Snow Day!

Hola Familia,

So, for the third time in four years we will be going to the snow. This year everyone agreed on Sunday the 16th since the following Monday is a holiday for the kids and there will be no school. We have always had fun at the snow and I think this will be a good experience for the little ones that have not seen the snow, but not for the three tiny little ones.

I am thinking that like the last time, everyone will travel on their own or on small groups two or three cars together because trying to stay together as a large group proved to be a nightmare. As long as we all leave at around the same time and stay in contact via cell phones we should all get there at around the same time. Last time somehow we all managed to get together in Flagstaff without even trying. That worked out pretty nice. I say use the buddy system, one or two cars together in case someone needs help.

We will be going to Wing Mountain Sledding and Snow Play Area again. For those of you that haven't been there here are some directions that will help you get there:

An Easy Drive Just North of Flagstaff, Arizona.

From Interstate 40, follow Hwy 180 north 2.8 miles past Snowbowl Road to mile marker 226 (approximate), turn left onto Forest Service Road 222B. The exit is clearly marked as “Wing Mountain Snow Play Area.” You can find a map here.

Their fees are as follows: The parking and use fee for the Wing Mountain Snow Play Area is $12 per car. No re-entry is allowed. All children under 16 must be accompanied by and supervised by an adult.

I suggest we all bring food "pot luck" style. so we can all share. And please, buy everything here in town so that we don't have to be wasting time up there in Flagstaff on the actual day.

If you like to visit their website just click here!

Come on gang, let's get together and let's have fun. And please take plenty of warm clothes as well as extra clothes for the kids as they may need it. Do not take them in tennis shoes cause they will freeze and won't enjoy their time up there. We've been there before so everyone should now know what to bring and how to dress.

Let's stay in contact and hope to see as many of you there.

Wing Mountain Snow Day

OK it was a little bit past 5:00 a.m. when the alarm clock went off and mi chica woke me up for the first time, of course she knows I won't react until maybe the second snooze. Yep, that's me. Finally I got up and woke up everyone else. A quick shower, a cup of coffee and a loaded van. We were ready to hit the road, but not before dropping "chapalita" off with her ninos.

We did really good time and pretty soon we were stopping at the Prescott/Flagstaff crossroad. My daughter in law and two granddaughters caught up to us there. My daughter and her family left last and somehow were like half hour ahead from us. After a short pit stop we resumed our trip. I like a dummy got on the wrong lane and headed towards Prescott, I realized this right away so I threw a u-turn and got back on track, however my daughter in law didn't realized this and she kept driving towards Prescott thinking she was on the right path. When she finally realized her error she was a good 25 minutes behind us now. There for a while the kids were watching rocks, when I asked why the sudden interest in rocks, they said, "Didn't you see the sign that said watch for rocks next two miles" Not really, while the sign was there I just made this up. lol

So, when we got to Flagstaff we stopped at a gas station and that served as our meeting point. Half an hour later we were all on our way to the snow together. Having the instructions in advance on how to get there was a plus because we found Wing Mountain Recreational Park very easily.




We parked next to the snow so the kids started to explore and to play in the sleds we had bought a few minutes before. We all started on a little slope that didn't even look like a slope at all. In the meantime my in laws started setting up the TV in the back of an SUV. It took a lot of tweaking the antennas but they finally found the reception, it was sort of ironic because the reception was kinda snowy and we were in the snow.





After a while we graduated to the bigger slopes and that's where the fun and the accidents began. While everyone loved it, there were many wipe outs. Diego came back with a black eye, Jen and Nikki wiped out and landed on the gravel, Noe was totally knocked out by a runaway sled and got a bloody mouth, booty aches, scrapes, yep we had it all but in the end everybody wanted more. Junior decided to stick around the TV and he watched most of the game, they came calling out the score and of course the Cards were winning most of the game so the crowd went crazy.

At four we were ready to leave, the game was not over but that was fine we were still winning but wait... what? Philadelphia just scored and we are now down by one. Man that just sucks. Let's go.

Two miles down the road there is a small restaurant that sells the best coffee and hot chocolate, we went in and they were all watching the game. We were still down and I just couldn't take the pressure of watching my team lose so I went outside and babysat all the sleeping kids on three cars while everyone else stayed inside.
I said let's go and they said are you crazy? We won't leave until the game is over. With that they all marched inside the restaurant to watch the last 2 minutes 53 seconds left in the game. Of course to me that was an eternity, in the meantime mi chica called from home and told me we were winning and there was only 1 minute left. She said it's pretty safe to say we won, but me knowing my Cards I had to know the game was over.


Good coffee and hot chocolate and inside featuring the Cardinals. And this is where we found out we (The Cardinals) are going to the Super Bowl.

A few more minutes and everybody comes out running from the restaurant screaming and jumping and saying that the Cardinals won and that we are going to the Super Bowl. Ufff what a sight of relief, I knew my three and a half hour drive to Avondale would be a nice one.

Junior bought me a coffee and I started to drink it, everybody fell asleep and I was enjoying my coffee when I read a sign that said "Do not drink and drive". Man and I was really enjoying my coffee.


Part of the group, it was just too hard to get everyone together.