I spent almost 2 weeks at home in Boise, alternately with Stephen's parents and mine. My 3 older sisters, mother and I threw my dad a surprise party for his 60th birthday. We've been planning it for MONTHS and all of us flew in for it- from New Jersey and Virginia and Washington. The best part was sneaking into the house and surprising him at home. We all sat on the couch and my mom called him down from upstairs. He walked in, looked at us like "hey, there's my girls" and then did and double take and started freaking out. He was so funny to watch- we're glad he didn't have a cardiac "episode" or something.
The time we got to spend as a family was pretty special, especially since he had put on his Christmas list "time to sit and drink cocoa with my girls". The party was so much fun, we had about 80 people attend.Favorite moments of the Christmas in Boise:
For the girls, feeding the horses morning and night at grandma and grandpa Hunt's house. They were so good at it, we could just sit and supervise! Grandpa always let Odessa sit on their backs while they were eating.
This was fun until one of them shied away with her on top and took off! I just shouted at her to hold on and waited for when she would fall off and wondered how bad the damage would be. I have never felt so helpless as I did watching my kid get carried off on the back of a horse beyond our reach. The horse stopped, and she did indeed fall off. Thankfully, she slid right off onto her bottom and no serious damage was done. Grandpa put her right back on that horse and I hope this incident doesn't carry any permanent 'scared-of-horses scars'. The girls also loved terrorizing Chad and Julie's cat and Nana's dog. We love that the Hunts have so many animals. The girl's favorite presents were all animal related and they each got their own tool box. Here is my favorite Christmas Day picture of Odessa with goggles and play drill.
Stephen enjoyed telling me fantastic stories of the snowfall in Seattle while I was in Boise. The whole place shut down- literally. School was cancelled one day when the roads were still dry and there were PREDICTIONS of snow fall, but no actual snow. We laughed forever about that. But then when there was actual snow, it wasn't funny. A guy in a Land Rover tried to get down the hill our Apt bldg is on and hit THREE parked cars and blocked the road (not that anyone was trying to use it) for 2 days until all the cars were towed. When Stephen finally tried to make the break to leave and get to Boise, he and another guy hand-shoveled the road together. He still had to put chains on the car and stop every few feet down the slippery slope to shovel more to keep from sliding into the remaining vehicles. The week he was here by himself, he walked everywhere, including the 3 miles to work and back. On Saturday he walked 10 miles around Queen Anne delivering cookies to some people. He revelled in the challenge and was amazed at how unprepared and unwise people were about the snow. It all seems common sense to him! Well, not everyone grew up hunting and snow camping with a dad who I like to call "part Mountain Man" (and not everyone is an Eagle Scout!).
For me, I loved all the "traditionalism" of the time in Boise. Traditional food, traditional stories. My mom told the puppet story of the animals at the Nativity with the grandkids holding the puppets. That is the first time I have seen her give that- it was the story my grandma led us in each Christmas Eve. My Grandma passed away this last year, so it was really special to see mom carry that tradition on.
And here are the shepherds and their cousins Mary and Joseph : )Since being home, we have not stopped much. We had our friends Kate, Karl and Inge over for New Years Eve. We all counted down with Columbia online at 8pm- highly recommended for parents! After the kids got to bed, Stephen and I played games and waited up for the fireworks at the Space Needle- now that the trees have lost their leaves, we have a great view of the Needle.
I got pretty excited New Years Day when Stephen lounged around and everyone stayed in their pajamas. He is always pushing us to go do something, get something done- my weekends are usually somewhat exhausting! But I knew the jig was up when he showered and started putting things away and cleaning up. Later that afternoon, he talked us into a walk to Fremont. We had to continue up this steep side of Queen Anne and then go all the way down the back of it- even more steep!! Then cross the bridge. . . . anyway- it started "misting" and we all got pretty wet. The girls were done with the stroller on the way back UP the steepest part of Queen Anne and so I ended up carrying Ada inside my jacket for about a mile up and then down the hill. The next day (yesterday) we went to Port Orchard and then to Bremerton and took the ferry back to Seattle.
It was a fun, exploring trip to see 2 towns we haven't been to yet. We wanted to go visit the Bavarian village recreation of Leavenworth, but the mountain roads between here and there were not looking good. We did enough of the snowy roads between Boise and home.Now I am looking forward to a quiet week this week. Happy New Year everyone and I am loving getting caught up on your posts.
3 comments:
Happy Birthday Uncle Ben! But surely he isn't 60; he looks exactly the same as he did when we were kids. Your whole family looks great. How fun to have a family-filled Christmas.
"Snow storms" in places that don't usually get snow are scary. You look outside and think, "this is nothin'." But then as you are safely traveling down the gravel covered road (that's their solution for winter roads here in Texas --- dump a truckload of sand on every overpass) the person in the car next to you sees a sign that says "watch for ice on bridge" and immediately hits his brakes. We've decided that it is better to stay inside on those "treacherous" days, not because of the roads but because of the other drivers.
We spent a week in Leavenworth last summer and my kids ask us at least once a week when we are going back! Beautifully tucked into those mountains. You'll love it!
So sad we missed your Dad's party. I can just picture his face when he saw you girls. What a gift!
Sounds like you had a great time back in Idaho! You are lucky you missed all of the snow here while you were gone. It was such a mess! Seattle just isn't supposed to get weather like that! The snow is supposed to dump in the Olympic mountains before it gets to the Puget Sound and then rain over us and then build up to snow again over the Cascades. Obviously some clouds weren't reading the weather rule books.
How is Odessa after her horsey mishap? I hope she's still game for coming over to ride Hyrum's pony. He's so excited to share her with friends. She's a great little gal and only 11.1 hands so quite small and so gentle with the kids. We'll have to set something up soon if she is up for it.
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