Well, it's been quite a while since I posted. Geez, almost since August. I thought I would skate by without having to really post anything new, maybe even archive my blog altogether, but I realized rather quickly, my readers (mostly family) have asked, "Where are the pics of the kids? What is new with you guys?" So, I will try to get back to my monthly quota of posting. This is going to be a crazy and long winded post, with several updates, so here goes...
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER
Madelynne is in 2nd grade this year. I am in my 14th year of teaching, and my 7th year as an 8th grade ELA teacher. This group, albeit larger than last year's, is so much more pleasant, kind, and enjoyable than last year's group. I am really enjoying this year in comparison. Brad spent a good chunk of our fall working on putting a new roof on our house. It's a metal roof and we love it. We forfeited beautiful weekends for him to finish up the project, just in the nick of time, as we got drenched in late October, early November. The end of September I also ran my first half marathon. It was a challenge, but I am pretty proud of myself. One of my goals this year is to run in one event per month, if there are races to run around our area. After the race, we explored Bellingham and the Cascades, definitely a place we intend to visit next fall. It was gorgeous!For Halloween, we didn't do a traditional family dress up gig, as our friend's that typically host the big Halloween Bash, opted out this year. So Jaxson was Chase from PAW Patrol and Madelynne was a witch.
 |
| Cool wall covered in vines in Bellingham. |
 |
| Corn maze |
 |
| Ice Cream in October: Why not?! |
 |
| Trying out photography, like her mom. |
 |
| Obligatory annual Pumpkin Patch Pic |
 |
| Family Fall Photo Session |
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
November gave us a chance to enjoy some hiking, but other than that, we were laden with viruses and stomach bugs. It was not fun. In fact, one of our ailments hit both Brad and I the day after Thanksgiving. It was awful throwing out all our leftovers because we couldn't figure out the culprit. December brought some fun weekends and surprises, to boot. We enjoyed a Charter Bus that escorted us from Seattle to Leavenworth for their annual tree lighting. Levenworth is a magical little town tucked away in the Cascades. We had fun, but there were way too many people for our taste. However, the German cuisine featured in many of the local restaurants were fabulous. Brad and I are looking forward to going there next year for Oktoberfest. Port Angeles put together an ice skating rink that was open until January. My friend, Tonya, Brad, and the kids and I all ventured one Saturday to enjoy the rink. It was fun. Madelynne didn't do too bad for her first time on ice skates. She ran into her friend Piper, and they got their picture taken by a local reporter, which was later published on the front of our local newspaper. Madelynne and Brad enjoyed their yearly tradition of attending the Daddy Daughter Dance, too. Then, on the last Sunday of Advent, my parents surprised us with a visit and stayed through Christmas. It was truly the best gift ever! We were stoked to have them here for Christmas and share the holidays with us, as we typically go elsewhere to celebrate with them or other family.
 |
| Railroad Bridge Olympic Discovery Trail |
 |
| Cool effect with just copper. |
 |
| He didn't want to head back to the car. |
 |
| For size. |
 |
| Railroad Bridge |
 |
| Testing her art supplies |
 |
| Cookie decorating |
 |
| Christmas Morning Toys |
 |
| Checking out Ft. Worden |
 |
| Downtown Levenworth |
 |
| Eating cookies |
 |
| Icing on his fingers |
 |
| Getting the hang of ice skating |
 |
| My folks |
 |
| Helping decorate cookies |
 |
| Ice skating |
 |
| Checking out the tree |
 |
| Daddy Daughter Dance |
 |
| Power Outage Light Play |
 |
| Grandpa and Jax |
 |
| Power Outage Night PLay |
 |
| Getting the cookies ready |
 |
| Daddy Daughter Dance |
 |
| Gearing up to Ice Skate |
 |
| Excited to try her first time |
 |
| Showing Jax the ropes about Cookies and Milk |
 |
| Tic Tac Toe |
 |
| My running and English teacher buddy, Tonya |
 |
| Running to catch up with sis at Ft. Worden |
January/February
Last year, one of my mini-projects was to shoot 1 Second Every Day of our lives...and here is our year:
At the tail end of the year, we decided to book a cruise and escape reality, with kids in tow. It was a New Year's Eve Cruise encompassing Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel. We had a blast. We were fortunate enough to have a few days in New Orleans beforehand, and then boarded the ship. The kids didn't do too terribly and we were grateful for the Club Ocean, which was a kid's only day camp, so Brad and I took advantage of time together. The shore excursions we chose were fun, and we enjoyed each of our ports. I made a slide show of our trip, with some of my favorite pics. We decided, mid December, we will be embarking on a trip to Iceland in August as a family, so we are looking forward to that next adventure!
