Things are warming up...

Despite what the groundhog said, it is looking really nice around here. That month of temps in the 30s was really getting old....






The flowering cherry started blooming on Valentine's day, right on cue, like it always does.








And my kitchen orchid is in full bloom!

Lodge Weekend

Every President's Day weekend for the last 7 years we have gone up to a big lodge at Snoqualmie Pass with my sister and her family and eight or so other families for weekend at the snow. This year there was a ridiculous amount of snow. In fact, the weekend before, we would not have made it, because the pass was closed!

We have been there before when there was almost no snow at all!! This was very exciting.
Also, this year, the weather was gorgeous. Mid-high 30s without a cloud in the sky!
We spent as much time as we could outside--I had borrowed Kristina's snowshoes, which I loved, because the first day, the snow was so soft, you would just sink all the way up to the top of your legs!
Here are the kids making snow angels. The snow was not as soft this day.
Snow angel:
We went for a walk over the meadow and through the woods with Cousin Owen. This seems to have become a yearly tradition....
Here they are on the top of a tractor trailer truck covered with snow:
With the sun so bright, and all that exertion, Miles was hot. So he put his face in the snow to cool down:
Every year we walk to this little cabin to check it out. Normally we can look inside. This year we could walk to the top of the roof!
Owen was mad at Uncle Nick for "making" him get snow in his boots. He had to take them off and empty them, Miles "tried" to help out. Two 11 year old boys in the snow trying to deal with footwear. It was pretty funny. To us.
The sky was so extraordinarily beautiful, you just had to stare at it. Although I was wearing sunglasses, my eyes hurt after this walk....
In the afternoon we went sledding on "The Big Hill". If you asked the children, it was super fun. If you ask the adults, it was borderline unsafe.....Then the menfolk started a sledding contest which became hugely funny, especially when Alec's last run broke his sled.
Stefan, Gabe, Jose, Bob,Zach, Alec (with sled), Hayden,Tom, Miles, Caroline, Me,Scout, Caitlin, Owen

Hamlet

Miles' class did an excellent production of Hamlet last week. I cannot seem to get a video to upload on here. The file is too big, maybe, I don't know. Miles played Horatio in the last scene, and got to say the last line, "Good Night, Sweet Prince". Here he is, waiting to go on....

Here is a cast photo, bad, I know. Miles is in between the two grave diggers dressed in brown on the left hand side...
I'll try and work on the video....

Pictures from Miles' camera

So I was scrolling through the photos he took of the most recent snow.....and I found some others.

Is this not the most hilarious photo??
I like this one, too.
Not sure what is going on in this one, but I am betting that is a Naked Brothers Band CD being played in Caroline's CD player....
Here I am shopping. Negatively....
Avery at New York Pizza
Gloria, blending in with the couch.
....aaaaand, the snow.


I hope to actually do something interesting soon, take some photos, and put them up here....

Miles' Birthday.

Miles turned 11 on Sunday, or as he calls it "double-digits double-digits." Since Nick is in Florida, we celebrated on Friday with dinner at Beppo. He got---a camera!! He had figured out how to work all the special features on it before we even left the restaurant. Here are some of the photos from the first day:


Why does that glass look so gross in the negative image? I don't want to think about it....



I predict there will be a lot of photos of Caroline and the cats. He figured out this "frame effect" function.
He's having a lot of fun with it.
On his real birthday, he went to the Opera with his friend Max, and saw Pagliacci. He loved it and said it was the best opera he ever saw. Then they came over and we rolled up a bunch of sushi. He had a great day.

Happy New Year!!

On New Year's Day. We decided to go up to Snoqualmie Pass and go for a walk in the snow. We usually go up in mid-Feb when the temp is right around 32. This day it was in the mid-20's and the snow was so fine. There were no snowballs to be made, as much as this family likes to throw them at each other.

It sure was pretty.
And SUPER windy.

After the walk, we decided to go sledding so we pulled off where we saw others sledding, Nick parked in a snowbank, the kids saucer-ed down the hill for a while in the 30 mph wind, brrr, until the sun went down, the wind picked up, and we could not get the car out of the snowbank, and a guy in a massive truck with a chain in the back happened along and pulled us out, whew! Fun day.

Random Holiday Photos

OK, there were things we did, and I didn't have enough photos or time to do a whole blog entry. So here are some random photos to enjoy.

Back in November, the kids did not one, but TWO Santa Lucia events. Here we are, with the Drivers and the band, at the Nordic Heritage House. Rosie has the candles on her head, Will, Miles, Lilly and Caroline follow her in the procession, as the band plays "Santa Lucia" for all the folks from the Old Country here in the heart of Ballard. We ate plenty of aebelskiver, Nick had some Glogg, and the kids made some excellent crafts. We love YuleFest.

Then, after the procession, the best part is handing out the cookies. Here are Caroline Lilly and Rose, waiting for the right time.
Next, Kristina and Jeremy turned 40, and had a joint birthday party with Beth, who may be, ahem, older than 40. The party was at the Hales Brewery, much fun. Here are all the ladies.
That's Peggy (Chick P) Amelia (HotGirl) Kristina (Dr Direction) Geni (Toughie) Me (Zippo) and Beth (The Crusher) (Parentheses are our Crafting Super Hero Names.)
Next up was Shoshana's hideous Christmas sweater party. Almost as impressive as the sweaters she provided for people who showed up looking normal, is that she cooked 40 pounds of brisket for this party, which her dad spent 1.5 hours cutting up. Here are some snaps. That is me in the hideous lime green sweater with the appliqued Santa heads, holding the timer in my hand, I am in charge of the timer for the Wicked Fast Gift Exchange. Rick loaned me his Excellent Coordinating Scarf that came ATTACHED to his Women's sweater from Sears.
Here is a nice shot. Kristina couldn't find a sweater left in any thrift store in town, and went to TJ Maxx and found this fetching tree skirt which makes an excellent cape. That's Rick in the middle, too bad you cannot see how excellent his sweater is. Nick looks good in his red sweater, with a good view of the crocheted snowflakes I made for it, but you cannot see the huge Xmas tree with FLASHING LIGHTS that I made for the back. It was a thing of beauty, take my word for it. I like Lilly rearranging the beer bottles in the foreground.
Miles and Rose at about midnight as we are leaving. I do not know what is going on here, but I plan to torment them with this photo later when they get married or go to the prom or something.
Miles, in his usual Christmas position:

Gloria loves to play with Legos. She skitters them up and down the hallway all day (and night), so when Miles busted out this Bionicle to work on, she sat next to him and watched the whole time. He thought it was so cute that she wanted to watch him play Legos.
Cousins, Christmas, and Chocolate Fondue. And that is all I have to say about that!