We had made plans many moons ago to take the MLK weekend for a short getaway to the Leavenworth area. We've been a few times in years past and it's always a fun place to visit especially in the wintertime. But this year, with COVID and all, we weren't sure whether we wanted to go but I'm super happy that we went. We had a blast and was able to keep safe by keeping to ourselves!
First up, we left bright and early so that we can pack in a snowshoe/winter hike on the drive over. The last time we went, we had stopped for some snowshoeing on the way back and it was epic! Unfortunately, this time the snow was old and not nearly as soft and fluffy so while it was a nice diversion with some pretty views, it wasn't as great as we had hoped. The fun part though, was that we brought our camping stove with us so we did some tailgating in the parking lot and had a fancy ramen meal for lunch. It was super nice to warm the belly with the yummy noodles and broth! That evening, we did a quick trip into the main town to buy some candy but high tailed it out of there to get away from crowds.
Car selfie
Beautiful day for a hike in the snow! It was compact enough we didn't need snow shoes.
Minimal whining from kids so that's a win. Plus some nice views.
Not sure what mountain that was in the distance.
Our fancy ramen lunch. Super yum!
Kind of looks like eating in a dai-pai-dong, doesn't it?
Outside the candy store
On Sunday, we headed to the local ski hill which was a 6 minute drive from our airbnb and very reasonable priced at only $68 for a family of 4 to get tickets. Mind you there are no lifts here though, just rope tows and a magic carpet, so it's pretty good for beginning skiers. Perfect for us!
Daddy walking with Nora
Evie getting used to being on the snow again.
Snack break!
On Monday, we rented cross country skis and went on the trails around Lake Wenatchee. This was the first time any of the kids have gone cross country skiing and it got mostly good reviews. Evie says "I fell three times as much as downhill". Nora got super frustrated with her poles so opted to go without them and then started to enjoy herself. The views of the lake were beautiful and we did not pass many folks at all on the trails. For lunch, we grabbed a side picnic table and heated up some tomato soup to warm up and had some sandwiches and it was great!
Lake Wenatchee.
Daddy and Evie
It was cold out but it's quite a workout so you warm up fast.
Action shot
The sun was setting so the lighting is not great.
We took Tuesday off from school and work to try skiing again. We were hoping to go to the local ski hill again but to our surprise, it was closed! It worked out great though because we just went to Mission Ridge instead, which we went to last year and had a great time. This time, because it was a Tuesday after a holiday, the place was practically empty! It felt like we had the mountain to ourselves and in fact, there were many times where Nora and I were the only two on the rope tow.
Evie was a champ and comfortable with her skis so she and Scott went up the lifts while I spent most of the day with Nora on the bunny hill. She was able to go on the rope tow all by herself and was so proud that she insisted I take videos. She was doing so great that Scott even persuaded her to go on her first chair lift! This brave girl actually skied her first green run. WOOHOO! Granted, it took an hour and there were a lot of tears and Scott wins an award for his patience, but by the end of the run she was feeling pretty good and is super happy that she made it down.
While Nora was with Scott, Evie went up the chairlifts by herself! She then skied down with Kinsey and Kingston but I'm super proud of how independent and brave she is. Now we have two more skiers in the family!
Mommy and Nora
You can see how empty the slopes were from the videos which was super nice not just because then the kids don't have to worry about crazy skiers or snowboarders, but also because it felt more COVID safe. All of the places required masks in the lines and main areas, and most people wore them skiing too. It was super annoying to ski with glasses or goggles and a mask though - my glasses kept fogging up and I'd have to stop and wait for it to clear before I could keep going. I don't know that it's even really feasible to go hardcore skiing with a mask and glass considering I wasn't even breathing super heavily on the bunny hills and couldn't go for very long without stopping.
I'd call the weekend a great success anyway since we got both girls on the ski hill AND on the cross country ski trails. As for me, the weekend just reminded me that yeah.... I find cross country skiing way more fun than downhill. I can do downhill and if the girls decide they prefer that instead I will suck it up and go but I much prefer the steady and peaceful nature of cross country skiing instead. Hopefully, I can do some more this season.
We got back from Japan about a week ago and we're still talking about what a great trip it was! Japan has never been super high on my places to visit but for a lot of reasons (I've never been, it's clean, it's safe, it's different) we took the plunge and booked it as our summer vacation this year. It helped that our friends, the Wongs, went last year, raved about it and loved it so much they were going again and we were able to coordinate so that some of our trip overlapped with theirs. It helped even more that the yen is at a 10-year low (maybe all time low?) against the dollar, which, aside from airfare, made everything quite affordable. Look how low the yen is! We lucked out that it kept falling after we booked our tix in Dec. Since this was our first big overseas trip since COVID and with kids (or, lets face it, SINCE kids), I dove into prepping for our trip - including trying to keep up my Duolingo streak of learning Japanese for at least a few minutes everyd
I had to do a quick trip to LA towards the end of July to say goodbye to my Uncle Pang, who passed away a few weeks earlier. I have fond memories of fun cousin time at his house in Palos Verdes and Uncle Pang taking us to the beach when we were younger. I remember how he delighted in making us kids squeal with laughter by pretending the car ride was a rolleroaster - we'd take sharp turns and all of us kids would slide to one side of his Volvo station wagon or he'd slow the car down to a roll and we'd all chant that we couldn't let the car stop and it would inch slowly forward at a stoplight. Although it was a sad reason to get together, I think he would be happy to know that the weekend was also a wonderful get together with family. Because it was fairly last minute, none of the kids flew over which meant us "adult cousins" were able to have long talks and linger over food. Kin and Meredith were able to host a summertime bbq at their house and we had a nice t
EEEK! We officially have a teenager in our house! I can't believe our little Evie is now 13 years old. I can still see her as a little girl saying "Swiper no swiping!" For her birthday this year, she and a few of the neighborhood girls went to get their nails done at the salon nearby. She doesn't remember the last time she got her nails professionally done ( back in 2016! ) so she was pretty excited about it. She picked a very pretty teal color. Afterwards, the girls had some cake. To celebrate her actual birthday, her ask was for tv time, shopping and sushi. So after a morning spent hanging out in from the tv, we headed to Bellevue Square mall where guess what? She got a phone! Technically, I got a new phone and handed down my old phone to her. We spent a good 3 hours doing all the transfers but she was very patient about it and grinning from ear to ear when we went to dinner that night. At 13, Evie has become a very stereotypical teenage girl - she loves clothes
Wow, that looks like so much fun, especially because there are no crazy skiers or snowboarders whizzing by as the kids go down the hill!
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