You’ll have to excuse me from a two-plus month hiatus from blogging. Really, I’m not sure what I would have written about, aside from skiing, since that seems to be all we did this winter. And goodness was it fun!
Our winter started early this year – November 3rd, to be exact. We got our first snowfall that day and the Nordic trails opened just a few days later. The cards were stacked in my favor this year – it turned out I picked the right winter to embark on the challenge of skiing 100 days.
The beginning of winter is my absolute favorite time of the year. There is so much excitement and anticipation of snow, skiing, Christmas and all the joy that comes with the holidays.
This holiday season was no exception. We had such a snowy December and the kids are at such fun ages to really get into the Christmas spirit. It felt extra special.
Alex’s family came to join us a few days after Christmas. Ben and Hannah had the best time playing with their cousins. It is such a treasured relationship.
Alex’s parents stayed with us for most of the month of January. It was so fun having them for an extended period of time, and watching them get acquainted with winter in the mountains.
The prime winter days were largely spent skiing, unsurprisingly.
Ben participated in the local Nordic team again and absolutely loved his experience. He leaned into his competitive side during his first Nordic races – he did the 1K in both races.
A really fun non-skiing highlight of the winter was Ben *finally* losing his first tooth! He’s been eagerly awaiting that moment for years now. I wasn’t sure Ben could be any cuter, but it turns out, he is even more adorable with his little toothless smile. His first tooth came out the night before Valentine’s day, followed by the second one two weeks later.
Just after Christmas Hannah started ballet. She absolutely LOVES it.
Hannah’s downhill skiing ability took off in leaps and bounds this winter. She started the season completely unwilling to ski on her own and finished it as an independent skier, capable of skiing most blues at Stevens Pass, our local resort.
I had no idea how much fun you can have skiing with your children, but it turns out it’s one of the best parts of parenthood, at least in my experience. Both Ben and Hannah are just so much fun to ski with.
Hannah dances down the mountain and you can tell by looking at her that she’s having a blast. Ben is a completely different skier – he is so focused and so unbelievably fast. I really have to work hard to keep up! But he loves to check out new lines, find the best jumps and cruise through the trees.
Alex started a new job just before Christmas and he’s been hard at work during the day, which has left us little time to ski together this year. I’m holding out hope for next winter! We did manage to sneak in a few Nordic laps at lunch and one alpine day when the kids were in ski school.
Of my 100+ days, many of the weekday ski hurrahs were on my own. I really leaned into Nordic skiing, partly because I absolutely love it, and partly due to the convenience.
One of my favorite ski days of the whole season was the first time I took Brooks with me to the See ‘n Ski trail sort of near our house. I’m not sure exactly what made it so fun – was it Brooks? Or the variability in the trail? The sunshine? All of the above?
The kids had the week of Presidents’ Day off of school, so we made it an adventure week! It was a blast. And exhausting! We went rock climbing, skiing, to the gymnastics gym, and we took a day trip to Seattle.
This winter was a bit fickle for our ice rink. Christmas day marked the beginning of a six+ week warm stretch filled with rain, rain and more rain. The temps dropped just after Presidents’ Day and Alex resurrected the rink! He had the best curling night and the kids invited a bunch of their friends over and ended up essentially playing broomball without even realizing it.
I’m really into “challenges” this year I guess. Another challenge I’m in the middle of is cooking my way through the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple cookbook. It is SO GOOD. I have loved this delicious challenge and it has really helped pull me out of a seriously boring food rut.
I have so many highlights from this winter it’s really hard to narrow them down to not make this an entire novel. Skiing with friends and family, silent morning coffees with a book, watching my kids grow up, trying new things, chicken fingers at the ski lodge, volunteering in the lunchroom, watching the fire, Saturday date nights at home, watching the snow fall, listening to my kids laugh, getting hugs, ice skating in our yard, nearly finishing the guesthouse, and being home. All the little things made this winter what it was. Unforgettable.