Snowshoeing with Matt and Family Ski Day - Reed is Off Daisy!

Matt was able to join us out at the cabin this week. I ended up getting sick, so Matt was able to step in and he and Eben took the kids on a mega snowshoe trek up the side of the mountain behind our cabin.

 Going straight up and sinking in deep! Smiles still on, though!

 The valley of Plain and the old bridge far down below.

 Reed is taking to skiing like a duck to water. He is now off of the beginner chair and onto intermediate terrain. He still needs dad to lift him on and off of the lift, but he can handle the mountain all by himself and especially loves heading into the trees on the little winding paths and going on the small jumps in the terrain park. Good gracious, what have we gotten ourselves into? But it is very fun to all be TOGETHER on the mountain!

 

And Reed is a young Jedi on skis!

 We have to split up on the four-person chair lifts. Here is Edison and Charlotte riding up together.

Presidents' Day Sledding with Natalie, Aaron, and Amy

Natalie and Aaron have a family cabin on the north shore of Lake Wenatchee and it was great to finally spend a day together out here in the snow. Their daughter Lyla and Charlotte are in the same grade and got along very well as did Reed and their son, Andy, who is also in preschool. Edison had fun perfecting his snow slide tunnel and sharing it with the other kids. Check out the video of Charlotte going through.

Amy came over for dinner with Jenabel and Jasper and we all had a ton of fun sledding. Eben built another amazing outdoor fire and it was a festive night.

 

The dads as the base of the three-sled train with all seven kids piled on top.

 

Eben and Aaron by the fire.

 Relaxing with Natalie.

 Amy brought her "Lay Bag" inflatable couch. It wasn't quite as easy to set up as the online promo video makes it seem, but it was a hit.

Midwinter Break at the Cabin

Our plan is to always have our February midwinter break week here at the cabin. We were fortunate to have good friends come visit us. Charlotte and Margaret played so well together, as did Reed and Joseph. Meanwhile the grown ups had a lively game of charades together.

 We also wanted to spend time this week doing activities we don't usually squeeze into a weekend trip. We went snowshoeing on the south shore of Lake Wenatchee, basically parking the car where the road stopped being plowed and just hiking the rest of the way to the lake. The kids did awesome and it was really nice of Eben to schlep Reed in the backpack the whole time. The snow was falling like crazy and it was just such an enjoyable and peaceful time in the woods.

 When we got to the lake, we found it frozen over with about six inches of snow on top with  giant cloud sitting right on top. It wasn't what we expected and from the people we've talked to it appears to be fairly rare for the lake to freeze all the way over - probably due this year to our very cold January.

Patriots Win Super Bowl, Snow Day, and Massive Snow at Cabin

Though I was sad the Seahawks didn't make it any further than the first round of the playoffs, it was exciting to celebrate the Patriots' big, come-from-behind Super Bowl win. Midway through the game, Edison was tearing up and Eben was in low spirits. Halfheartedly I reminded them that game wasn't over until it was over, but they were down 28-3 and no one had much hope - except maybe Tom Brady. He lead the Patriots to an overtime comeback that was incredibly dramatic. Go Pats!

 The cherry on top of the Super Bowl win was a snow day the next morning! We had fun playing with LFP friends in the snow for a change!

 Too cute in his elf jammies. He is getting so big I won't have many more photos like this one, I'm afraid.

 We arrived on Friday night to the cabin and had more than two feet of new snow since the past weekend. It was quite a project for Eben to snow blow a path through to the door.

 The kids enjoyed all the fresh powder and had fun building snow forts, tunnels, and sledding, of course.

 

The cutest zebra award goes to..... Reed!

FEBRUARY - Basketball Cheer Camp

Charlotte was very excited to once again participate in a Shorecrest cheer camp. This one was for a basketball game and each grade group of campers did a dance routine to a different song. Charlotte did AWESOME and hit all the moves! So proud of her! Check out the video! And she had a bunch of girl friends in the camp, too, which made it all the more fun!

 After the game, I went across the courtyard to the main building and chaperoned the Jersey Jam After Game Dance for my students. What fun!

Razi and Stephen at the Cabin

This was our first time having Razi and Stephen and their kiddos at the cabin. We had a blast playing in the snow all day Saturday with nothing else on the to do list. It was very relaxing!

 

Of course the big kids were aggressive sledders and snow monsters while the younger ones mostly watched and cheered them on.

 

 

All of us parents had a lot of fun playing with the kids. 

 

Meanwhile, Eben dug out the fire pit which was under about two feet of snow. It made a cozy, semi-igloo in which to relax and enjoy the fire and scenery.  

 

A Sunny Saturday at Seattle Center

We spent a sunny Saturday at Seattle Center a couple weeks ago. It was the same day as the national Women's March protest against the policies and demeanor of Donald Trump. I was proud to see hundreds of thousands participate (crowd estimated at 500,000). We had a play at the Seattle Children's Theater that afternoon, so we got here early and spent time at the new playground near the EMP and at the Pacific Science Center.

 

 Reed climbed right up this spider web to the top of the 2-story playground. His concentration was evident.

 We used human power to move this water wheel...

 and played with the force of water to move these paddles.