Sno-Park!

Yeah, so you'd think that I'd be capable of getting at least one non-weather-whining post up during my time off, huh? No so much. But here are some snaps of our first trip to the Sno-Park just across the Oregon border. Michael and Darcy went again last weekend with a friend and his son. They had another great day. Darcy is an adventurous one -- she watched all these older kids sledding over a snow jump and insisted that she wanted to try it. They did, she loved it, and insisted that they do it again, faster. Michael reports that they had some serious airspace on a few jumps, but was on the sled with her, so there are no photos.

It's a long, windy road to get there, but once we hit the snow line, we were driving through trees like these, so who cared? It was gorgeous! Darcy slept through it all. Plenty of snow for play!

Darcy didn't really love being almost hip-deep in snow at the top of the sled run.

But she had fun sledding! There had been a week of steady snow accumulation and we were there too early in the weekend for trails to have gotten packed for good sledding, so they only made it about a third of the way down the hill before having to walk back up.


One of the best features of this Sno-Park (don't entirely understand them, but this one is in the National Forest and requires a $4 parking permit -- but I don't quite know if it's solely a NF enterprise?) is the warming hut. You can see it at the bottom of the hill in the previous picture. It's a simple log cabin with big shutters opening out for a view of the sledding hill and a roaring wood stove. It's BYO wood and people bring pots and kettles (as you can see) to heat up tea and hot chocolate (that's what we brought). It was very fun.

A Taste Of New York Christmas

We took well over 400 photos during our week in NY, so there are lots of pictures to document what was a very fun trip for all. It takes time to crop and resize and select and such, so y'all (I recently have been converted to y'all as a gender-neutral pronoun) will have to be patient. Here's a small sampling of the fun.

There was snow when we arrived, but it was actually raining on the drive home from the airport, so that snow wasn't very fun. But then we got more! Enough for some sledding, which Darcy enjoyed, as you might be able to see. The quality isn't great, but the expression is perfect.


The whole week was the Darcy-and-Liana show from morning to night. They had a lot of fun together and amused the rest of us in the process. Darcy took to standing at this corner, leaning into the dining/living room shouting, "LIANA! LIANA!" Here, they are showing off the matching Christmas dresses Grandma made them. Their footwear was not coordinated, but the hand-holding added a little extra something.

More Snow, Endless Snow

This is our post office this morning. We went out to see if we could get to our postmistress's house to check up on her and see if she felt the need to go to work. She's 83. She has earned some checking. Even with four wheel drive, we didn't attempt her road (technically, it's our road, too, but we can go the other way and it's better). Instead, I hiked in about a quarter mile to find her in her bathrobe, perfectly fine, but happy for a visit and the fruit, cheese, and crackers I brought. I hiked back out with a list of phone calls to make for her. I don't think the post office will gets lots of business today.

Getting to the post office was really fun! This is weather in which I would rather not have to get out of the car to open cattle gates. Michael thought it was amusing. He got to stay in the car.

The skies were really dramatic. I have a shot-that-got-away that would have been ridiculous if I had just angled up a little bit more. Instead, I give you the mountain top peeking out from the clouds.

Darcy was playing in deep snow during the lull between the storms. So, in other words, on Tuesday. Last night, when the snow was still blowing horizontally and it was well below freezing and dark, she insisted on going out in the snow. So we took her out, with a headlamp and all of us very bundled, figuring she'd want to come right back in. No. She was happy out there. Must be her Alaskan birth.

Once we convinced her to come in, she was red-cheeked and ready to be warmed up. Here she is standing on the washing machine being divested of her 17 layers of clothing.

The snow really is gorgeous today. The sun has pretty much banished the clouds now and we have deep blue skies. Luckily, we're staying in. Or, luckily, we don't have anywhere we need to be today 'cause we're not getting out of here in our car unless they come scrape our road again. It's all a matter of perception.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Cima House in the snow. It takes a picture like this for me to fully appreciate how big our surrounding Joshua trees really are. The one behind the house, in particular, is just massive. They are all looking a little more substantial with their snowcaps.

Our snow seems to have ended for the day, although snow showers may continue for the next couple days. We're hoping that our road miraculously gets plowed. I'm not sure I'm holding my breath, but I don't think the Corolla would make it out in this. This picture is the scene across the road from the house. We probably have another inch on top of this.

The yuccas want to be birds of paradise, I think. Or, at least this one does. All the desert plants look very cute and out of their element all covered in snow.

Darcy likes to hug Joshua trees like this one outside our door. Today, though, she insists that she is climbing the tree, not hugging it.

Darcy didn't spend a lot of time on her feet in this afternoon's deeper snow. She found it easier to crawl and then found the remnants of the flowers she enjoyed picking this summer and fall. I don't think the mittens were welcome at this point. Fine for letting her hands stay warm while on hands and knees, but very much in the way for picking/holding flowers.

Wild Friends

Well, our snow didn't start last night as promised, but did finally arrive around 8:45 this morning. Darcy has already played in it for well over an hour. She had fun, and that was even before it started sticking.

Darcy's well asleep now, but someone else came to play in our snow!! We have had a few coyote sightings over the past couple months. There's also been scat in the yard every once in a while, too. But our coyote friend has always come and gone too quickly to get a picture. Not today! I made several short videos of him/her looking for rabbits or ground squirrels (I assume, since there was a pounce involved at one point). They were all taken out the living room window. Luckily, the blinds were already up so Darcy could watch the snow fall.

I love our wild friends! Sorry the quality's not a bit better, but our connection sometimes times out if I try to upload too many plain ol' photos at one time, so I thought I'd be safe.

Happy Belated Halloween!

So, this post isn't really about Halloween, but it's a picture that I'd already resized, so this is what you get. I need to get a post up about our trip to Tucson for Jenna's wedding. Darcy danced late into the night (ok, not exactly, but it had been dark for a while). She had fun. This picture was taken after the frog costume got just too hot for a girl to wear at the playground.

This post is really about checkups and snow. Darcy had her two-year checkup today (yes, a month late; life gets in the way sometimes). She's staying on track for her weight and height gains. She's in the low-middle percentiles for both, and still has a larger-than-normal head circumference, although I don't see that. But the low-middle sizes does explain why quite a few 24 month/2T size clothes are still too big for her.

She didn't exactly love the doctor's visit. In fact, she has NEVER been that upset/loud/clingy before. Not once ever. She was climbing me as if I was the only thing that could save her. And that was just while I was trying to change her diaper in an exam room that wasn't even the one we were going to be in for the appointment. It didn't get better.

Tomorrow will make her forget all of that, I think. We are supposed to get SNOW, and maybe lots of it! The prediction is for 6-12 inches at our elevation, with the snow starting late tonight and continuing on through Monday night. I'm glad Darcy and I don't have any pressing engagements tomorrow, 'cause I'll be glad to stay put. I hope to get some good photos of Darcy and the Joshua trees in snow. It will be my first time seeing these odd plants snow-covered! I'm just sorry that I didn't get Santa hats at the dollar store for them ... that was my plan!