4 Country Sisters: New Years in Leavenworth.

This year we wrapped it up with our first trip to Leavenworth. The kids and I had never been there and we had heard so many good things about it, so we were really excited.Leavenworth is a little village that is central to great skiing, in a valley that's a mini Wine Country. It was settled by German and Scandinavian immigrates and has strong northern European feel. We went with The Hubs family. Luckily this year we got alot of snow, and we were planning on sledding and checking out the village, of which everyone had told us we HAD to check out and shop and eat.

The drive was beautiful, it's great that even with two mountain passes it was less than 3 hours away!

Passing through Snoqualmie, yes, that is snow 6 feet tall along the highway!

This is the cutest valley up the 97, east of Cle Elem, I told the Hubs we could move there!

This girl brought her sketch pad and drew and colored most of the drive, she is usually the one that gets car sick but she did great. Thank you Dramamine!

Lil Man rocking out to his music!

The birthday girl!

The village of Leavenworth

The condo that the Hubs booked for us he found on booking.com, and we got a great deal for a 2 bedroom right on the main street. This 25 foot knight was in front of one of one of the many hotels there. Lil Man wanted to bring it home!

All checked in! The condo we rented was called Der Matterhorn, and it really was right on the main street, the third floor of a very old building, but it was really cute and comfortable! They kept the Christmas decor up and we loved it. We had a balcony to see all the lights and we were right across from the main park, of which was now a sledding hill....

After getting settled we had to check out the sights and find some dinner.

It was so cold! We packed layers and planned for cold, but goodness it was brisk! I think the warmest it got the whole four days we were there was 24 degrees!

The Tree of Lights

We checked out some fun shops, these soaps were packages beautifully and the girls wanted me to take a pic.

One of the shops we went into was of course a German toy store. The kids love the Schleich figurines and this store had almost everyone ever made! We each picked out our favorite...I couldn't decide which one I liked more!

The boys, one a Knight the other a Dragon Rider

The Hubs found his Real favorite, the Bull Knight!

After we ate, we sent sledding. At 830pm. In 12 degree temps. Why not right?!

We took at least 30 photos this night, but all but a handful came out blurry, it looks bright out but it was too dark to get any motion shots with just my phone. We brought blow up pool tube, of which are perfect for sledding, talk about slick!

Lil Man did not want to stop!

Yup it's a blur, but you can see that is Miss E screaming as we down down the hill.

Yup that's Miss E and I. I love sledding too!

Lil Man sledding the first time!

The village was so lit up with Christmas lights, it was beautiful! That is our condo on the third floor of the building with the green and gold lights, below us was a sporting goods store.

Even the Hubs went down a few times...Until he popped the tube. And then it was bedtime!

Frozen but happy!

The condo tour. Our bedroom

The kids room.

The family room has 18 foot ceilings, hard wood floors, and a woodstove!

Love the Christmas tree!

The kitchen with a 3 foot tall Santa in the corner.

The hall and foyer, we also had a washer and dryer with all the laundry supplies!

Our balcony with the village view.

Lil Man wanting to show off the couches, they were very comfortable, and the couch was also a hide a bed, perfect when we had some cousins stay with a us a night.

Day 2, more sledding. This time over by the families timeshare at the very end of town

Sunny, beautiful, freezing, and on vacation!

I was the first one of our group to go down the hills that the kids wanted to go down, they didn't want to go first, and I couldn't wait!

The kids sledding video

Lil Man loved every minute!

My lil Snow Bunnies!

The Hubs and Miss E, we borrowed a sled and could now double up

I love these two.

Day 3 in the village. The girls planned their outfits around the coats, scarves, hats and gloves!

We found the Kris Kringl store! Three stories of Christmas decor!

One of the seven Santas in the Christmas store

Love this kid!She's growing so fast, we might be the same height by the end of this year!

The Frozen Tree!

One of the five Christmas villages.

Santa and his sled, suspended from the 3 story ceiling.

Miss E and her fave nutcracker

Lil Man and his fave

Miss J and her fave, sparkles, of course!

I found this sweet little frost baby!

Silly kids and another Santa

Walking through the village.

We found this funny magnet.

The girls found mini pcoket knives with their names on them.

Miss J fell for this felted hat from Austria

Apparently Lil Man is an expert on Knights because I asked him to smile and he told me knights don't smile, they stand like this and are serious men!

We found the bookstore! Our happy place!

We celebrated this girl's all grown up 12th birthday, this is at Nana's condo.

I loved the artwork in our condo, these are watercolors. I love the goat farm theme.

I wanted to take lots of photos of our condo, there were several great decorating ideas that we will have to try next Christmas!

Day 4, we woke up to 6 degree temps! This is our balcony sliding door, and yes that is frozen condensation! We had thick curtains so we stayed warm, but this was crazy to see right next to the dining table!