Bubble Cousins

It was a lovely weekend to escape to the mountains of Western Maryland and meet up with the Kohler family to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Although the winter was a record warm one, there was still enough snow for some of the Kohlers to hit the slopes for a little skiing. Some hit the slopes a bit more literally than others.

Grandma was particularly happy about the mild winter. She is still having nightmares from the last March trip to Deep Creek Lake after a record snowfall when they nearly became stuck in a snowbank trying to get to the rental house. Of course if you are going to get stuck in a car in the snow, you want it to be Grandma's as she usually is traveling with the contents of a small super market in the back. This year was no exception as she brought enough food to stay for a month.

Anna had a great time playing with her cousin Aidyn. They played nearly non-stop the entire time. Anna is now well versed on playing with cars and the appropriate sounds they make as well as learning to drive remote control cars. She also got a taste of what it may be like to have a little brother as Aidyn followed her everywhere asking her what she was doing. Aidyn learned how Anna gets her hair done and why girls wear dresses ("you look good Anna" was his comment). Both Anna and Aidyn got a surprise from Grandma every day, which of course was smartly the same thing for both of them. Courtney let them play on her IPad, where Anna learned how to play Angry Birds. The highlight of the day was bath time in the big jacuzzi tub in Grandma and Grandpa's bathroom, which was filled with bubble bath. The first night, Anna declared "we're bubble cousins."

Grandma and Grandpa had a good time entertaining the grandchildren. Grandma is teaching Anna to sew - something Anna has taken an interest in (Theresa is very excited about this and is encouraging Grandma to teach Anna as MUCH as possible). Grandpa is a landlord's dream as he proceeded to fix various things around the house all weekend.

Joe, Theresa, Tim, Rod & Courtney hit the slopes Sunday morning for a little slushy skiing. Both Courtney and Theresa had bad rental boots, which made the entire experience painful. Tim lost control on an icy patch and did a major wipeout. The grand finale was realizing that while everyone could walk to the lift from the house, in order to get back to the appropriate lift required skiing down a more advanced slope. This resulted in net another wipeout for Tim and some choice words from other members of the group. On the plus side, it was a beautiful day.

In addition to the skiing, the group also got to enjoy the nice weather at Swallow Falls State park followed by the requisite trip to Wal-Mart.

The rest of the weekend revolved around food. The most important food at a Kohler event is dessert and there was plenty to choose from. Grandma ordered a sheet cake to celebrate the March birthdays (Grandpa, Courtney & Theresa) which was loaded with frosting (it was even more frosting than Theresa could handle and that is significant). This of course required a gallon of ice cream. There were also brownies with marshmellow topping, coconut cookies, banana bread, 24 boxes of girl scout cookies that Anna delivered (we didn't open those) and 120 chocolate chip cookies that Grandma baked (in case you are doing the math, that is approximately 13 1/3 cookies per attendee). It was a sugar high weekend.

There are always memorable moments with Grandma when everyone gets together, and this trip was not exception. Saturday morning Grandma mistook her hairspray bottle for the eyeglass cleaner. Let's just say her glass still are not the same.

It was a great weekend in the mountains for everyone. Happy Birthday to Grandpa on March 14!