Super Sunday

I woke up pretty tired and headachy and lazy. But the day progressively got better and better. Onnie asked Christian to play a duet with him (he was on piano, she was on flute) at her church and I was very proud of him as he performed in front of her church of about 20-25 people. He played Bach's Prelude in C and she played Ave Maria but I always get confused because there are two Ave Maria melodies and it's the lesser familiar one (to me). He said he was extremely nervous and he was a little disappointed that he messed up in one spot but I thought it was beautiful! We also rode our bikes to HHS and ran around the baseball diamond, timing ourselves. Olin and I got the exact same time running from Home to first base. Lots of reading happening today which always makes me very happy.

Back at School Full Time!

It has been almost a year, but on Thursday they went back to school, full-time! The changes the school implemented: 1) each child has to wear a 2-layer mask 2) lunches are staggered - half the school has recess first and half the school has lunch first 3) they don't really talk during lunch since they sit 6 feet apart, the teachers play different types of classical music during lunch and call it 'musical appreciation' 4) They no longer use plates and napkins, instead they eat directly out of their lunchboxes. I think there are some other changes but I can't remember them right now. I had planned on taking a photo with signage like I usually do on the real first day of school but I forgot, so I took a photo in the car on the way to school. Kids were SO excited and both said it was "awesome". + The Monstera offshoot is producing some roots! + Spike Lee got to roam on the island today. He bit and sniffed the napkin and then self-anointed.

We spent the past 5 days in Big Sky, Montana with Amy, Erik and Ursula skiing and relaxing. It was quite glorious! The ski resort at Big Sky had great snow and a great variety of runs. The variety of each type (for instance, there were steep blacks, non steep but mogul-filled blacks, and then mogul-filled somewhat steep blacks) was excellent. We always ski faster (and I hope better!) when we're with them because their skill level is higher and they like to go fast. Especially Ursula! It was Amy's birthday on the day we arrived so I picked up a cake from Frost Me Sweet the night before and we made the 9 hour drive (with stopover in Wallace, Idaho, population 900) and the cake made it fairly intact. Which is funny because the cake came with instructions to "drive very carefully home!". + The speed limits in Idaho and Montana are great. Erik said he saw an 85 sign but we never saw it. + Our first 8-person chairlift experience! Kids, and adults, absolutely loved it. No wind, and the seats were also heated. It felt very deluxe. + Amy and Erik packed so much good food. I thought I packed a considerable amount and they seriously thought of everything. One evening we had dinner that they brought - including a raclette grill to grill bread, sausage, peppers, potato, over these little individual cheese grills and then you pour the melted cheese over all the different concoctions (olives, cornichons, all of the above). It was very yummy. + I feel like our skiing improved over the two days. In hindsight we all agreed it would have been good to add an extra day in order to ski two days, take a break, and then ski an aditional day. + Our airbnb was so good. It was ski-in, ski-out. Everybody had their own room plus bathroom and the kids stayed in the enclosed loft upstairs with a full bed, bunks, and a play area with TV. + Surprisingly, the 9 hour drive was decent and not too painful. Especially since I wasn't driving. hahahah.

Snow and Tesla test

** Snow! On G. Way even. The snow was so pretty this weekend and the kids were playing in it almost the entire weekend. I think they sledded Snyder Hill 3 times in 3 days. ** We test drove a Tesla (they have a new program they're piloting where they plant cars in cities that don't have Tesla dealership). You sign up for a spot and they remotely unlock the door for you. Pretty cool! This model Y was pretty fast. ** Christian's snowman project from school. It is super cute! I'm having problems formatting on Blogger so until I figure it out I can't caption each photo individually.

happy valentine's day!

Sleepovers, ear cleanings, heart-shaped gravy, sledding, tons of snow, Happy Chinese New Year!, and trying to grow an offshoot of the monstera plant! A great weekend....

Bus Breakdown (Throwback Tuesday)

Olin has had this camera from Puops for about 5 years. Both kids still LOVE it. There is an impressive variety of low-tech games and videos that can be played or made. Today Olin was sifting through his line-up and showed me all his camp pictures from 2 years ago including this photo he took when the camp bus got stuck in the mud and the kids had to eat lunch by the side of the road and then get shuttled to camp in vans. I thought it was so funny he took a picture of the broken down bus. I am sure the teachers weren't expecting any of the kids to have cameras (no phones allowed) to capture the unfortunate moment. ha!

Happy Anni

Thirteen years of nothing but Marital Bliss, of course! We made reservations at Anthony's (with kids), took our seats in their small, cold outdoor area, decided it wasn't worth the high dinner prices (lol) and decided to do Mexican take-out at Isla Bonita. Imagine our surprise when they had in-person dining! We kept talking about how it was the best dinner ever...we really were so excited to be dining out in Richland. Then we stopped at DQ for Blizzards on the way home. Dae "got" me a pepper mill for our anniversary and I "got" him a golf driver that I have yet to lay eyes on and that has already been used on the course prior to today. Ha! Second and third photos are to remember how much the kids love Tillamook yogurts right now. If left unchecked, they could probably eat 4-5 per day each. Their favorite flavors are Black Cherry and Peach. Babz also likes to partake in the yogurts.

World's (Nearly) Smallest Paper Crane

Christian told me he folded this tiny origami paper crane at school. I asked if he used his fingers and he said nope, MaryAnne (teacher's aide) got him a pair of tweezers. I asked him if it was accurate and he said yes, he folded using all the steps for the regular paper crane. It's quite small! We measured it at around 4mm at its longest point. I looked up world's smallest origami paper crane and it's 1.1mm.

He said the original piece of paper he used was a 1/4 inch square.

Weekend @ White Pass

I've always wondered what it'd be like to stay at the tiny Village Inn right across the street from White Pass Ski Resort. It always looked pretty dated and small, which it was, but it was also quite cozy and had a kitchen and everything we needed and it was SO nice to be so close to the mountain and come in for lunch and warm up. Plus the kids loved the loft area so that was just a bonus.

Postage-stamp sized but fine for our needs

Conditions were extraordinarily windy. As in Dae's coworker drove his entire family up, they did one run, and drove back home! We weathered it out (ha!) and were glad we did because even though the harsh conditions didn't let up, somehow the day was really fun and the snow was really good.

Met up with Megan, Tate and Ross to ski together Saturday! That was fun.

Loved monkeying about on the loft ladder

Ski hair + Brother