Snow tubing

It seems like I'm packing all I can into this three day weekend, but I guess I'm beginning to feel the countdown clock ticking until the time when Stevie leaves.  It's only just over a month now.

One of the things the kids wanted to do again this winter was go sledding.  The winter here has been pretty mild and there has been very low snow falls, even up in the mountain passes.  In order to guarantee a good experience, we decided to go snow tubing at the Snowqualmie Summit.  This is a place where you rent a large inner tube and get two hours on their slopes with the use of the rope lift to get back up the hill.

Waiting for our turn on the slope

Unfortunately, the weather on the day we booked to go was not the best.  It was just above freezing and rainy.  Not my favorite combination.  Nevertheless, we persevered and had fun.  About half way through our block of time, the crowd began to thin out as people became wet and cold.  That made for smooth sailing, especially if you could skip the tow line and walk up the hill.

At the bottom of the course - London is going down the hill with an orange jacket.

Waiting in line

 Emmy didn't really like it - she went about 3 times and then chose to build a snowman.

It cleared a little for a brief time and you could really appreciate the beauty of the mountains.

London and Stevie getting a tow up the hill

Portland - Day 3

We had to be up super early this morning to get Cannon off to water polo and then afterwards, at only 6:30 on a Sunday morning, my friend Jillian and I went off to try one last restaurant.  The first night we were here I saw this very authentic looking French patisserie and was dying to try it.  Jillian happened to be the perfect person to share this with since she lived in Belgium for a while and speaks French too.

We were the first customers and enjoyed yet another amazing meal - creme brullee oatmeal.  Oh, my!  I joked to the kids and Stevie yesterday that this blog post should be called "Portly in Portland" or maybe, "If I Lived in Portland, I'd Be Portly".  All I have to say is that Portland has some amazing restaurants!

Jillian at the patisserie

 Enjoying my latte in France, not really...

Creme brullee oatmeal is fantastic!

After breakfast, we headed to the pool where Cannon and the other guys were still swimming.

When the guys were through, we headed back to Gig Harbor.  Cannon claimed he wasn't that tired, but shortly into the trip I looked back and saw this...

But after 13 hours of swimming and playing polo in less than 48 hours, who could blame him?

Portland - Day 2

Saturday was, unfortunately, pouring down rain so we were a little limited in what we could do in this city known for its parks, hikes and outdoor green spaces.

After getting Cannon out the door for his day of polo, we headed out to get breakfast at Pine State Biscuits,   They are renowned for their biscuits and the line out the door showed that they were a popular place.

Stevie had a biscuit, chicken, blue cheese with fried green tomato sandwich.

London opted for his favorite - biscuits and gravy.

After fueling up, we drove into downtown Portland and then went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  It was a great museum for kids - very hands on.

Emmy in a space capsule.

Playing Connect Four with a robot

Emmy loved the dry ice bubbles

 They had a chemistry room so Stevie goggled up to teach them some experiments.

I think Cannon needs this quilt...

After a few hours in the museum, it was time to eat again!  I wanted to try a waffle restaurant I had read about called, what else, The Waffle Window.  Where else can you buy only waffle entrees at a walk up window?  There were savory and sweet options that all sounded amazing.  I went savory and had bacon, brie and basil on a waffle whereas London went sweet and ordered the Nutella and banana option.  Yummo!

London's waffle

 Emmy had the chocolate dipped waffle.

After stuffing ourselves on waffles, we headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim before Stevie and the kids headed back to Washington.  We decided that it was better for them go back home with the dog while I stayed on with Cannon.  There are lots of water polo parents here so I got a ride home with my friend, Jillian.

Portland, Oregon

This weekend, Cannon is participating in an Olympic Development program for water polo in Portland, Oregon.  He loves water polo and this program was part of his Christmas gift.  They practice water polo for 8 hours on Saturday and then for another 5 hours on Sunday.  Sounds like torture to me...

We decided to make a family trip of the weekend since we haven't been to Portland since living in the northwest.  We picked Cannon up from school on Friday and then headed south.

I had seen some foodie shows that said that Portland was full of great restaurants and so after checking into the hotel, we headed out for Indian.  I found a review of a restaurant which was supposed to have great Indian "street food".  Oh, my, it was amazing!  What a great treat.

After consuming way too much Indian food, we just had to go for ice cream.  The Salt & Straw is ranked Portland's #1 restaurant even though they only serve ice cream and desserts.  The flavors were so unique - like pear with blue cheese or honey lavender.  Oh, my, it was sooo good!

After, we had to wonder around for a while as I was about to burst.  The area of town where we were was nothing but eclectic stores and restaurants.  This was my favorite... Ha!

Home School Science

A little while ago I wrote a post on one of the fun things we did in science - dissecting owl pellets.  Today it was time to dissect something a little bigger...a snake!  We just finished the unit on snakes and what better way to learn about them than to cut one open?  Of course, I left this to our resident expert - Stevie.  The kids were quite fascinated with the whole thing.  I think the thing that disturbed them most was the smell of formaldehyde!

Removing the snake from the bag - here's another thing I bet you didn't know you could buy online!

Poor Mr. Snake

Looks like he could still be alive, doesn't it?

Checking out the mouth

Dr. Dad demonstrating his surgeon skills

In case you ever wanted to know what the insides of a snake look like!