Maggie Valley - Blizzard 2013

At the beginning of Feb, we rented a cabin with our neighbor friends - who have two little boys, one of which is Nate's best buddy from school - in Maggie Valley, NC.  We were planning to take the boys tubing and were very excited because we thought we were going to get some snow flurries.  Little did we know that we were in for the Winter Storm 2013...

The snow was really fun at first...we got to the cabin late friday night...and Saturday morning the boys got up and started throwing it immediately...

We set out for the day to find the Tube Area and find out we have to purchase a time for after lunch...as we find a nice kid-friendly pool hall to eat in, the snow picks up and the temperatures drop.  But that wasn't stopping the boys - big and small!  

Nate got his ticket and was ready to go...sort of...it was a big mountain for a 5 yr old.  The launching point was right above Michael's head in the picture below.

I thought he was going to back out, especially when we realized he had to go solo, but he grabbed his tube and set off...

I waited anxiously at the bottom (near the car because Matthew fell asleep - so I couldn't get a good landing shot)...and finally spotted his little striped hat, still in his tube.  Can you spot him below?

I asked him how it was and he said "Scary!"...but he grabbed his tube and hit it again...

After the tubing fun was over, we headed back to the cabin...or tried to...the storm was getting worse and we weren't sure if our friends' car would make it back off the mountain road if the snow piled up overnight (which was a good call).  So we all piled in to Michael's truck (4 adults and 4 kids) and headed home...and made it most of the way.  We did play it safe and parked at the top of the windy steep drive just in case...but that left a fun walk in the snow with all of the kids and some groceries!

The conditions were treacherous for those under 4 feet...

But don't worry...he made it...

We had a fun night in by the fire(s)...Nate and William had a very serious game of Trouble...

And Michael was determined to get a fire going in the firepit...and he was successful!

The next day, we woke up to over 8 inches of snow...and were unable to get out for hours.  And those hours entailed getting Michael's truck unstuck from the snow bank it slid in to...

...and Michael and a kind neighbor digging tracks and towing the truck far enough for us to get out safely.  The pictures stopped when we ended up having to drag some of our bags and 4 kids a half mile uphill in the snow to get to the truck...and then a drive off the mountain that left me unable to breathe until we were on actual blacktop.  It ended as a true adventure!  But otherwise it was a fun weekend and I KNOW the boys had a blast so it was all worth it.