Now we're into the first part of the year and it's been busy here. I have been toying with documentary video and videography. This was my very first little movie I made:
Beach Walk. I intend to make one once a month, to continue practicing as we gear up for our trip to Iceland.
I ran the first race of a cool series on our Peninsula, and beat my time by almost 40 seconds. I was happy! Plus, it was a beautiful run. Cold at first, but once we started, the Discovery Trail along the Elwha is always gorgeous any time of year. Of course, I tried to get flattering shots when running and noticing the photographers, but the finish line shot is the one that is the worst. The 1/2 marathon one I was wiping my nose. Geesh.
We got bombarded with snow recently, starting the weekend of February 3rd. We had our first official snow day, where I made a video of a typical Day In The Life of our little family, here:
Then, it continued, where Madelynne had a week off of school because of it. There is no infrastructure to handle such a dumping in less than 48 hours, so the roads were a mess. Not to mention, it's super hilly and a lot of people do not have the right type of vehicle to handle this weather. I had this gut feeling to stay home on Friday the 8th, and I am so glad I did, not just because Jaxson has had a dumb cold, but the snowmagedon that was upon us. I went to pick up Maddy early from QofA and the roads were terrible. There was already a good 6 inches on the ground and that was just the beginning of it. It took us 2.5 hours to get home that afternoon and I was so glad to be home once we pulled into the driveway and parked. We spent the rest of the afternoon, once Brad got home from work early, playing in the snow. The worst was Brad was on call all weekend, so he was sent to help on several different occasions to repair ambulances, shovel snow, and get supplies to other bases. It made for a long weekend and the snow days that followed. Lucy for me, Pt. Townsend didn't get quite as much and we were back at school Wednesday.
 |
| It was fairly deep for him, so he kept falling a lot. |
 |
| Putting together snow balls. |
 |
| Our snow family |
 |
| Brad made a snow angel |
 |
| Jax attempted one. |
 |
| Brad pulling the kids in the sled |
We got cabin fever by Sunday and had to "get out" which was a snoeshoe jaunt down the Discovery Trail at The Railroad Bridge. That was a first for us, as it is the trail we run on, bike ride, and just enjoy. Seeing in as a winter wonderland was a real treat, for sure!
 |
| Snowshoeing the Railroad Bridge |
 |
| Along the ODT |
Of course, the kids loved every minute of the snow. It's now a melted and slushy mess. Our 24 inches is a mere 2-3, but it was fun, beautiful, and serene while it lasted.
 |
| Buried in the trampoline |
 |
| Sitting at the picnic table |
 |
| Snow on the playhouse |
 |
| Olympic Views |
 |
| Snow build up on the slide |
 |
| Sledding fun with her friend, Gemma |
 |
| Throwing snow |
 |
| Cheering Sis on |
 |
| Snowball Fight! |
 |
| Giving loves to Noelle |
 |
| King of the Mountain |
 |
| Mom made us a fort! |
And, since we weren't really sick of the snow, we ended up going to Hurricane Ridge, a place where we frequent to snowshoe and enjoy the solace of the forest and snow when we want winter, rather than down at sea level. We enjoyed a Saturday snowshoe family walk.
 |
| We can't wait to show her this sign in the summer. |
 |
| Large snow drifts at the top of The Ridge: Our littles are tiny in comparison to how much snow they have up top. |
 |
| He obviously can't read. |
 |
| How she felt when she realized we had to go uphill the way back... |
 |
| They are always wanting our crumbs. |
 |
| He's my favorite adventurer. |
 |
| He wanted to walk. He did okay and "I fell mom" oh, I don't know...a 100 times. |
 |
| Easy for us to snow shoe up, but it's literally a mountain to him. |
 |
| The muse and me |
 |
| Family photo, while Jax napped. |
 |
| She had to dab |
 |
| Walking along |
 |
| He'll have his own snowshoes and poles soon enough! |
 |
| Capturing snow flakes |
Looking forward to some spring like weather and a fun Hot Chocolate Run with my muse in early March: a fun family trek to Seattle!
Until next time!
Comments
Post a Comment