Aloha, Little Snow Bunnies!

A Delightful Sight

My sister Kari Sue and her family are in the process of moving from their home in sunny, beautiful Hawaii to a much colder and at least differently-scenic Wyoming. Their visit with us this weekend while in the midst of their move was extra special because other than a couple brief visits when Camille was a baby, these cousins have never met. What a joy to be able to change that!

It was fun to watch Sage and Sophie and try to see our every day landscape through their eyes. They were fascinated by trees bare of leaves and that leaves can be orange, red or yellow, too. The vast spaces must have felt strange to them (not to mention driving at 80 mph!). But, the best part of all is when we got our first snow on Sunday morning. They had never seen snow before. It was like magic!


Immediately, the kids pulled on their coats and boots over their pajamas and ran outside to play in the white stuff. My kids shared tips on snowball packing and snowman building. Kari's girls were surprised that their hair could get wet from snow and even more surprised to find out that it would all be melted by afternoon. They even discovered that it is much more comfortable to make snowballs if you have gloves on!

Sage & Sophie began their 'Snowman 101' course.

Sophie and the finished product.

Apparently this Hawaiian snowman has lived
a life of vice.Do they make Nicorrette for snowmen?

Great photos

Kari Sue, having grown up in Wyoming, was unimpressed by the white stuff. Her California-born husband, however, enjoyed the novelty nearly as much as the girls did.

Cameron and Natalie enjoyed the spectacle from inside the house.

Even Rudolph honored the first snowfall of the season.

One lesson we learned during our very enjoyable visit:

A bird in the hand . . .

is worth getting rid of your sucker altogether!

Columbia River Classic

This weekend Brett and Melissa ran the Columbia River Classic, a 10 mile race along the Columbia River in Richland, WA. It was a beautiful day to run.

At least Melissa looks like she knows it is 38 degrees!

And they're off!

Looking good at mile three.

Mile 6-ish

Doesn't my husband look good?

Getting frisked at the finish

DONE!

Apparently a little light-headed after their long run!

Don't Mess!

Brett and Melissa at the 'Fingernail'

Melissa and Doug in front of the 'Eagle Tree.'

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

It was Brett's turn to wear the birthday hat.

Yummy dinner, happy day.

Ever since, Cameron has been begging for it to be his birthday and singing "Happy Birthday to Cameron." He'll have to wait a couple of months.

BOO!

This was not my most original year for costumes. But, the kids were happy and that is what really counts. I took the kids to the Trunk-or-Treat on Friday night.

To complete the costume,
we taught Natalie to say "Go Cougars!"

Cameron was beyond thrilled to be Spiderman
(Thanks, Xander and Aunt Ronica).

Elise as Dorothy: PERFECT

Though initially disappointed to not be
a blacksmith (?!!) or a civil war soldier,
Max was very excited about his scientist costume.

Camille thought the cape was cool
but didn't really care as long as
there was candy involved.


All the little goblins dressed up
for the Trunk-or-Treat.


Sorting through the haul.

The kids decided that they should each set aside some candy for Dad since he didn't get to be with the family for the festivities.

When he got home from the airport, Brett found
a Ziploc baggie full of candy and the following note on his pillow:

"I love you Dad
it was not fun with aoot (out) you Dad
We savd sume candy for you Dad
Love Elise"

Halfway to a sticky mess.

I am so NOT sharing with Toto!

Candy!

The time honored tradition of candy
swapping . . . the haggling begins!

Oh, boy! I'm going to like THIS holiday!

Saturday night Camille went out with a group of her cute little girl friends. Brett took Cameron and Elise around the neighborhood. Max finished some undone homework and helped hand out candy.

The best part of Halloween this year was watching how excited our kids were about the trick-or-treaters coming to OUR house. Cameron giggled and laughed and begged me to lift him up so he could look out the peep hole. Then he would great the trick-or-treaters with a grin, a hug and say "Hi guys!" Natalie and Elise fought for space to look out the window by the front door to provide early warning alerts for approaching guests. Natalie wanted to look out the peep hole, too. She spent the rest of her time playing on top of our giant pumpkins, which we sadly never got around to carving this year. Max was Mr. Efficiency with the candy bucket and did a great job.

My kids were happy and we made good memories. Chalk this one up as a success. (Now if we could just get rid of the darned candy!)