Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Lots of snow fun. Mostly.

In what has become a bit of a tradition, we headed out last Friday to Eastern Washington with Scout, Sarah, and Eric for a long weekend of relaxing in a cabin, eating well, and engaging in some winter sports. Last year we headed out to the Methow Valley but this year, with toddlers in tow, we opted for the slight-more-accessible Leavenworth area.
The first day was a bit of an adjustment for both families as we figured out how to manage two toddlers with two sets of desires and two sets of nap and eat times with parental needs and desires. Truthfully, I think that first day, we didn't get much done. We did try to do a lot, but, well, not a lot worked out. We burned a great deal of precious toddler time-flexibility in a hunt for ski passes which was remarkably difficult. By the time we tried to hit the trail Peregrine was approaching meltdown mode.
With both kids now hitting that almost-30-pound mark, I was excited to rent a couple of pulks from an outfitters in Leavenworth. I thought, "how could Peregrine possibly not like being pulled along in his own private sleigh?" The answer was, unfortunately, "pretty easily." This made the snow-sports sections of our trips slightly less optimal. Fortunately, Eric and Sarah had still brought their carry-along pack that I could use. Scout was, of course, delighted to have her own personal sleigh and relished in the experience, snug and warm and not hanging her entire weight on Eric's shoulders. So it goes!
Things never really recovered after that, though Peregrine had his first ever sled-ride on Saturday. He looked...contemplative. "Fun" never really entered in to the equation for Peregrine on Saturday, at least not out of doors. Indoors he was happy as a clam - lots of playing with Scout and running around in circles and naked time...blissful.
Thankfully, there was an outdoor hot tub at our cabin, so after the kids were in bed for the night the parents could relax a bit. The next day went much better. We managed to get a good ski in, as well as a snow shoe and another trip to the sled hill. The location was perfect, just a mile or two down the road from an entrance to the Lake Wenatchee State Park which has a significant groomed trail network as well as marked and unmarked snow shoe trails and a groomed sled hill! It was excellent one stop shopping.
So, while it was rocky in parts - as anyone with a toddler would expect, I should think - it was all told a delightful trip and we're looking forward to even more in the future.
I have an assortment of pictures from the last month or so, including this trip...enjoy! Note, two albums below...
20.1

20.2