What did Wes really want for his birthday? Traditionally, we go to Leavenworth for two nights, to play in the snow, enjoy the Christmas lights (they don't take theirs down until February, either), and maybe eat enough gingerbread cookies to last us until our next visit. This year, he had a twist: he wanted to bring along his best friend, A. That actually sounded good to us, as we like our island friends very much. Once we found a house for the 13 of us on a 3 day weekend (thanks end-of-semester teacher work day!), we booked it and started counting down to one of my favorite weekends of the year.
It was us and the two Whidbey families we spend so much time with, all under one roof with plenty of food, VR, chess, and snow. I had a book and good friends, and my children were all well entertained, a recipe for a great weekend.
Once we were settled in, we took off looking for a good sledding hill.
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| V is hardly terrified at all! |
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| Wesley sees this and thinks, "What shall I aim for in an entire field of snow? Oh, yes, definitely the thin ice." |
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| "Nailed it!" |
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| Daddy. |
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| Daddy, Daddy? |
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| Daddy!! |
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| A doesn't need no stinkin' sled. |
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| I still haven't ever seen this girl afraid. She had a pretty cool move where she was able to slide right between her dad's legs...with a surprising deficit of damage. |
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| It's hard to beat Kyla when it comes to sheer joy--even landing 20 feet from her sled. |
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| Yep, the lovely, lovely house had a hot tub. |
The next day's adventure was began with an "escape room in the box" that was so much fun...even when we discovered Clue 4 & 5 were missing. That afternoon, we were ready to work our bodies instead of our minds. This was the first time cross country skiing for the 5 kids (the youngest one stayed back with his parents) and the rest of us had only gone a few times before.
I could do this sport all winter--it is so fun to trek through the snow! We started late and pushed the kids about 6 or 7 of the 8km of the trail, leaving them at a trailhead to pick up, as it was getting dark.
The sheer pleasure of the fun exercise coupled with the beautiful scenery by the hatchery was one of the weekend's highlights for me.
We didn't want to leave the next day.
So we didn't. Well, not until we went out for brats, played in the snow some more, completely fell apart (Piper), and recovered with one last stop at the Gingerbread Factory.
Yep, once again proving that Leavenworth can get even better with friends!
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