Bend and Hoodoo

We headed south to Bend, OR to visit my aunt and her family in their gorgeous new home. It is a peaceful retreat surrounded by mountains which spike up towards the heavens. While we had clouds and fog, the air felt crisp and clean.










Myles was impressed with the frost: It spiked off of the branches of their trees and bushes. The frigid air and absence of wind allowed the ice to grow in this form!












Liv was the first to ski down the sled hill at Hoodoo. She was quite the adventurer, letting us pull her around both on skis and sled. After a few rounds with Myles, she let me haul her to the top of the bunny hill and walk beside her as she skiid down.











Addison, after mastering the sledding slope, got brave enough to rent skis and climb aboard the chair lift with Myles. He had a blast skiing down the bunny slope, and even laughed when Myles took him out!








The kids took turns riding up the lift with Dad and skiing down. By the end of the day, they had each bagged a few runs and could say that they are officially beginners! I'm so proud. :)

Monster Truck Rally

We went, on a whim, to the Tacoma Dome to see the MONSTER TRUCK rally with all the dirt, noise, and fumes. The kids were quite excited, and Myles and I got to put another notch in our belts: something new tried. While I won't go back to another rally, it was in interesting adventure...

It was pretty cool to see just how much these trucks could do! The crowd favorite (Lucas and Addi's, too) was Gravedigger. Talk about catchin; air...

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sebastian Hizey's family as well as to the the other man who was injured from Natural High. My heart breaks that we got to take our little boy home safe and sound when both your families have to deal with this tragic accident. Blessings to you and yours.

Skating at the Seattle Center

As our Christmas break came to a close, we decided it was time to take Livvy skating. This was her second run, and she seemed to enjoy herself more. Addi spent half his time with the walker and the other half going it on his own. Myles, ever the helper, got a sore back from bending over so much to help Alivia skate as she wouldn't touch the walker. I was the picture taker for the evening, and we all had a great time. Oh, and yes, that is Alivia in her new cheerleader outfit. She wore it for three days in a row. I was happy the pom poms didn't have to go skating with us!

Banging in the New Year!

The snow didn't let up for our last night of 2008. However, we decided to trust in our Element and drive slowly over to the Bradshaws, home of two of Addi and Liv's best friends. We had a fun night talking and eating Lalisha's yummy dinner, the boys kept themselves busy on the Wii, and Callie and Liv managed to not throw dog food all around the basement that night! (We were happy not to have to spend another 1/2 hour cleaning up dogfood like we did on our previous visit to Jeff and Lalisha's.) Jeff got out a bunch of pots and pans, so the kids truly rang in the new year.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Since December brought so much snow, we had to take advantage and have some fun outdoors: one day we donned our snowshoes and sled down the long hill to Seahurst Beach. It was quiet and lovely.
By far, the kids' favorite part of the journey was heading down the hill to the beach!

We ended the day with icicles from the side of our house. One was almost as long as Alivia!

The winter storms just kept coming and coming and the weather never warmed up enough to melt the snow away. After three days of no school, and crazy roads, we decided to have fun around Burien sledding and making snow angels.