Four Part Harmony

We’ve had a nice week or so. We’ve had some warm dry weather (mixed in with plenty of rain), and spring is in the air. We’ve been making it back to our spring and summertime places like the parks and the “duck pond” (The Rhododendron Garden, just down the street). While most of the stuff there is still pretty tightly in bud, a few of the early blooming varieties, mostly rhododendron and azalea, have already started to open up. Lots of ducks and geese around too.

We had Grandpa and Grandma (aka Mom and Dad to me) in town the past week and we had a really nice visit. This was the only group photo that we managed to get, which was taken up at Trillium Lake on Mt. Hood. We rented a cabin back in the Trillium Lake Basin that we skied/snowshoed into and spent a couple of nights there. I really like this photo of my dad, loaded down like a pack mule on the way into the cabin on Monday. I think it looks much worse than it actually was, but he may beg to differ.

I carried Anna in our backpack on skis, and did my best to keep her entertained. It was a mile and a half (probably more) back in to the cabin with some gentle terrain, but pretty consistently downhill on the way in. There were some trials and tribulations getting back there and actually finding the place (There’s over 10 feet of snow up there and several cabins were buried right up to the rafters), but we got there ok though and, once settled in, had a very nice couple of days.

The second day we were there we skied down to the lake with Anna in the sled. The weather was great and we were treated to a clear view of Mt. Hood from the middle of the lake.

We tried to get a family portrait in front of the mountain but the sun reflecting off the snow was blinding.

Truth be told, we hauled a lot of food out there (lot of beer and wine too). More than was necessary, but it sure was nice to have. We ate great the whole time we were there…fresh shrimp risotto, homemade slow simmered chili, smoked salmon grilled cheese…you get the picture. In addition to the food we hauled out for ourselves, there were also quite a few staple items that had been abandoned by previous inhabitants that likely didn’t want to pack out a big bag of flour or sugar etc. We had brought some apples along and by raiding the pantry a little bit, we were able to put together this apple pie. It was pretty rustic, but made a nice dessert.

Anna of course spent most of her free time talking on the phone with her friends. Kids these days.

Once we got back to civilization, the rest of the week kind of went by pretty fast. I had to ask Nicki what we did for the leap-day…I had totally forgotten about it. An extra day and I just let it slip my mind. We did have some fun though, and got some project stuff done. Nicki and my mom did some sewing and knitting projects. My Dad and I did a bunch of work getting our crawlspace/storage area all decked out, insulated, patched up the floor, ran some lights in there. It’s really nice now. I worked on the guitar a little bit.

Mom extended her stay an extra couple of days and we were very thankful for the help and the company. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, Anna’s 2-and-a-half now, and she’s finally figured out how to throw a proper tantrum. I think we all got to be on the receiving end of at least one this week. Thankfully she’s usually pretty quick to either forgive or forget.

One other thing we did this week was to get Anna her own bed and set it up in her bedroom. It’s nice, I’ll have to get a picture of it up here one of these days. I actually put her to sleep in it for the first time tonight and it feels like she’s moved out of the house or gone off to college or something. Plus, I keep waiting to hear her fall out of the bed.

So long for now.