Cousin Madness

Every year, my family normally heads up to my parents' cabin in No. Idaho for fun in the snow during the week after Christmas. However, since there was only a meager four inches on the ground and a 5-day forecast of NO snow, we decided to bag the entire thing and stay local (please understand that there is absolutely nothing else to do up there in the winter time....no mall, no movie theatres, no museums, no real restaurants, etc....so 20 people under one roof for seven days in a row can be a bit deadly). As a result, the Montana extension of our family drove out to Washington to spend the week with the rest of us. Grandma's and Grandpa's house became home base for the week and we managed to keep things busy with several activities here, there, and everywhere. I think that I can confidently say that a good time was had by all and that my parents survived (although barely as my dad had two separate trips to the E.R. during the course of the week. I'm not sure which one it was harder on...my mom or my dad).
Here's a quick run-down of the week's major activities...

On Wednesday, December 30th, most of the gang met up in Tacoma at the Washington State History Museum to attend a special model train exhibit they host every holiday season. Lia was in awe at all the numerous railroad displays we visited as she has recently fallen in love with the "Iron Horse" under the careful tutelage of her grandfather.

After the museum, we headed over to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma where the group split up: some to the zoo and some to the beach nearby. Lia and I accompanied the group to the zoo where we spent a few, fun filled hours running around en masse ogling at many of the animals. I think that Lia's favorite part was observing the large elephant poo. She is still talking about it days later and can be found looking for elephant poo in any animal book we have. Good grief.

On Thursday, New Year's Eve, 16 of the 20 of us headed up to Snoqualmie Pass for a day of skiing (or boarding in Ron's case). My mother agreed to watch the two youngest grandchildren (Lia being one of them) because she ROCKS, so Ron and I were able to hit the slopes together for the first time ever! We spent a few hours "skoarding" (Ron's term) and had a grand ol' time. You know how the saying goes...the couple that skoards together, stays together.

My darling 12-year old nephew, Bence (as Lia fondly calls him), spent the morning with Ron and I. He did a great job and kept up the entire time!

After lunch, I was able to escape with my brother, Brent, for some skiing in the late afternoon. One of my all-time favorite activities is water or snow skiing with my brothers and it has been a few years since I have done the latter with one of them. So, it was a rare treat for me to spend the afternoon following Brent through the trees. I say 'follow' because that is exactly what I always do in order to prevent the above situation from occurring to myself. Why get stuck in a snow drift if one's brother can discover it first and send you in another direction?!

After a long day of skiing, the heathen returned to home base for a fabulous New Year's Eve turkey dinner prepared by Rebecca and her assistants. We then tricked the children at 8:30 pm and "celebrated" New Year's Eve (a fabulous trick I learned from SIL's....let the kids think that they get to stay up til midnight and then they happily go off to bed), complete with the countdown and partaking of Mormon bubbly (a.k.a. Martinelli's sparking cider). Ron and I headed on home with a worn-out Lia at 9 pm while the other adults stayed up and played games til midnight (or went to the E.R. in the case of my parents).

Friday, January 1st, was a much needed mellow day with the troops. However, some of us mustered up the energy to head off to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to take a gander at their annual holiday "d'lights" display. Although it was raining in Issy, the weather was surprisingly better in Bellevue and we managed to find our way around the grounds without getting too drenched. And, since I spent MANY an hour there during my summers off from college weeding, pruning, raking, and mowing, it was a treat to just walk down memory lane all aglow.

Such a pretty sight at night, isn't it?