Snow!

We made it up to the snow today!  The camera battery died right after I got a couple of shots of Rosa seeing the snow for the first time, and the charger seems to have been a casualty of the move, so photos will have to wait.  I think I got some cute ones, though.

It took us some time to actually find snow for several reasons, the chief one being the huge traffic jam between us and Mt. Hood.  We had anticipated the traffic, though, and planned to just find a little side-road before we got to the mountain and do some sledding there.  However, it has been unseasonably warm and dry this year and the snow levels are higher than normal, so the location we had in mind was muddy and slushy with no snow in sight. 

We kept going up and up this little road and finally found a place with a couple of inches on the ground.  That turned out to be more than enough for the kiddos.  In fact, it might have been better than piles of snow, because they could easily walk around in it.  They did some tobogganing on a very small hill, threw snowballs at us and in the picturesque creek that ran by the road, and made the best snow angels they could. 

When our toes started freezing and we had played quite a bit, we piled back into the car and drove back to Portland.  Once we were back in the city, we had a spontaneous and fun playdate with friends in our old part of town.  Then, we drove back by our old house on the way to a New Year's Eve kids' music show. 

It looks like the buyer is really remodeling the kitchen and who knows what else, because there is a big dumpster outside and the toilet was sitting right next to it!  New bathroom, perhaps?  Anyway, the show was packed to the brim but Sacha found us a place to sit up front and the kids rocked out while we juggled the baby and all our stuff.  We took off at intermission and now Sacha's putting the kiddos to bed. 

I'm sure one of these years we'll be all caught up on sleep and actually stay up until midnight, but not this year :)  It will be an early New Year's Eve for us!  Happy New Year to everybody!