Spring Break 2011

Kids are always only too happy to be on vacation, sleeping in, no homework...

For the week of Spring Break Tim took a week long vacation.  I don't have too much vacation time saved at work, so I only too the Thursday and Friday off.

 We decided that even though Spring is here, the skiing and snowboarding season is not done.  We booked two nights at the hotel near the slopes and spend all day Thursday and most of the Friday snowboarding.  By the time it was Saturday, there was little energy left to go again.  Instead we headed home.

Here is what Jon looked like after a long first day on the slopes and getting hit by a big whiteout:

...and here he is on the way to the hotel, that evening:

Let just say, food tasted SO much better that night, and bed was SO much more comfortable!

On Saturday morning view from our hotel window changed quite a bit, there was no snow on the ground.  Everything looked peaceful!
On the way back, we made a few stops.  One of them was at the store we passed by many times before, but always too early for it to be open, Babushka.  I was curious to see what they had.  As expected, it was just Russian food, nothing fancy, but we did buy a whole selection of foods and decided to have a Russian Food weekend!

Great times we had!

March 19th weekend

Gabe's official weekday practice started on Monday, so from here to June, we got most of our weeknights tied up with getting him to and from practice.

This weekend we decided to all go skiing & snowboarding, just not all at once.
I took the boys with me on Saturday and Tim took the girls up on Sunday.

We all got up early on Saturday, packed our lunches and headed to the bus pick up location.  Drive was slick, but uneventful.  Right with the sunrise we know it will be a beautiful day!  and it was all the way till about 3pm, when some clouds came in and it started to snow.

I started my day with a second snowboarding lesson, leaving Jon in charge of teaching Gabe how to ski on the smallest hill, the "Magic carpet".  It begun a little rough, with Jon expressing his frustration with the hill by laying on the snow and  refusing to get up. 
I decided to let the boys resolve their problems by themselves... and go on with my lesson.  It paid off.   By the time I was done, Gabe was already comfortable skiing.  Jon was proud to be his coach and "teaching him everything he knows".After a quick lunch (with some giant hot dogs) we returned to the slopes.  This time we tried out the Buttercup lift.

Both boys outlasted me by a long run.  I finally let Jon go up the ski lift by himself and he did great.  I don't think he needs any one's help anymore.  He can do the whole skiing thing!
Ride home was very quiet.  We were all so ready for a nap.

On Sunday Tim took the girls up to the Meadow Mountain.  He had pretty bad luck with getting there...  It snowed the night before and all the snow that melted during Saturday froze overnight...
Bus arrived an hour and a half late, so Miranda missed a morning lesson and had to wait for the afternoon one.
But even with all the travel troubles, everyone had great time.  Many good stories to tell us and much excitement to share.
Looking forward to next time!

March 12th weekend

What a busy week!

On Tuesday Gabe had a concert at Liberty High School.  All the Hillsboro' Elementary, Middle and High school bands performed, a couple of songs each.
Liberty band did the grand finally.  Great vibes, as always.

On Wednesday Miranda had Hillsboro's chore performance.  Everyone did a great job!  From the soloists to the beginners' group.

Friday night I took Larissa to the rehearsal for the upcoming American Girl fashion show.  The show is a fund raiser for the Gales Creek camp.  A camp for children with Type 1 diabetes.  Larissa went to the camp last three Summers and loved it.  It is only a week long (for each age group), but kids make wonderful friends and learn to better take care of their diabetes.
Right after the rehearsal, we darted to a "Craig's List" location where I bought a used snowboard/bindings/boots set for a great price.  Now I have my own equipment!  It just needs a little "tuning".

Saturday was a bit insane for me!  Tim went skiing with his friend, so I was left trying to get three kids to three different location, all at the same time.

First I dropped Miranda off at her meeting place for a 9am run, then Gabe at a coffee shop (waiting for a 10am lacrosse practice), then off to the fashion show by 9am (bringing Jon along).  At lunch I had to run back, collect Miranda and Gabe and bring them home (with Jon).  Then, I went back to the show for a 3pm session.  Afterward, a quick stop at a couple of stores at the shopping center we were at, then home!

On Sunday Tim decided to take Jon skiing on a whim.  They both had a great time and had many stories to tell upon their return.  Looks like Jon is a natural and needs little directions, since he is still at the age when he is quite fearless.

March 5th weekend

On Friday kids' school had a BINGO night.  We all went.  Earlier that day I donated a bag full of "safety" things for the giveaway, and we ended up taking home the final prize of the night.  A basket filled with hot chocolate mix, coffee mugs, a board game and a pass to the Out of This World Pizza for a family.  Yeah!

On Saturday Larissa and I went to our first snowboarding lesson at the Mt Hood Meadows ski resort.  We caught the shuttle bus to get up there (much easier than driving over two hours ourselves), and since they dropped their price, there was no question that we would've payed more in just gas to drive.We had a little bit of trouble locating our exact pick up location, but once we saw a few more people hanging out, dressed in snow jackets at 6:30am on a warm day, we knew we were at the right place.

Unfortunately, there was an accident ahead right before we got to the ski resort, and we ended up sitting in traffic for over an hour.  That threw our lesson/fun schedule off.  Lessons started at 10am, and we didn't get in till 10:30.  We were forced to take a 1-3pm lesson instead.  Our bus wanted us back on at 3:45, so there was very little time left to play after the lessons.  In fact, we barely made it back on the bus in time, after making all the rental returns.

We both had a great time, and definitely learned a lot!  I still have two lessons/rentals/lift tickets paid for, and looking forward to going back.

Gabe started new season of lacrosse.  Very first practice, and you couldn't ask for a better weather.  Sunny, warm, perfect!

On Sunday we took it easy, had a lunch out, did light shopping, and stopped by the playground.  Beginning to feel some muscle pain!