Monday, January 10, 2011

Second Christmas in Spokane

The day after Christmas we drove up to Spokane to see my family.
The boys were very excited about another Christmas and took to wearing the Santa hats immediately.
Emmett,Carson

Emmett,Carson

They were also super excited about the snow. When we got there it was just hard and crusty, but Avery still spent a good part of the first day out in it.Carson,Avery

Emmett got an elephant mask for Christmas and my cousin Tammy modeled it for us all. My cousin Lori from Tennessee who I haven't seen since (I think) I was 16 when our Grandma Benjamin died, was also visiting.
Tammy,Lori

And then the snow came! Lots and lots. Well, about six inches anyway. Avery ran alongside Grandpa the whole time he used the snow blower (which was on half the block!) letting himself be blasted by the snow.
Avery,Gary

He has about 4-6 inches of snow plastered to the side of his head here!
Avery,Travis

Have I mentioned Travis is training for the Newport marathon this summer? I haven't, but he decided to right after Thanksgiving. Even in all that snow he went running. Look at the frosty sweat on his eyebrows.
Travis

Travis and Dad got the driveway dug out so we could go out for me to take pictures of the snow covered parks. At one of our stops, we took the boys into the greenhouse in Manito Park. Notice Avery is now wearing a giant flannel coat and Grandma's gloves? Yeah, well, turning yourself into a human snowman by getting blasted by a snow blower makes for very soggy outerwear.
Carson,Avery,Travis,Emmett

The greenhouse was decked out in lights (which weren't on) and had candycane flower arrangements.
greenhouse

And the boys really liked Santa's sleigh and reindeer.
Avery

Back home, it was time to build a snowman! Carson "helped" for a very short time and then was ready to come in.
Carson,Avery,Travis,snowman

Carson is our puzzler. He's so like his mother. So he stayed warm and dry while Travis and Avery worked on the snowman (and Emmett took a nap)
Carson

That broken lawnmower deck saw a lot of mileage from Avery. The snow was way too fluffy for rolling, so Travis had to painstakingly pack it on a handful at a time.
Travis,Avery,snowman

Don't forget to catch the snowflakes!
Avery

This was cute, Avery leaned companionably up against the snowman and gave me a big smile through the window, clearly posing for a picture. That doesn't happen often, so of course I was happy to oblige.
Avery,snowman

Carson took a break to show his Curious George how progress was coming along on the snowman.
Carson

Once Travis had the snowman to height, he marked lines where he was going to sculpt it to look like it had been rolled. And then suddenly our snowman wasn't a man anymore. But only long enough for Travis to get a laugh from me.
Travis,snowman

Finishing touches. So cute that Travis sticks his tongue out when he works sometimes.
Travis,snowman

And there you have it. After a lot of work and a few hours, here's Travis' ~6' 9" snowman.
Travis,snowman

More Spokane to come.

2 comments:

Laura said...

Great photos! I love the snowman!

Mom said...

For some reason that snow-woman reminds me of Marge Simpson.
Tammy will probably want to shoot you for that elephant photo.
Travis looks 'pained' sitting on the bench at the greenhouse.