happy new year!

We had a pretty quiet New Year's Eve and Day, mostly unpacking, doing some chores and errands, and getting ourselves ready for school and work on the 2nd. But we did pour some bubbly on New Year's Eve, sing Auld Lang Syne, and watch the London fireworks and New York City celebration in Times Square. And then we woke up and opened the last of our Christmas presents - packages that had been mailed from lovely family members in other places - and that was great.

 

I print out the blog every year and make a hardcover book out of it - both kids immediately started flipping through the pages, enjoying the annual retrospective. Sebastian read through both books entirely, laughing, teasing, complaining (mom!!).

And then Liesl and I took Jasper for a walk in Forest Park - it was cold and sunny, and we had missed our trees and moss while away. Jasper was thrilled to be romping off leash and exploring the forest again.

And then we got cleaned up and headed over to the Bedards for dinner - blackeyed peas for luck - and an enormous apple cake that I baked up in the afternoon. I didn't take any photos, but Sebastian or Liesl must have gotten my phone, because here are Ronan and Mena. :)

And then, as befits a new year, we undertook some sorting and purging work, starting with the children's bookshelves. We cleared them off, picked out quite a few to send to charity, and sorted the rest. Next up: toys....

and back home again

After a fun week of family adventures, we packed up our trusty Civic and headed back home to Portland. We stayed again in Ashland, this time at the fancy-ish Ashland Springs Hotel, right on Main Street, where we had a delicious pre-NYE dinner at the Lark restaurant.

 

 

The children were very excited in the morning to make coffee for me, using the hotel room's little machine. It was supposed to be a big surprise, served to me in bed. It was wretched, of course, but the effort and thoughtfulness were much appreciated! And then Jasper and I headed out into the cold, icy, foggy morning for a trail run. The town was socked in, but once we got high enough on the surrounding hills it was beautiful blue sky.

And then we drove the final leg home, with a brief stop in Cottage Grove to stretch our legs and eat lunch. It was good to be in our home again - I unpacked and started laundry while Steve got some groceries and the kids took Jasper over to romp a bit with his brother. On to 2019!

old Sacramento train museum

On Saturday morning, we had a delicious dimsum at Ming's Dynasty in downtown Sacramento - so fun to have dimsum with a crowd! You can have so many dishes! And then in the afternoon we split up. Kim, Dani, and dad went to an aquarium store to buy more fish for the Avery/Lee's fish tank, an object of much fascination and discussion all week. Roxy and Liesl and mom stayed home. And Sebastian and I borrowed a couple of bikes and set out for the California State Railroad museum in old Sacramento. We had been there before, in 2013, when Seb was a completely train-obsessed 5-year old. But of course he didn't remember it at all and was quite curious to return and see the exhibits. It was fun to return with him and see the exhibits again through his eyes - we especially liked reading about a train that got stuck for three days in a winter blizzard at the Donner Pass.

And these are just photos of some goofy play around the house - punching at paper snowflakes as they dangled over the edge --

 And very enthusiastic karaoke from Carl and the girls.

snow play

On Friday, we drove west along I80 to Boreal snow park for some snowshoeing and play. It was a little colder than expected (25 degrees) and windy, so we were cold out there, but the sun was out and it was lovely to romp in the snow a bit.

Go mom! She snowshoed the whole way with us. (Jasper was very excited to see her when she arrived at our sledding and lunch spot.)

Jasper was very distressed and upset by the the sledding, for reasons we didn't entirely understand. He yelped in a very panicked way every time someone started going down the hill, and tried to block the sled and pull them back.

Me, sledding with snowshoes on, and getting a face full of snow as a consequence.

We were delighted that mom decided to join us in the sledding, making an S turn all the way down to the bottom. It was pretty hard work to get back up the hill, as it was both steep and deep snow.

Enjoying some post-snow play hot chocolate!