this is gonna be a long one because i'm wrapping up the rest of the kids' winter break from school.
saturday the 28th - tuesday the 31st
we went to ashford, wa for a 3-night cabin stay. this has become our tradition for the last ~5 years since we don't travel to see family at christmas time. it helps me to feel less sad and have something to look forward to once christmas is over.
we have stayed in a bunch of different airbnb cabins in ashford over the past few years. it's a popular area for rentals because it's just minutes from mount rainier national park. we stayed at a new (to us) cabin this time and we watched the weather report carefully to make sure we could make it up the mountain one of the days. i won't recap every day because they were basically the same: hot tubbing, sitting in front of the fireplace, reading, video games, a puzzle, a lunch out at 'copper creek inn' and lots of snacks/drinks/easy dinners. of course there were some unpleasant moments of bickering and parenting realness, but i don't like to focus on those.
on the 30th we went up to mount rainier. the road was actually closed the day before because they had gotten so much snow. but thankfully it re-opened so we could go. we enjoyed it so much last year and this year was even more epic.
this was at low elevation where there wasn't much snow.
but up at paradise (5,000 ft) was another story. we all fell over so many times while tromping through it and it was hilarious. you can't tell from my pictures, but there were a lot of other people there.
the trip was a great little break from reality. we usually stay through new year's eve, but this year we decided to book it to come back on nye instead. the last couple years we've been invited to friends' houses and i'm always sad to miss out. this year vanessa invited us to her house with a couple other families they know. it was an early evening hang out with food and drinks. we were home by 9:30, which was great.
the kids insisted on staying up until midnight. thatcher went to bed and i stayed up with them. i actually fell asleep on the couch from 10:45-11:45 and woke back up for the ball drop. ha! then it was off to bed...
new year's day
thatcher and i were both off work, so we had a productive/relaxing day at home. the kids both slept in late. we took down all the christmas decorations, which always makes me sad, but it was time. a year flies by so quickly at this stage of life that i know it will be christmas again before i know it.
i got started on my first book of 2025, thatcher went for a long walk, the kids had a lot of screen time. we made thai curry for dinner, which is the perfect cozy meal.
thursday the 2nd
thatcher went back to the office. the only thing on the calendar this day was ashford's 11-year-old check up at the doctor. he was dreading it because you get 3 immunizations at this appointment (his friends have been telling horror stories) ;) he ended up doing great, but he was still relieved when it was over.
friday the 3rd
ashford had a hard time sleeping after his shots and woke up feeling crummy in the morning. he spent most of the day lying around. in the morning i dropped off azalea for her first official babysitting gig. she watched a little boy who just turned 3 who we met through ashford's baseball team last spring. he is a cousin to one of ashford's teammates. she had a great experience. the parents were home, since she's just getting started with sitting, but they were out of sight for most of the time. i'm excited for her to do more sitting in the future. she loves kids and it's always exciting to start earning your own money.
saturday the 4th
i went to the gym in the morning (so looking forward to getting back to a regular routine with that). in the afternoon, ashford had a free indoor baseball clinic as part of the preseason. thatcher took him to that so azalea and i could finally go to 'wicked' in the theater. i saw the musical in minneapolis in ~2012 but i had forgotten a lot of the story line. the movie was fantastic, i loved it! we ended the night with dinner out to 'tangerine thai' as a family.
sunday the 5th
the last day of break. it felt a month long (it was actually 16 days), but it was nice to be able to sleep in for that time and be together. i think we are all ready to get back to a routine. we ran some errands, relaxed at home, and i took azalea and sisi to ross.
now it's back to school and everything that goes along with that!
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