Spring Break and a Birthday!

Our spring thus far...

First, last weekend, a walk through a city park to enjoy the science factory and the great, blooming outdoors:

Then, despite mom's last minute hesitations based on her resistance to leave the weather illustrated above for a snow weekend, we headed into the mountains for what turned out to be a super fun weekend of play--in the snow AND the sun! 

 Bodhi LOVES the snow and turns into a three year old puppy as romps and rolls in it. So cute!

 When the stormy weather blew in, we did a lot of this...

And, sometimes, even when the weather was not stormy, we did this... Jezebel is not a huge fan of bundling up and heading out into the elements just for nature's sake. We had to have something enticing at the end of the line to get her into her layers and snow boots. :)

 When it cleared up, we ventured out to explore the beautiful Cascade Range...

Winnie on skis! Look at that form! She was a real trooper and loved it (despite the fact that gravity seems to be, ahem, a bit more persistent when on skis). 

 

Our cottage was right on this lake--Odell. Beautiful and so very dramatic this time of year. In the morning, clear as glass and light blue... then stormy and dark... and back again. 

 

Our morning hot cocoa. Lakeside.

 

A gorgeous day for a xcountry ski! 

 A stormy night brought us to the main lodge for some live fiddle and guitar music...and marionberry cobbler. There may have been a hot taddy or two involved for the parents. 

So, you know that thing they say in baking recipes about elevation having a potential impact on the outcome of the recipe? I have always wondered about that. Now, I know what it does to pancakes: takes the "pan" out of them and makes them just straight up "cakes."

 What happened? How did this get so BIG? 

Winona wants to move to 5,000' elevation. 

 

The best part about the weekend was that it was a celebration of Mike's birthday! What better present (for all of us :) than four days together...uninterrupted. Pure bliss. Home today... and back to school tomorrow. A GREAT spring break! 

Season of Rainbows

Greetings from the Land of Refracted Light... where, as they say, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes! Sun, then rain, then sun, then rain- makes for frequent rainbow sightings...and inspired fashion.

Cousin Will came to visit and we LOVED it! Here we are enjoying a VERY rainy (no rainbow) day on the coast...

And then a fabulous hike (we short folk were not invited)-- about 4 miles and 6 waterfalls no less spectacular than the one seen here. And the best part? We got to walk BEHIND the waterfall. Amazing. 

Dr. Seuss' birthday is in March which my school, righfully, recognizes as a holiday and builds a whole WEEK of crazy fun around the day itself. 

We have arrived at that inevitable moment in every young girl's early childhood development that is both greatly anticipated and mildly feared:

The Era of Harry Potter! 

Camille (aka Hermione Granger) on the right hosted a HP-themed 9th Bday party-- and Winona (aka Professor McGonagal) was happy to oblige.

The Leprechauns left footprints all over the house today... leading to rainbows, a pot of gold, bubbles (picture below captures J trying to catch--but it looks like kiss--a bubble), a jump rope and, can you believe it? Green pee in the toilet! That. was. hilarious.

Winona is taking an art class on cartooning right now (and LOVING it) and this frame shows what happens when the block of wood decides he won't take any more kicks from the karate student). I love it! 

Snowpocolypse 2014, The Sequel

Little did they know that when they woke up, they would find....

 MORE SNOW!!! For being a winter with such little precipitation, it's amazing how much of the frozen, white varietal has found its way to our valley floor. 

It made for another fun snow day and awesome snow play, until....

 ... the ice storm part of the freaky weather show kicked in: 

   It was beautiful, but it wreaked havoc on our city: downed wires, tree limbs raining down all over the place, the booming sound of trees snapping and crashing. It was eerie. And really cool in that humbling way that only Mother Nature can deliver...

We got away pretty unscathed-- our backyard is a sea of smaller branches. Only one really big guy fell and got caught up in the tree limbs and is sort of dangling there ominously. So, no backyard play time until that's dealt with! Two hour delay at school tomorrow and then, goddesses willing, back to some sense of (dare I say it?) normalcy.

Welcome 2014

Happy New Year! We're a little slow on the uptake, and our tidings come a little late, but it's still 2014, and we hope it's been a happy one for everyone thus far. A wonderful one here, with the heart-breaking exception of the loss of our sweet Lucy girl, who died in her bed, on her own terms early on New Year's Eve... We were so blessed to have that little furball of light in our lives and we miss her dearly. While Mike stayed home to take care of things, the girls, Bodhi and I headed to the beach for the day...

Climbing and running down dunes is good for the soul...

And, blessedly, life goes on-- with Lucy in our hearts... 

Here's a photo-journey through our January 2014:

Fondue on New Year's is a well-loved tradition...this year, clad in our tshirts that we decorated with our fabric crayons that we got in our stockings.

The new year brought with us a serious case of the fogs. It was like living on the Mists of Avalon set for three solid weeks. 

But we tried not to let it slow us down. Had to give our new scooters a whirl or two...

This is what I do when I'm waiting for a friend to come over...

 

Roller Rink! 

And nothing beats the weather blahs like the Y Pool...

I LOVE my gymnastics class!!  

The Russian Puppet was a smash hit in Pinocchio. Now, a break from the stage as she takes an art class...

And today... this weekend... the SUN!!! This day--February 2nd--halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox-- the sun shone down and so we gals summitted Mt Baldy (which sounds far more impressive than it actually is: it's a one mile hike within Eugene city limits). 

There it is!!! A bright light in the sky!! Now, we, along with so much of the west, are praying for RAIN. No more fog, please, but bring on the rain and snow clouds! 

Happy February, everyone!