River Mountain. The roads really weren't that bad, but for Ohio not many people were on the road. This time the kids were ready. Nathan skied the "bunny hill" all by himself. He liked the "magic carpet" ride a conveyor belt that took you up the hill. There was a thick blanket of new powdery snow. Katie and Noah went up to the bigger hills on the chair lift. We even got Nathan on the chair lift and Ken helped him down the hill by holding out his poles for Nathan to hang on to going down the hill. It was a really good day. We were glad we got to ski on our day off. We think we may have found a sport the 5 of us enjoy. We want to try out the other ski place here in Ohio soon. Hopefully we get a chance to go again this winter, but definitely next!! Positive thoughts and good wishes go out to everyone who reads this blog!! I will try to update again soon! I have just been lazy!

We got a Wii!!!!

Yeah we are so excited!!! We ebay'd some old toys and Grandpa Mike kicked in the other half for our Wii. They were in the ads on Sunday May 18th and we went right to the store in the morning to get one of the 9 Wii's they had in stock. Phew.... Now we are a little addicted, but at least it gets people moving. You actually have to move your body to play the games. My favorite is tennis and bowling. Very fun for the whole family!

Team Sheridan on Spring Break

Jump for joy Team Sheridan headed down for our annual trip to Ft. Myers Beach Florida for spring break. We braved the 18 hour trip in the van just to spend a week on the beach, but it's definitely worth it. The kids were great in the car. We left our house at 1am in the morning on Good Friday and drove straight thru to Ft. Myers. We stayed one night at a hotel before heading to our condo on the beach on Saturday. Most the week was spent between the beach and the pool relaxing and playing.

My parents came with us too. We usually spend spring break with them. The kids love to have them and so do we. It is nice to spend time with them and it's nice to have extra adults to help with the kids. Ken and my dad fish together as well. They rented their own unit in the same condos we stayed at so we were very close to each other.

This is our view from our room. It was a one bedroom unit, but we made it work. I tried getting a two bedroom, but since it's spring break they are very hard to come by. The umbrellas on the beach is where we hang out for the day. We tend to have quite a set up on the beach, but it's great to have some shade as we are all on the light skinned side and can't take too much sun.

Of course no vacation for us wouldn't be complete without sunset pictures. I think I have my Christmas card picture already. Even though Noah thought his shorts looked like a picnic table cloth I thought they were so cute and they look great on the beach.


A couple mornings Ken, my Dad (Mike) and Noah went fishing early at Lover's Key. It's a state park down the road from our condo. They named themselves Hook (Ken) Line (Noah) and Watcher (Grandpa Mike). Ken hooked the fish and Noah pulled them in. They are sea trout and very good eating. We ate these that night fresh with some steak. Yum!! The guys didn't end up catching any other fish, but they did see a shark a couple of times. Yikes! That was enough for Noah to get out of the water and start making sand castles on the beach.

Although on the Gulf side of Florida there aren't many big waves it's fun to "surf" the mini waves. Katie liked it a lot. Nathan liked to play and relax and feed the egret shrimp and minnows.

I can't help myself with these pictures of sunset and matching outfits. I wonder how many more years I'm going to be able to get away with it! LOL
Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sue bought these kites for Easter for the kids. Nathan had the Shark, Noah had the Dragon, and Katie's was a Parrot. The were really nice and lots of people asked where they got them. They got them at Costco in Michigan in case you were wondering.

Noah looks like he is going to fly away, but really the were easy to fly.



Noah really liked fishing in Florida. Another awesome sunset.

These pictures are in reverse order. Easter Sunday was first and here are the kids in their Florida Easter Church clothes. We go to Church of the Ascension on the beach. It aways cracks me up because the ushers male and female wear tuxedos and they are all really old. The reader looks a lot like Ken's Uncle Joe. It was pretty packed in there and a really nice Easter Mass. I had to take a picture of the kids with Mary outside the church as she looked so beautiful with the tropical flowers. The Easter bunny brought buckets, shovels, and pool toys as well as some candy and some spending cash for souvenirs.


Here's Katie with her kite. On a particular windy day her kite got a way from her. She and Ken chased it down the beach. It stopped when it hit a building and they got it back. Phew!

Weather was awesome all week with sun and 80's. Only one day was a little cooler, but still hot in the sun and we went shopping on Sanibel Island that day and out to lunch. It's great to do these family trips they are a much needed break from the every day hustle and bustle and stress. We have gone to Ft. Myers beach so many times it is hard to imagine a year without it. But alas we are home now and the weather is very spring like(read raining) and I have a mountain of laundry to do and have to go back to work and am suffering from post vacation depression. But...life will go on and I will be looking at our pictures. Until next year ah....

Our New Toy

We have discovered the joy of singing in our house since Noah got Sing Star for PS2 for Christmas. It's great. We get rated and due to it's generous scoring we actually think we can sing. One problem we have discovered is it's not as much fun to listen as it sing like when Ken and I are in the other room watching tv while the kids are on the Sing Star singing away. However, when the whole family gets involved especially in a battle or duet it's really fun. We want to add to our song list soon by getting the Pop and 80's version of the game.



Check out our mini concert

Katie & Denise get in on the action