Sledding again!

I posted a few weeks ago about our first adventure into the snow, and about how woefully unprepared we were for it clothing wise.  But I got smart, ordered a bunch of stuff online, and feeling better prepared we headed out to the hills again this Saturday. 

Where we live in Gig Harbor, the weather was partly sunny and near fifty, but the temperature rapidly dropped as we neared the park we went to last time and by the time we reached it there was snow falling.

London and Emmy sporting their new snow gear.

We brought Mick with us this time.

Emmy trying to eat the snow.

 We walked along this beautiful path, stopping to sled in different areas.  At one point the light snow that had been falling suddenly turned into HUGE snow flakes, coating us and the dog.

Can you see those huge snowflakes?

I had to take one of myself as no one else ever takes photos in our family.  I was all alone at the end of a lovely sled run.

 Emmy was cracking me up because she was wearing the same sweatshirt I had converted into a dog for her Halloween costume.  Apparently we never took the tail off it so it hung out from the bottom of her coat!

We tried to turn Mick into a sled dog.  He did pretty good but got a little stressed about it.  Better stick with sheep.

A rare one of all of us taken by a passing skier.

Stevie and his ladies


These are some shots from Diana's trip that didn't quite fit into any other email, but I wanted to share them. And since they all involve either Stevie and his mom or Stevie and me, you get the name of the blog post!

Downtown Tacoma

Union Sation in Tacoma

In downtown Gig Harbor.



Torturing Cannon

It's not that we actually enjoying torturing our son, but we're doing this for his good.  Yes, I'll admit it here, our son has screwed up teeth and the only way to correct this situation is through a little society-approved torture treatment called orthodontics!

Last we started the long process to strait teeth with Cannon by taking him to the oral surgeon for the extraction of SEVEN teeth (that's four permanent and three wisdom).  Poor guy doesn't look so happy, does he?

(Don't worry, he wasn't really this sad, I just told him to look that way for the photo!)

 He pulled through the surgery just fine - in fact way better than we expected - he was even eating pizza after 3 days.  Of course the night of the surgery I fixed him whatever he wanted, which included a cake-shake.  See that piece of cake and that glass of milk?  Put them in the blender together and you get a very drinkable cake-shake!

Less than a week after surgery, he was into the orthodontists office for the placement of full braces.

 

Before

After

(Still smiling)

That night he had swim practice and I snapped this very scary photo of my son.  Stevie says it should be an album cover for some heavy metal band!

Fish Throwing

We took Diana up to Seattle today to see the famous Pike's Market.  (I think this is becoming our standard tourist destination when we have visitors!)  She was thrilled by the place, all the spices and fruits and flowers and crafts and, of course, the fish markets! 

Dungeness crab

Veggies

Teas

 

Pastas

At the far end of the market is the most famous fish market whose trademark is to throw a giant salmon from one fish monger to the other.  Diana had the special experience of standing in the middle of where they were throwing the fish!  It's a good job she ducked in time otherwise she would have had a fish in the back of her head!!!


I think Stevie just told her what was about to happen!

She was laughing so hard and very thankful she didn't get fish slapped!

Outside the original Starbucks

Sunday afternoon

Sunday afternoon we had a rare showing of some sun so we took advantage of it to go for a little walk at Kopachuck State Park with Diana.  Such a pretty location for a Sunday stroll.

This wasn't Stevie fishing, but I thought it was so idyllic.

Hunting for interesting rocks (not many shells on these beaches!)

Museum of Glass

With Steve's mom, Diana, visiting us we wanted to show her a little of the area where we live, and unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating.  So instead of seeing the natural beauty, we opted to take her into Tacoma to visit the Museum of Glass.  I think most people have heard of Chihuly and his glass sculptures.  Well, did you know that he is from Tacoma?  Consequently, there is whole museum of glass, including a live demonstration area, here in Tacoma.  There were some fabulous works of art in the museum and we enjoyed a nice afternoon touring the place and having lunch.

The live demonstration of glass blowing - a little less animated than what we used to see in Japan!

 I think, though, that the best part of the museum was outside it, in a free venue, which is a bridge across the road.  On this public bridge is a whole wall of Chihuly pieces on display.  They were pretty awesome.

Some of the pieces

These are big pieces, like 2-3 feet each.

One of Chihuly's pieces with the Union Station in the background.  This one reminded me of pieces of sea glass.

The ceiling over part of the bridge.

Just a goofy shot.

Dash Point

Stevie headed out this morning for an early morning flight to Dallas.  He has to sit for his Oral Board Exam on Monday, the final step to making him board certified in OB/GYN.  It's a huge deal and he's been studying hard to prepare.  He'll sit for it on Monday, fingers crossed!

We also put Grammie on a plane today after almost 3 weeks with us.  She was scheduled to leave on the 3rd with Grandpa, but she became ill while she was here and was put on a no-fly status by the doctor.  With another week to recouperate, she was ready to move on today and fly to my sister's house in Nashville.

On our way home from the airport, I decided to try a new park for a walk with Mick.  It was a beautiful crisp winter day and I thought it would be a great day for a walk.  I am very lucky in that my dog and my kids like to walk with me.  We found a state park called Dash Point which was on the water across the bay from Tacoma.  It was a nice walk, but the paths were a little slick because of ice!

Playing on the drift wood.

Yes, London really is wearing shorts!  Crazy kid, it's 37 degrees!

Mick in border collie mode - he was staring down another dog.

And tonight to end a beautiful day was an absolutely spectacular sunset.  It was one of those that just kept getting better and better.

I thought it was at its peak when I took this shot.

Then 5 minutes later it added red/pink.

It ended with a red line at the horizon, but I had stopped taking pictures by that point!

Random

Here are a few random other photos I took while Grammie and Grandpa were here that didn't fit in anywhere else.  We had a really nice visit with them and despite Grammie getting ill for a chunk of the time, we still were able to have fun.  Come back soon Grammie and Grandpa!

Sunsets...

Flying London's new planes on a beautiful day (it wasn't really as warm as it looks!)

Downtown Gig Harbor's Christmas tree reflecting in the water.