Annual Snow Trip

We have just returned from our annual snow trip. Which is kind of funny, when you consider that we just had snow for a couple of days at our home. Anyway, we have been doing a three or four day trip up to the mountains, to play in the snow, every year now for four years. The last couple have been with my parents and some good friends of ours that have two children of their own.

Every year is different. Last year it snowed almost constantly. This year it was mostly sunny. The place that we rent has four bedrooms. One with several bunk beds for the kids and three others with queen size beds, one for each couple. Each family is responsible for cooking and cleaning one dinner and one breakfast. We generally share the lunches. It works out fairly well and we have lots of gourmet meals to ooooo and aaaahhh over.

We spent a lot of time playing games. My parents taught us all a game called 'Mexican Train' using dominoes. While the title isn't precisely politically correct, the game was very enjoyable and we all are hooked.

We went up to the pass (where the snow is deep) and went tubing a couple of times. My Dad and the boys went up there three times. Dad went down the hill at least twice as much as anyone else.

All in all it was a very fun time. Below are a few pictures from the trip.

Emily really enjoyed going sledding. Here Grandpa is pulling Emily on the sled. This only lasted until the hill get steeper, then she had to walk herself.


Emily walked up this hill about 15 times. She really enjoyed the sledding.


Patrick (in the red) did almost no sledding at all. He only went down three times. Mostly he and his friend worked on a snow cave.

Kaitlyn was not really enthralled with the snow, but she had a good time in the car with her Mom.

Snow Day

Here in Western Oregon, we had some snow yesterday. We had about 2 inches of total snow. This is unusual for the valley. We generally get snow one out of every three years. The kids had a really good time in the snow. Also, it was nice to get outside now that they are all feeling better.

Here are a few pictures from that day:

Interesting Times

Many of you have probably heard of the infamous ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times". Well, I brought the curse on to our family last week. You see, I was looking at our blog last week and realized that I hadn't written anything in a couple of weeks. I was somewhat startled, because I generally try and update the blog every week, I feel that I owe it to our two regular readers :-)

Anyway, there I set, in front of a blank page on the computer. After a few minutes however, I realized that I had nothing to say. There was nothing going on in our family that was worth writing about. Things were good, we were happy, but there was nothing really happening. So, then I went and did it. I thought, "I need something interesting to happen."

So now, the last few days HAVE been interesting. All three children have been running a constant fever. Two of them vomited (one several times). My wife and I are still well, but I don't expect that to last very long. On the plus side, the sickest was my 12 year old son. He doesn't require as much care like the girls. Also, when Emily threw-up, she did make it to the bathroom sink first, which is much better than almost everyplace else!!!

The good news, is that all the fevers broke last night and everyone is doing much better today.