First Days

Today was the first day of high school for Derrin.  He's going to be fifteen next month.  Holy moly.

He came home pretty excited about his classes.  He says both of his computer science teachers are super nerds.  This is a description rendering the most significant amount of approval that my son can give.  Here's to hoping for a good year for him!

We will be starting home school with Kloe next Monday.  I found a pretty good curiculum online, and it seems to give a lot of parental control in deciding scheduling as well as difficulty level.  Kloe is mildly interested in how it will go.

I think she is still a bit bummed out about not returning to regular school.  I'm really really hoping that I can turn that around for her.  She starts piano lessons next Tuesday, which is something she has been wanting to do for awhile.  I'm thinking that will amp up her excitement level.  We have some other fun plans to implement throughout the week as well, so hoping for a good year.  Hope hope hope hope.

Lost Trail Ski/Snowboarding Day

Early December 25th, we head out for Lost Trail to do a little skiing and snowboarding. It had been two years since the kids and I have been able to go, so I didn't know how great we were going to be.

Turn out, the kids were great- they picked right up from where they had left off. They spent a lot of the day on the bunny hill, getting reacquainted with the whole idea of sliding down a hill while standing with things attached to their feet.

We stayed with them until we knew they were going to be fine, and then we look a few runs with friends. It is cool that the kids are at an age now where Derrick and I can ski together, instead of taking turns while one of us stays with the kids. :)

Derrick took Derrin down his first big run, while Kloe and I warmed up in the lodge. When they got back, all four of us went on a big run together. The first little bit was hard for Kloe because it was so much steeper than the bunny hill. I remember how scary learning to turn from side to side can be. There was the moment where she realized there was no going back; a little bit of panic ensued. After she got up and decided going down the slope was the only way she was going to get off the mountain, she rocked it. She was all ready to head back up by the end, but unfortunately by then, it was time to go.

We hope we can get out there two or three more times this year. All of our skiing/snowboarding abilities would surely benefit.

Before skiing (nice pose for mom... uh huh)

AFTER skiing... passed out cold.  It was a good day.

Almost there!!

Mario Party 2012

In an amazing feat of Sabrina's imagination, we had a Mario Bothers Party December 1st.  As you can see from the pictures, her whole house was Mario Brother themed, including a huge box maze that went down her stairs and then wrapped around her living room.  The kids spent literally HOURS going up and down the stairs and through the maze, which was awesome for the parents, who spent all of their kid free time in the kitchen eating party food.

Kloe dressed up as Baby Bowser (girl version), and Derrin was Koopa Troopa.  I had no idea who these characters were, despite the fact that I actually played and WON the original Mario Brothers, all the way through level 8.  No matter, a quick googling and I knew basically what needed to be done to make the costumes.  Derrick and I were Mario and Luigi, which made for lots of fun/icky fun (for me) with the moustache kissing :)

Brandi Carlile, Sushi, and Seattle (aka, time with David and Tia)

We were able to get out of Dodge for the long weekend to see some of our favorite peeps: David and Tia!  We headed out on Thanksgiving day, so the roads were eerily quiet. 

David and Tara were pretty busy the first day, so Derrick, the kids and I messed around a bit in Seattle.  We ate at one of our favorite Sushi places, and drove around looking at the city.  That night we took the kids to the movie.  We went to "Life of Pi" thinking it was going to be this great kid show (it is rated PG!!) and it turned out to be one of the scariest movies ever.  I almost had to leave with Kloe, and both the people ahead of us and behind us gave us sympathetic/amused looks as soon as the movie was over.  I should have just taken the girl during the movie- it was way too much for her.

We just enjoyed Saturday.  It was nice getting to spend a quiet day together.

Sunday we went to see Brandi Carlile perform with  the Seattle symphony at Benaroya hall.  She is so good; we all had a great time.

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...And Then We Went to the Beach...

Just this last weekend, we did our annual Como Lake Camping Trip with our buddies, the Diefenbachs. It was such a beautiful weekend, and there was plenty of relaxing and laughing all around.

We spent a lot of the time laying around on the beach.  I love Como Lake.  I don't think it can possibly be too common of a thing to have sandy beaches, warm water, and be completely surrounded by an amazing mountain range.  I know it isn't that common in our nick of the woods.

The kids had a great time.  Derrin and Tyler rode their bikes to the lake, and generally enjoyed the freedom of being one of the bigger kids.  The three girls tromped around in the woods, playing and plotting to catch 'chickmonks'.  They even built some awesome traps, but it just didn't work out this time.  If they keep honing their chickmonk trapping skills, I bet next time it will be a sure thing.

This next weekend is going to be the only one in August that we are going to be home. The weekend after we are going to camp with my family up in Trout Creek, and the weekend after that we will be camping with the Holland crew in Hungry Horse. We may just be ready to settle down when September finally hits us with all of it's real life responsibilities!

~Kloe, explaining her chickmonk traps~

Last year it was Derrick's name on the Beach Headstone.  This time, I was the lucky corpse.

They are just SO SAD!! :p haha

Did someone say, mustache?

And maybe a goatee?

And a sideburn?  This is what happens when people leave chard wood laying around at the beach.

See that sly look in her eye?  It matches her mustache.  She is a woman of international intrigue.

Deana and Rob on the dock.

Como Lake really is lovely.

This is my wild wild friend, Deana.  Just love that woman:)

And this is my studly husband.  Love that man too.

And my precious boy.

And this is Rob, my friend and poker nemesis.  I will beat him soundly someday.

Our camper, nestled in the trees.

He beat us all soundly (again).  Pretty sure he cheats.

Someday she will catch that chickmonk.  It will be a very fine day.

The ChickMonk Hunters!!

Time for some camping manicures!!!

Ooh, so pretty!

Going home, with my crazy nails....