Snowy Twin 12.29.2015

Got up early to enjoy another day with some turns before I had to head into work.  Went to the south end of the road system and skinned toward the north Twin Peak.  

I took the the ridge too early and after making it up quite a way we ended up getting stalled out on a small peak that dropped away in all directions.  So we were forced to dropping back down to the road.  The views provided a consolation.  That's Mahoney Mountain reflecting the first light on the horizon.  

A bright half moon shone through the trees as a new friend, Derek, breaks trail on the correct trail.  

Skin tracks in true Southeast Alaska fashion.  

Derek.

The waters of the Pacific lit up nicely in the morning light.  At this point I was really kicking myself for making a wrong turn.  Should have been enjoying this view from the top.  

First rays of the sun burst in the scene.  

Mahoney makes another appearance.  

Finally into the open!  

It has been years since someone has broken the majority of trail in front of me.  Sure made my life a lot easier.  Thank you Derek!  

Bit of a light zipper crust interfered slightly with the powder below.  Still had a great time though.  Didn't take long for me to regret my commitment to be the responsible engineer at the office on this fine day.  

It was as fun as it looks.

Derek is a fellow blogger and his version of the trip can be found here.  

Fresh Snow 12.26-8.27.15

Jeralyn and Joshua made use of our new fallen snow down here at sea level.  Jeralyn went to work making snow angels, throwing snowballs at everything that moved and making a snowman.  Josh was content to be pulled in a sled.  

Here is Jeralyn skiing with her fancy lath poles custom made by Papa.  

On the 27th I got out with a few friends to check out what the snow looked like in the mountains.  It was much deeper than the backyard.  Could finally shortcut  uphill through the clear cut.  A few of the guys may have disputed the wisdom of doing so by the time we were done.  

Ian makes a kick turn in a scenic setting. The valley below holds the Brown Mountain Road.  Once again there was way too much snow to make it to the road and the snow machines proved very useful.  

Ian.  

Marvin, Ian, Mark and myself made up the ski group on this particular day.  Mark was along to take photos and video.  I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!  I wish I would have taken more photos of ski activities this day but I was having way too much fun with the deep powder.  

Unskinning ski at the top of Dude Mountain.  

Skiing the clearcut.  The surest way to determine if the day was exceptional is when the trip all the way down the mountain is worth mentioning.  

Marvin disappears amid the powder.  I have four or five consecutive photos where I can see nothing but powder.  

Ian makes his way down during the last run of the day.  

Christmas Morning 12.25.15

Jeralyn has been talking about Christmas for a couple of months now, so you can imagine how excited she was Christmas morning.

Happy girl!

Joshua spots something he likes under the tree.

Jeralyn wanted a Cinderella dress for Christmas (and Cinderella shoes).  She was pretty excited!

Josh opening his stocking.

Awww!

Cars 12.20.15

This little guy gets pretty excited about new cars!!

Tree Decorating 12.8.15

Quent took some photos of Jeralyn while she was decorating the tree.  She was really excited about Christmas this year and enjoyed every part of it!

Christmas Lights 12.8.15

It's become a tradition each year to take some pictures of the kids when we get the Christmas tree lights out.  It's pretty simple, we just have the kids sit down and we give them a pile of lights and it just turns into a candid moment.

Our Sweet Girl 12.8.15

Jeralyn Promise:

Loves playing dress-up.  In fact, she pretty much only wears dresses.

She is still in love with her Shelly (turtle) and also sleeps with LOTS of other turtles (and mermaids).

Her favorite food is macaroni & cheese.

She loves "learning time" and when read to her (she also likes to look through her books a lot).

Her favorite mountain is Dude Mountain.

She loves hiking and camping with Daddy.

She spends a lot of time coloring and she's getting really good at it.

She likes when we tell her stories about all sorts of things.

The princess she's currently "in to" is Cinderella.

She says she's going to be a princess when she grows up.

She's a super helpful girl and has her own little chores around the house.

She is really excited about having a new baby brother very soon.

Our Little Man 12.8.15

Joshua Robert brings us so much joy!  Here are some things about him:

He loves to play with cars.

He is super good at independent play (and blanket time).

He can smile and scowl at almost the same time.  He's serious like his mama.

He doesn't like wearing his sister's dress-up dresses, but he will ask for me to put clips in his hair and he will wear her necklaces.

He loves to sing and dance.

He currently weighs 32 pounds.

He likes eating black olives, but he won't drink juice.

He's tender-hearted.

He likes books about cars and trucks.