lindy hopping

 Carl forwarded us a fun music video with people doing the lindy hop, and Liesl and Steve were inspired to dance and create their own routine.

'

Here's a short video of their dance.

In other inspiring news, a certain member of our household who shall remain unnamed was 13 years old when he discovered that toothpicks were created for picking food out of teeth (and not solely for testing baked goods or building structures). This realization came as a great shock and was accompanied by wonder and awe. :)  

This masked hedgehog was too cute to resist.

More of Liesl's artwork.

snow!

Around 2 o'clock this afternoon it started to snow, to our surprise and delight. Liesl immediately wrapped up her schoolwork and headed outside with Arianna. Sebastian was at his Podschool, but was brought home early and then headed out with Wyatt. They sledded and built snowmen, threw snowballs and made snow angels, and we all laughed at Jasper and his brother romping in the snow. Seb and Wyatt tromped up to the top of the hill to sled there. Despite a gusting wind that was blowing the snow horizontally across the field, we stayed out for a couple of hours. It's still slushy tonight, but it appears to be warming into rain, and will probably melt overnight. But yay for a couple of hours of snow play!

Hamilton Mtn mama hike

I had a wonderful day hiking with my friends Amy and Mieke. We went up Hamilton Mountain on the WA side of the Gorge, an 8 mile roundtrip past waterfalls to stunning views, on a beautiful, sunny January day. (Photos by the talented Amy, as my camera was out of battery... L had been experimenting with it this week.)

We drove over the I-5 bridge as the sun was rising, illuminating Mt Hood and the Columbia River.

The hike was a steady uphill climb, gaining 2000 feet in 3.5 miles.

There was frost at the top, making for some beautiful pictures.

We ate lunch at the top and then circled back down the backside of the mountain, along the equestrian trail and Hardy Creek, and back to the parking lot. Such a good day.

inauguration day

Wednesday morning was the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. We watched the livestream while we ate our waffles and blueberres, and enjoyed the singing (J Lo! Lady Gaga!), the wonderful poetry of Amanda Gorman, and Biden's speech. But Liesl and I, it must be said, most enjoyed watching Kamala Harris get sworn in by Sonia Sotomayor, and seeing Kamala's blended, diverse family. I'm so glad L got to see a woman become vice president during her childhood.