This is it – the last of winter’s snapshots, so that I can clear house before it’s all tulips and egg hunts on here…
I posted about our Suncadia weekend, where the snow conditions were only so-so, but we did get out for a couple of shorter day trips to play in some fresh powder. Juliette, Shane and I spent a morning cross-country skiing at Cabin Creek and were dusted with an inch of snowfall as we zipped down the trails.
Juliette and I were both a bit rusty and approached the first couple of downhills with some serious trepidation, but we eventually found our footing.
That’s not fresh snowfall on my hat and in my hair, but the remnants of a downhill face plant. Still smiling, though!
We made good time heading back toward the car and decided to detour for a quick snowball fight.
I love these three-of-us days.
That said, we know how much Buddy loves the snow and gladly brought him along a couple of weeks later on a morning visit to Hyak for sledding and fort-building.
This was as bluebird a day as I’ve ever seen. Sun shining over two feet of fresh powder. So good.
No fear of downhills for this boy!
His eyes have never looked bluer.
Once we’d had our fill of sledding, we walked over to a nearby clearing to attempt a snowball fight. The snow was too fine to stick together, but Isaac loves a good powder-shower as well.
Shane called us across the road, where the snow was piled even higher.
The powder was so deep that Isaac couldn’t go more than two steps without sinking to his waist and collapsing.
My kids can really wreak some havoc on a patch of pristine, freshly fallen snow.
Burrow, Isaac, burrow!
Ahh…tuckered.
Winter held some good play days closer to home, too. Lincoln Park is a Sunday favorite.
This particular outing was a couple of months ago, but I remember it well – we’d been cooped up and Isaac was driving his sister and me crazy in equal measure and then we got outside and…voila.
Same on this Saturday afternoon at Lowman Beach…I felt up to my ears in housework but after an hour of watching the fog lift over the Puget Sound, priorities came back into focus. One of those I can’t believe we get to live here kind of days.
Roxhill Playground gets bonus points for its proximity to both Target and to Juliette’s and my favorite boba shop. Also, I have to memorialize Isaac in this cute jacket before he soon outgrows it.
And sometimes a cruise to the school playground is all we really need…
We spent a lot of Saturdays on the soccer field over the past couple of months. These twilight games are chilly, but the sky sure is pretty.
I love watching Juliette play, but it’s also fun to spectate with her. We went to a Seattle Reign game last month, rain and all, and cheered between sips of our hot chocolate. As we were walking back to the car after the game, Juliette said that was the coldest she’d ever been in her whole entire life. And yet, still smiling.
My parents moved to Bonney Lake, just an hour south of us, in January. We’re all loving the extra grandparent time.
The crux of it all: our winter cornerstones are our Suncadia snow-cation and our week in Maui (those photos coming up next…), but I’m increasingly thankful for the little joys closer to home. The park days and the soccer games and the random weekday happy hours. Shane had a work event one evening and I took the kids to Good Society for bites and a brew. Isaac colored and Juliette gave me every little detail of her day at school and a band of 20 seniors gathered on the outdoor patio for ukulele practice. Such a simple, perfect Tuesday evening.
Whew – winter! We didn’t just make it through – we leaned in. We’re tuckered.