The Big Four-Oh

Keeping tradition and in celebration of Ib's milestone (4oth!) birthday, we loaded up the car and spent a nice weekend in Pinetop, AZ. They didn't have a lot of snow, but Ib got a great day in on the mountain and Knox and I had some fun of our own.

While Ib was snowboarding, we went out in search of a sled for Knox's first sledriding experience.

He thought the snow was pretty neat and wasn't at all hesitant to jump right in.

Luckily, Ib's friend Chaz was also at the mountain that day so they boarded together. I took some time to stop and take photos while Knox napped in the car on the way to pick him up at the end of the day. Then we enjoyed dinner with Chaz at the Greer Lodge before heading back to our own lodge for the night.

Sunday morning we took our time getting up and ready. We stayed in this same room a few years ago.

Once Knox was all bundled up we headed out to a small hill that the nice lady at Walmart told me the kids use for sledding.

Two shirts, two pairs of pants and two pairs of socks later...he was probably over dressed for the weather, but we figured better safe than sorry!

We took about 6 runs down the hill and he was over it. But he did seem to have fun.

Before we left, we turned him loose in the snow. He was shoveling it into his mouth with both hands. He couldn't eat enough snow!

That went well until his hands got too cold. He wouldn't keep his mittens on; Believe me, I tried!

We had a nice lunch at Ib's favorite wing place: The Native New Yorker before heading back home. Knox entertained the other patrons by throwing his arms up when I said "TOUCHDOWN" while watching the playoff games.

We stopped at the bridge over the Salt River Canyon for some photos.

And then we continued our journey back to Tucson.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time. One of these years we're hoping to get Knox (and Mommy!) on some skiis so we can all go together.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We love you!