Snow day

Sunday was a blast. We took the boys to Sno-Hyak snow park at Snoqualmie pass. It was a bit of a drive -- about 50 minutes. Then we spent a bit more time driving down the entire expanse of the icy road looking for a good place to stop. The farther on we went, the more snow mobiles we saw. Finally we came to a turn about and turned about. We went back to the beginning and parked there, then unloaded and dressed the boys. We'd already put them in long underwear with sleepers over the top. Once at the park, we put on mittens, coats and boots. Then, gathering up the pancake and the tobboggin, we headed uphill. Xander was, initially, very unhappy. He wanted to ride the pancake NOW and couldn't understand our insistence on walking. But we finally found a spot high enough on the trail and stopped. There we began the run -- and it literally was a 'run' for me! Xander plopped down on the pancake and off he spun down the trail. I ran, full out for part of it, alongside him, making sure that the pancake didn't spin off into a snow drift or bang into anyone coming up the trail. Tom and Jason followed in the tobboggin, Tom pulling, Jason laughing. We traded and began again. We played there for quite awhile then gathered boys and snow stuff up and walked further up the trail to look for snowball making materials.

Tom and Jason charged ahead. Xander marched determinedly after. I offered him my hand, to 'help him up the hill.' His response: 'I can help MYSELF up the hill!' and so he did. We came to a relatively flat surface and stopped. There we found a natural 'snow fort' and the boys and I 'hid' in it while Tom lobbed snow balls. Most of the time I was attempting to push the boys up the sides of the fort so that they could throw snow balls at their father. Funny thing, I think they ENJOYED sliding down the snow face first!

When it was time to return to the car, I sat on the tobboggin with Xander while Tom sat on the pancake with Jason and we spun down the trail. Part of the way down, we switched and the boys laughed the whole way.

It was a good day and one we shall have to repeat.