Snowshoeing at Mt St Helens

Rachel got me a guided snowshoeing adventure at our favorite local volcano. I made the arguably questionable decision to drive the Clarity up the mountain. The little-hybrid-that-could did really quite well until I considerately pulled over to let a truck pass me on the snow covered road and was then quite stuck. Luckily, my destination was a popular location for snowmobilers and another truck came by in a bit that was able to help me out. Lesson learned.

The forecast called for cloudy skies and 2-3 inches of snow which may or may not have contributed to half of the group cancelling. By the time we set off there were 4 guides and 3 attendees. By the time we finished, it was just me and 3 guides. Not a bad ratio from my perspective. 

We started from the warming hut which I promise was not covered to the eaves with snow as this picture makes it appear.

It did snow almost all day but the 2-3 inches was in addition to an already decent amount.

We stopped for lunch at a lake pond plake where I learned that my favorite energy bar freezes in really cold weather. Less a bar than a rock. Stuffing it into the pocket of my bottom layer of pants warmed it up to won't-chip-my-teeth temperature. 

With food in our bellies and toes that were starting to get cold, we headed up over a boulder field that was significantly easier to climb covered in snow than in the summer.

The last leg of the trail was all downhill on a ski trail. It was the easiest section which, I assume, is why I biffed it and slammed by face and knees onto the packed snow. Graceful as always! It was a lovely day and a learning adventure. 

Snow (?) Day

After a few days of late starts, it finally happened: our first (only?) snow day of the school year. I had considered going outside to measure the snow with a ruler, but when I could still see the grass through the snow I decided it was not worth it.

Some folks in our house were very excited about the snow day. One person was disappointed and another had mixed feelings. The last person was Isaac. Because today is not just any day - it is Valentine's day and he had spent quite a bit of time and effort and tape creating his Valentine's box. Luckily, a Kiwi Co box had come recently and I had a large number of toilet paper rolls on hand.

I had also purchased a Sudoku book with the goal of introducing our math-minded kid to the puzzles. 

So the day passed well enough even though there wasn't enough snow to engage in snow activities. And an email from his teacher informing us that all Valentine's activities would occur as planned on the next school day eased his worries. 

Snow - It's a Four Letter Word

What is this?  What IS this? WHAT IS THIS?????

It turns out that no matter how many times I say the phrase "it isn't going to stick", it did in fact stick.

Insanity.

Or pure excitement - depends on who you are. The kids had two days of 3-hour delays (yes, THREE) because of this cold, white stuff. 

The timing could have been better. Today was the end of semester livestream event for one of my classes. It would have been ideal if I hadn't needed to spend a bit of time getting the kids out the door all morning in addition to trying to provide tech support to the rest of the team in SoCal, but it was what it was. I actually wasn't too disappointed to use the excuse of a wiggly 7yo to take a break and get in some outdoor exercise.

For context, Isaac's class had earned a wear-pajamas-to-school-day so no, he doesn't usually traipse around outside mid-morning in his pajamas. Just on special days. 

It was a short-lived blip in our rainy weather and hopefully western Washington will confine the snow to winter break for the rest of the year.

Christmas: Eve and Day

After our appetizer dinner and a rousing game of QuipLash with Mom and Doug, the boys gathered on couch on Friday night to open their Christmas Eve gifts. "What could it possibly be?" Michael ponders. Josh considers that Isaac is disproportionately excited about pajamas. Ben wonders how long he will have to sit there fake smiling until his mom will stop taking pictures. Isaac thinks, "CAMERA! PRESENTS! WHEEEEE!" 

After the thrill of new jammies wears off, everyone is eventually sent off to bed to sleep or battle with insomnia until the morning.

Christmas day Uncle Doug and Nana arrived at our house at 7:47am to be met by...well, nothing really. All of the boys were still asleep (or, as Ben claims, asleep again). I was busy burning a frittata while keeping an ear open for noises upstairs. Isaac got up a few minutes later and then Jason woke up the rest of the boys.

And this picture sums up their individual attitudes pretty well even if it isn't a lovely group photo. Josh is not even close to being ready to deal with, well, us. Michael hasn't quite transitioned to being awake. Ben is waiting patiently for the photo shoot to end. And Isaac is prolonging the photo shoot with his inability not to express his excitement physically. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Presents were opened. Trash was collected. And then everyone dispersed to their respective spaces to check out their loot. 

With bad weather in the forecast, we had a lovely Christmas meal with Mom and Doug a little after noon. It was delish. 

