Wacky clouds

We saw these clouds on our way down into the valley from the ski mountain the other day. 

Can anyone tell us what they are?

Pile of snow

Graydon and Wiley found where all of the snow from the parking lot ended up. 

Graydon Leading Wiley Down the Mountain

Graydon is so excited about how Wiley is doing on skis, and Wiley is so excited to ski with Graydon. Here's a short clip of Graydon patiently leading Wiley down the mountain after his first chair lift ride today:

Day 5 - Wiley Rides the Chair Lift!

Here he is at the top of his first ever chair lift ride (checkered jacket) with Graydon (dark blue jacket) and Elisabeth (black-and-white vintage jacket!). He thought being up so high was awesome and did really well on the way down, too. As you can see, the weather has improved.

Day 4: Rest and Wait for GMM and GDD!

Großmama and Granddad arrived today (no photos yet, sorry)! We took a break from skiing and played in the snow. That's a Wiley-sized snow angel.

Wiley Skiing - Day 3

Notice the camera woman was able to get a lot further away on Day 3!

Day 3... read the bumper sticker!

That's not fog you're seeing. It's thick snow being blown by 30 mph winds. This is the scene that greeted us when we pulled in on Day 3. But, taking our cues from the car in front of us, we got ourselves bundled up and went for it! The snow was fantastic as it had snowed all night long (see previous post about cars in ditch...) but we all needed warm-up and rest stops for hot chocolate!

Icy roads

What are the chances that Daddy would get to climb out of a flipped red Ford ranger twice in his life?  

Found this truck in the ditch on the way home to the cabin at lunch. We got both occupants out uninjured and took them to a warm building to wait for the tow truck. 

For the habitual worriers out there, the snow has stopped falling and all of the roads are clear. 

Three days of skiing...

... and Graydon was wiped out!

Wiley Skiing on Day 2 - Video

Wiley did really well learning to ski! This is his progress after a sum total of about three hours prescribing.

Afternoon snuggles with Daddy

Those snuggles turned into an impromptu nap, which is how we found them when the rest of us got back to the house on Day 2. Daddy and Portia got to spend the afternoon together and went for a "hike" before coming home for a snack.

Skiing Day 2

We discovered on Day 1 that Wiley is doing really well at learning to ski, but is really only good for a couple of hours. So on Day 2, Mami stayed home with the littles, who thoroughly enjoyed some of Aunt Gaby's activity books. In the afternoon, when the sun came out, we did Day 2 lessons for Wiley. We all really enjoyed the "caterpillar" - an enclosed magic carpet.

Skiing Day 1

This is the only photo we have - taken from the lodge. Gusts up to 50 mph, and driving snow! But we still had fun! :)

Graydon’s First Piano Performance

Graydon's music school does an annual recital - the "Friendship Concert." The program consisted of duets and the occasional trio with all the instruments taught at the school: Piano, guitar, and violin. Graydon played his piece with his friend Summer, who is also in his class at school.

Kiwi Discovers Snow

Ok, so the kids were excited... but Kiwi was even more so! She's calmed down so much over the last few years and has really settled into "middle-aged-dog" behavior. But this morning in the snow, she went right back into full-on puppy mode.

More thoughts on the snow

The kids enjoyed the snow for a few more minutes this morning... soon it will be all gone. It occurred to me that the crazy thing about this isn't that it actually snowed here but that only two days ago, it was 28C and we were running around in shorts and t-shirts... and that the forecast high for tomorrow is again in the mid 20s (C).

The Joys of being a Canadian in Texas

So we had some flurries tonight and some of them actually stuck to cars (and their reindeer antlers), and the ground. Next thing I know we are being treated to round-the-clock alerts from the national weather service about "possible black ice" -and just now the school district went ahead and canceled classes for tomorrow. Sheesh.

But it sure is pretty, the kids were loving playing in it this evening, and it actually feels a little like Christmas is around the corner, so there's that. :)

Another Miracle of Modern Medicine

This is Portia at 9pm after a day feeling very under the weather and a 101.8 F fever measured at 5pm after a long nap. A dose of Motrin and a few hours later, she's doing laps on her stride bike in the play room! Maybe she'll be ready to go do bed at some point... but not now!!

Finalists!

Our boys did really well in the top ("gold") U8 bracket. The ended up losing in penalty kicks to a team that had several older "guest players." It was a great lesson in perseverance, though, since they had been creamed by the same team in the round robin, came back to make the finals, and really held their own in the final game, which really just ended up coming down to a few unlucky breaks.

Soccer Tournament Casualty

Portia fell asleep in the car on the way to Graydon's tournament final on Sunday so we unloaded the wagon and laid her down in it, where she happily slept through all the bumps in the enormous parking lot and through all of the team's warm-up, only to wake up right on time for kick-off. Watching soccer all weekend is exhausting!

Impressions from Dripping Springs

Lots to do during a long weekend at Dripping Springs.

Hugs in the fading sunlight

Got a few photos of these two in just as the sun was going down.

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is nothing like eating until you can't eat anymore, taking a walk to help that settle, and then having dessert consisting of three different pies (four total, counting the duplicate apple pies!) and ice cream! And it's the first time in two years we've had occasion to get out the good dishes. Glad to spend a little time with Joel and Beth, too.

Apple Pies!

Before-and-after photos of apple pies for tomorrow! I decided to try a lattice and Elisabeth went for the leaf cut-outs. Both look and smell delicious and both made a big mess in the oven...!

...but I want to wear Graydon’s soccer stuff so badly!!

I found Portia sitting under the desk in the office trying sooo hard to put on Graydon's socks and shin guards. Not too much longer, then she'll get to play, too!

Big Girl Bed!

Completely unexpectedly, Portia transitioned into her "big girl bed" last night. The mere suggestion that "big girls" sleep in big beds was enough to seal the deal - despite the fact that Portia refers to herself as a "big baby." The emphasis is on the "big" of course!

In any case, we had no issues with bed time or sleeping through. We'll see if this sticks before taking down the crib that has been in continuous use for just shy of eight years now. Mami is both happy and sad, as usual. Our baby girl just keeps getting bigger!

Story time

It's hard to resist the request for a story, even if you just finished a long work day with a grueling three-kids-screaming-in-the-car ride home from soccer practice. Thanks to Elisabeth for being such a trooper!

Guess who’s caught the reading bug??

Graydon is following in the footsteps of several generations - he caught the reading bug! He came home from school with his homework already done and went straight to his latest Hardy Boys book - he's going through about two per week these days. He and Kiwi are hanging out with me as I work from home today. Elisabeth and the little ones are out at a park somewhere getting their requisite dose of fresh air. So it's nice and quiet around here!

Wiley’s Soccer Season

Wiley's first recreational soccer season ended this weekend. Wiley has fun, mostly during practice with all the fun little games they play there. For games, Wiley is still working on his attention span. :) In any case, whenever he asked whether he thought soccer was fun, we always got the answer "yes!"

Sleeping at the soccer field

Portia passed out cold on the way to soccer tonight. Großmama has the privilege of holding the sweaty bundle... I don't think she minds too much.

I JUMP!!!

Portia likes to jump off things these days!

Halloween (a couple days late)!

We did actually trick or treat on Halloween proper. It just sometimes takes us a little bit to get the photos up... sometimes kids also don't cooperate for photos...

The Pumpkin

Just before Halloween, Graydon finally got to harvest the pumpkin he's been growing over the last year.

Early morning happiness

Lake weekend

We had lots of things going on at the lake this weekend. Elisabeth finally got to sail and Graydon was so proud to have caught and hauled in a big fish all by himself that he was actually willing to hold it for the photo!