New Year's Day 2016

We had plans on New Year's day to go ice skating.  Not sure how fun it was going to be when none of the kids have ever been on ice skates before, but we thought it had potential.  When we showed up, we found out it was pay by cash only.  We didn't have any cash on us and while we could have gotten some we decided to ditch that idea and go tubing at Cascade Mountain instead.  The disappointment the kids expressed and not being able to go ice skating was quickly erased by how much fun they had tubing.

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Cascade Mountain is a "ski resort", but here in Wisconsin that is not saying much.  It is more like a really big hill than a mountain.  We have not tested out the "slopes", but the kids had a blast on this tubing run.

Only one person per tube is allowed, so Ryland got his own tube.  We were allowed to tie two tubes together, so Ryland was always hooked to my tube or David's tube.  The first time we went down together, he was in back of me.  When we got to the bottom, he made it very clear that he wanted to have the front spot for every other ride.   This kid.  He loves a good thrill.

There is gravel at the end of the run to help slow down the tubes (the tubes are covered with a hard bottom).  Even with the gravel, we still hit the padded barrier at the end a couple of times.  Ryland loved it when we did.

The "Magic Carpet" was fun.  No one is allowed to sit in their tubes during the ride up, so it was pretty comical watching our kids climb aboard (the video at the end caught how graceful they were).

The boys tried their best to keep warm over this tiny fire between runs.  They were not very successful.

I think they got more smoke than warmth.

Here is a short video of the day.  My favorite part is watching Ryland's run down the hill with dad.  This boy could not get enough of it.