Seattle - part 3

On Friday we headed to Spokane to visit the Macks. We enjoyed

clear weather and beautiful views as we drove over Snoqualmie Pass.

Chrissy was a great hostess. It's not easy to have our crew and paraphernalia descend on your house! The girls, especially Meg, hit it off with Annie, who generously shared her dress up collection.

Ben, Ryan, and Nate enjoyed some time on the Wii.

The big hit was Brandon's backyard ice rink!

The trip back to Seattle on Monday proved to be rather eventful. We drove part way Sunday night to get a head start. Before going to bed we heard pessimistic weather reports for conditions on the pass the next day, so we planned to wake up early and check the forecast again. Sure enough, by morning snow chains were required, so we decided to go back to sleep until stores opened. After breakfast we started toward the pass. To make a long story short, as we climbed toward higher elevations we went from clear skies to overcast, to flurries, to driving snow. When the truckers started pulling over to put on their chains, we took their cue and did the same. We stopped several times due to road closures (avalanche control, accident clean up, actual avalanches, etc.) Finally around lunch time (after sitting still for over an hour and half) we were all ordered to turn around and head back--the road was closed. Part way back down we stopped to eat in a funny little town. Huge piles of plowed drifts lined the streets and surrounded the buildings. Everyone was out and about as if it were a fine summer day--the power of snow chains! (Incidentally we lugged our set home on the plane and are really hoping it snows in Atlanta this winter!) Meanwhile we talked with Bekie and she confirmed what we had heard over lunch: there was a clear pass farther north. Thankfully it was, in fact, smooth sailing and a mere 12 hours after leaving the hotel that morning we arrived back in Seattle. It was actually a very interesting day. The kids did pretty well on our unplanned road trip marathon, the scenery reminded us of Narnia under the White Witch, and the experience was certainly one of a kind.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of our time at the Jackson's house. They had plenty of space for us and a great piece of property to explore. The kids had fun romping for a few days around while Bekie and I visited and Erik concluded his work responsibilities.

Goodbye Seattle. We hope to see you again--in the summer. :)

February 20 - Caleb Turns Three

This year we implemented the one-year-on, one-year-off system for "friend" parties on the kids' birthdays. This is the year off. However, since 3 is traditionally the year they have their first party with little friends, I couldn't skip it altogether for Caleb. So, the night before we had three families over for a simple celebration with pizza and cake. The birthday boy was very pleased.

assistant birthday cake baker / chief batter taster


train cake


happy boy

the most precious three-year-old in the world



beautiful Avery




fellow train-lover, Luke


(not pictured, cute little Katie)

Something always seems to come up on Caleb's birthday: year 1 was an ear infection and a huge dinner party the next night; year 2 was a family wedding the same day. This year we all were leaving the next morning to fly to Seattle for 10 days. But we still fit in a happy birthday breakfast before church and family presents and cake before bed.

We love you, Bubster!! Happy birthday!!

Basketball

This was Meg's first basketball season. She was excited to play and really enjoyed practices. Unfortunately, there were no other girls on her team or any of the teams they played. The pace of the 7 & 8-year-old league is much faster than the 4 to 6-year-olds, so she didn't have the ball very often, but she learned about the game and she did make a basket. Great job Meg!

It was fun to see Nate's basic skills increase from last year. He is much better at shooting, ball control and generally paying attention to the game while on the court. He did lots of scoring this season and his team had a winning record.

Daddy and Kate Time

The aquarium is a popular choice in our family for special outings.

Kate was very proud of her otter hat craft.

Sweet girl!

Big Snow

Well, the southeastern January snow storm is ancient history, but I thought these pictures were worth posting:

Ariel

Here's my parting shot from 2010 - Kate performing a duet with her "Ariel" necklace:

Christmas Part 3 - More Fun with the Veermans

We had a great week with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!! We even enjoyed a few extra days with Paul and Darian due to airport-closing snow in the Northeast, and we packed lots of fun into our time together. In addition to much eating, drinking, reading, game playing, laptopping, and flight-rescheduling, here's a little sampling of our holiday:



Climbing
We spent one morning at a huge indoor facility. Nate and Bethany are real climbing aficionados so it was fun to see them in their element and they enjoyed sharing a hobby with all of us. It was such a hit with everyone that we went back for more after Chuck, Crista, Kylie, and Tyler arrived.

N & B show us the ropes.

This is the children's area with an auto-belay system. Before playing around here, Meg, Nate, and Kate made it all the way to the top of the (really high!) main wall. Meg is completely hooked; she learned to use the color-coded routes and just couldn't get enough.

Goofing around

Atlanta's first true white Christmas since 1880 (not counting a dusting in the 1970s). It started falling late Christmas afternoon and everything was covered by morning. Fun!

Kylie brought her new video camera and the kids had fun directing, filming, and acting in dramatic and silly productions.

Zip

Relaxing

Cousins

Tubing