Weekend in B-Ham

Had the kids this weekend, actually beginning Thursday night, approximately 1 1/2 hours after landing at SeaTac. So Friday was getting Clara & Elise to school, Bennet to daycare, me to work to catch up on the week's happenings, then me back to pick them all up and roll home. We spent Friday night reconnecting and relaxing (R&R?). Saturday morning we ate, dressed, packed, and made the hour & a half drive up to Bellingham where Mom & Dad (Grandma and Grandad) live.

This is at the beach of Lake Whatcom a 5 minute walk from my parent's house. There's a marina, off-leash park and some swings there too.




Saturday afternoon Clara was quite popular with the boys. This is Bennet and cousin Aidan both trying to fit in the chair with her. Aidan is just 6 months younger than Ben, and the two have a lot of fun together.







Clara trying on Karen's motorcycle helmet. Jason just bought a motorcycle a couple weeks ago and the two of them had been out for a ride. Trying on the helmet was as close as Clara got to going for a ride this weekend!








Family photo down at the lake. My parents took the kids down again today while I was out riding. It's really pretty up by their house, and there are some good country roads for cycling. So I brought my bike up with me and did a 40 mile ride today. I'm sad to report it hurt more than I hoped it would...






My parent's lab Arbor getting some love this morning from Elise and Ben. She's always said to see us go!







The dominos game called Chicken Foot is HUGE at my parent's house. The kids LOVE to play it, and as a family we get quite competitive. Just ask my Mom what lengths I went to this afternoon to keep her from winning!!

Another Week..Another Trip to London

Yes, a trip to London, and what a great trip it was! It's one of my favorite cities, and happens to be where some of my favorite people are living. I spent the week enjoying good company, celebrating Andrew's upcoming birthday, and discovering new corners of the city that I had never previously seen.




Take a look at this view of Tower Bridge. I had just spent an hour exploring the Design Museum, and as we were walking out we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset. The bridge hardly even looks real!











The current exhibit at the Design Museum is about the life and work of a French engineer and designer named Jean Prouve. He was an incredible person, able to turn a concept into an elegant design, then translate the design into a detailed plan and even lay out the manufacturing process.











I went to visit Katherine at her work. She started working at a florist's a couple months ago. Despite her protests I made her stand out front so I could take her picture. Thanks Kat!!!

















Her place is just around the corner from St. Paul's Cathedral, so when she went back to work I walked along the Thames for an hour...














Happy Birthday Andrew! Though his real birthday is on the 26th, we celebrated early. Six of us went out for dinner, and we ordered one each of the six desserts on the menu! He's got the Knickerbocker Glory sitting in front of him!


















What better to come home to than my kids! I got them Thursday night when I came home, and this is Elise and Bennet snuggling in my bed this morning. It was a great week in London, but I did miss them..

Now it's Clara's Turn!

Clara turns 9 this Wednesday! I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that I've got a 9 year old kid!! Yikes, am I that old??? At least I'm not 35 yet!! (Andy!) So yesterday I hosted a birthday party for Clara and 8 of her friends. I was smart, and outsourced the location and entertainment. I even had the cake outsourced (Thank You Heidi!!). All I had to do was herd 8 girls (and 1 boy) for 2 hours through a frenzy of creating, cake eating, present opening, and then filling their goody bags full of as much "stuff" as they could!













Clara and her good friend Naomi. Naomi made her the first of her special birthday hats. They multiplied over time..


















Clara and Abby (from her soccer team). Pretty sure they both will have careers in fashion design one day!


















Getting ready to blow out the 9 candles. Left to right: Mara, April, Elise, Naomi, Clara, Abby, Isabella...













Clara opening her gifts, now wearing THREE birthday crowns of various sorts. Does she looked pleased with her spa kit or what??











And as if it weren't enough to have a party for 8 girls...we had a sleep over with Hannah as well. I was a bit worried about how the evening would go, especially since they were HYPER most of the evening. But they were in bed by 8:45, and all was quiet by 9:45! And then I crashed.....

Happy Birthday Clara!!!

26,685

Vertical feet skied today. What a great day! It snowed all day yesterday so added about 6" new on top of the foot or so they got this week. It was clear in the morning which made for a nice 9am start! I discovered an advantage to always being a single in the lift line..you get to talk to a lot of people! I spoke with locals from Breck, locals from Denver and the surrounding areas, folks from California, Texas, Atlanta, and North Carolina, and various countries in Europe. One outcome of all that chatting is that I got some GREAT tips on where the best snow, best tree skiing, and shortest lift lines are. Perfect! So I spent a good part of my day on Peak 10, skiing some awesome double black runs, full of powder and trees. (trail map) Then made my way slowly back to Peak 9 to ski some double and single black chutes and trees, and finally, when my legs had nothing left to give (and they were closing the mountain), I skied off of Peak 8 back to my condo. What a day.

Word is another storm is coming through, so I might get stuck up here for another day or two...dang.

Yeah Baby!

Another great day on the mountain!
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In-sane!!!

I'm at breckenridge.  Tons of powder.  Denver snow rocks!!  Woo hoo!!!  :-)

Happy birthday to me....

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