This was this morning - we had about a foot of snow and a day and a half off from work!
The cardinals are just spectacular against the snow and branches
When Dennis got home yesterday we made a snowman, took a walk in our "village" to see the other snowpeople and had a snowball fight with Mary!
Looking to the south!
This is what it looked like Wednesday night, Feb 10
From the front door
Pops and Roman!
Nanny and Roman - what a sweetheart!
GG loved every minute
And Auntie Annie had a little bit of fun too!
He loves to stand and jump!
Everyone loves holding a sleeping baby! Especially this one
Our 4 generation picture - Audrey and Annie took Matt's place but filled in wonderfully
Our sister-in-law Cindy came for a visit the first weekend GG was here
Dana told us that Congo always got Big Red on his birthday so even though this wasn't his big day, Dennis gave him some and as you can see, he REALLY likes it!
Our time began with a car trip from Seattle across the Cascades to Yakima to visit Dan and Brynn in their new home - it is so cozy and comfortable. They had just gotten new living room furniture.
The second day we were there, we went back to the vineyard where they were married, Silverlake - the winery had added a lot of outdoor features like this waterfall.
The four of us
We also went to a farmer's market to get fresh asparagus for dinner - we went to Jim and Dixie's after this for an evening on their beautiful back porch that overlooks the Yakima valley.
The next day, Daniel wanted to take us to a look out near Mt Rainier after a 4 mile hike - this was on the way with the mountain in the background. It was still really cool - temp wise
Here is view from Dad's camera -
Well, we didn't quite make it to our destination cuz the roads were either closed or still had snow. The one we tried to take caused our vehicle to high center and if it wasn't for a couple of good samaritans with a shovel, we'd probably still be digging out - about a foot of snow. On our way back, we stopped to see this enormous cedar.
On our way down, we stopped at this lookout to take in the view - there was an enormous water fall to our right that plunged hundreds of feet to the valley floor.
Here it is - Clearwater Creek falls I think!
We spotted this little guy at the same place as the falls
We also stopped to look at this still frozen lake, Dog Lake - you can see a tire in the water!!
One of the other cool things we saw on our way back were these volcanic flutes -
And we also saw trillium
Dad made a buddy of Bella but Rusty remained a little elusive
They went target shooting...
They weeded Brynn's iris garden and then they brought dad back to Seattle on Friday
We went on a Duck tour that used amphibious vehicles from WWII - the ride went all over Seattle and finally out into Puget Sound to get a watery view of Seattle - our guide was hilarious. In addition to Dan and Brynn, two of my grad students joined us for the afternoon.
We saw this former coal gasification plant that had been turned into a city park during our tour -
And then all too soon it was time to head back to Texas. Dad took this picture of Mt St Helens from the air - you can tell where it erupted. You can also see some of the other volcnic peaks in the background - we had such a great time - wish we lived a lot closer!!
The weekend before Kate and Charlie left, we had Sam and Woan, John and Barney and us over for dinner. The following night Kate and Charlie prepared a traditional Korean meal for the 6 of us - we will be sad to see them leave.
Kate and Charlie!
On Feb 5, the weekend after Dana came, we became home stay parents for Kate, shown at left, an English teacher from south Korea. She is a Fulbright scholar and she and 37 other Fulbrights flew into Texas on Jan 5 and stayed for a month at the Texas International Education Consortium in Austin taking intensive English classes. Then they were sent all over Texas, including 6 who came to Denton for two weeks. We did many fun things including taking them to see calf roping, shown above, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Ft. Worth, a Texas barbecue at a ranch up north of town, the King Tut display at the Dallas Museum of Art, many evenings of food and conversation - it was a great experience. Charlie is also shown in this picture and he stayed in the home of our dear friends, the Sanborns - Barney is in this picture.
Congo has an amazing repertoire of songs, sounds, and voices. He is a beautiful parrot, white and grey and a tail that looks like someone dipped in red paint! He is about the same age as Baby - 9 and has really bonded to Dennis. As soon as Dennis walks in the door, Congo flies to him and tries to feed him - yuk. But Dana tells us its his way of taking care of his friend. Our favorite thing he does is at night - right after we cover him up, lift up the cover slightly, he says in his manly voice "Peek-a-boo"!! it's so funny.
Just after the ice storm, we arranged with Audrey's brother Dana to adopt his African grey parrot, Congo - he's on Dennis' shoulder and Baby on his arm - he seems to be adjusting really well, although Baby is scared to death of him. Every time he flies, she runs for cover! It's just as well - he is the ONLY thing she has not been aggressive toward!
The first week of February caught Texans by surprise with an ice storm and we had a day and a half at home during the week. I took this picture the morning after - you can see the ice in the trees. The driveway was frozen solid with about 1/2" of ice - but you have to remember that Texans don't do ice!