Side note: This sums up much of Christmas, and every freaking day, with teens:

As the gifts were opened large chunks of snowflakes began to fall. Perfect timing and we headed home laden with enough leftovers to carry us through the impending snowstorm.

The last gift of the day was a Nintendo Switch. We have been telling the boys for years that we would not buy one. We have a WiiU (and now an Xbox of some sort donated by one of Josh's friends who, I assume, felt it was his obligation to save Josh from the horrific reality of only one gaming system) that works fine-ish. BUT, I caved this year and it was supposed to be the gift and a huge surprise.

Due to circumstances completely out of my control Josh figured it out.

And this, my friends, is when I learned a VERY IMPORTANT fact.

Many moons and several kids ago, I read that kids cannot keep secrets until they are about age 8. As in, developmentally, they do not have the ability to keep secrets.  

THIS IS A LIE.

I do not know what age it is at which kids can keep a secret, but I CAN tell you that it is not SEVENTEEN.

::deep breaths::

Both Michael and Ben had heard the news within 24 hours. This is when I got a little petty and decided that we wouldn't give them the Switch Christmas morning and make them question deeply the information Josh had spilled to them. 

None of them said anything Christmas morning (because they are smart kids), but Josh seemed to be in a little bit of funk for most of the day.

All of that to say, that they were actually surprised when I came downstairs after we returned from Mom's and told them I just found a box of gifts in the back of our closet that we "must have forgotten."

While I think they liked all of their gifts this Christmas, they were very appreciative of this one.

Let the gaming begin continue!

Snow Dayz

Someone is absolutely thrilled with our unusual weather. Someone has been up at 7 every morning begging to go out in the snow. 

This person also has a wacky sense of style.

This someone is not me.

Thursday, Feb 11th - it begins. School district calls a half day and schedules all classes to end early.

Friday, Feb 12th - the first 5 or so inches. Such ridiculousness. 

5 inches deserves some shoveling. Several of the people in the house were not super excited about that, but our resident snow sprite just wanted the snow dumped on him.

Ben was awarded the honor of cleaning off the cars after a not terribly efficient run with the snow shovel. Apparently my pep talk of "it's just a lever" didn't help.

The car was so very happy to see us.

The honor for grumpiest snow removal went to Josh who opted to shovel in his crocs with socks in his pajamas.

Saturday, Feb 13th - because some weather systems just don't know when to stop. Another 6 inches.

Our bouncy ball of snow was thrilled to find even more on the ground. With the snow up to his knees, he was pretty bummed that he had to wait for some of his snow gear to finish in the dryer before he could go out.

Day 2 of snow meant day 2 of shoveling. 

Back in the front of the house we took a measure before clearing the sidewalk and driveway...again.  Josh wore his shoveling crocs...again.

After all that we came together to forget our grumpiness with the snow to play a cut throat game of Monopoly.  The amount of negotiating seemed a little extreme and at times unorthodox to me, though I normally avoid this game at all costs. In the end, Josh created a gauntlet by building cities on 1/4 of the board and we were all deprived of the opportunity of being decimated by him as eventually it was time for him to make dinner.

Sunday, Feb 14th - Happy Valentine's Day! Only 1/4 inch or so in the morning. I did some walking in the snow and didn't have a lot of company.

Our Valentine's Day festivities were shorter than normal, but we did play a few games. This year's addition was a match the language to the phrase "I love you" - Ben chose wisely and picked Jason for his teammate.  He *may* have some foreign language experience under his belt.

And then we gorged ourselves on sugar before calling it a night. It's raining now and I have high hopes that soon we can put all this snowy mess behind us.

And it just keeps coming...................................

Snowma..wha?

Frankly, I am a little offended.  I mean, really.  We knew we were signing up for months of interminable rain.  Six inches of snow is just ridiculous.  YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, PNW!

Glad I got that out of my system.

I have learned that some things do not change no matter which coast you are on: people still run to the store and buy toilet paper, milk, bread, and eggs any time it is going to snow.  Which makes me wonder if it is a uniquely American thing to buy the ingredients for french toast in stressful situations? I do really enjoy french toast on occasion, but I don't necessarily coordinate it with snow storms.

My one food purchase in preparation for the snow was a Trader Joe's chocolate bar with hazelnuts...and it's already gone.

I did brave the snow to take some pictures this morning.  Mostly of Ben and the snow, because he was the one kid running for his coat and boots.  He and Michael did make it up on the trampoline, but they discovered quickly that a snow-laden trampoline doesn't have quite the same bounce.

In any case, we will likely get to "enjoy" the snow for a little while as it looks like there may be another round Sunday night and possibly again on Monday.