Tubing, Handprints, and Swimmin' To Tunes!

On New Year's Eve morning, we headed out before the sunrise to go tubing at Snoqualmie Pass.  It was bitterly cold, and oh-so-fun!  I don't think it could have been more picturesque.  The sky was blue, the sun was bright and the snow was thick, deep and bright white.  It was a brisk 19 degrees when we arrived.  A bit of wind, too.  So cold that within 10 minutes of being outside, my fingers were aching from the cold, despite my gloves that were supposedly made for those conditions.  At that point I was wondering what two hours was going to feel like.  Then we made our first run down the hill, and I decided to run back up and bypass the tow rope, just to get my blood pumping to my fingers.  Second run down, another run back up the hill and I was warm and toasty!  All of us lost a bit of feeling in our lips, but other than that we had a fabulous time together!  Here are some highlights in pictures:

I think I love this picture because they look so little!

I could do a whole post just on these two pictures.  Hugging my 'little' boy one minute, watching him throw himself down a hill the next.  Kind of the season we are in right now, in many ways!

Another story in pictures.  Alex throws himself down the hill, head first; I oh-so-carefully sit on the tube and oh-so-carefully scoot myself forward until I glide down.

Have you ever caught a glimpse of curling at the Olympics?  Brad's the curler, Brenna and the tube are the stone.

Brenna tried both approaches, head first and seated.

Actually, I think the girls only went in the seated position their first run, then head first every other time!

I didn't get a picture of the rope tow, but this shot shows the hike up the hill that keeps you warm.  I was very grateful for the 5 minutes waiting in line to catch my breath when I go to the top.

"Baby, it's cold outside!"

  (I would have been singing that to Brad if my lips weren't so numb.)

How beautiful, how peaceful, how pure...

When our tubing time was up, we had a moment to be inspired by the hand of provision that snatched us out of the way of a major inconvenience.  We got back to the van, and Brad, first thing, reached in and turned it on while we were all getting out of our snow clothes.  It barely started.  He said, "Oh, it does not like this cold."  But she was purring along and the heater was kicking in just as it should.  A few minutes later, as we were pulling out, a lightbulb came on in my head.  I asked Brad if he had by chance left our lights on when we arrived.  Whoops.  Yep, he had done just that.  His lights come on and off automatically when he starts the car, and the van doesn't do that unless you set it to auto.  So, in his defense, he is out of practice in turning off those lights.  The Lord showed great mercy on him: in 19 degrees on a mountain is not the place to have a battery die.  Fixable, but oh the headache that would have been.  For all of us.  PHEW and thank you, Lord.

Then we drove down and got some lunch.  We sat in the van and ate, because three of us only brought slippers to change into and felt more cozy in the warm van.  The other two were very gracious to deliver our food to us while we stayed in our cozy cocoon also known as a Sienna.  While we ate, we had a good time talking about 2010, and what's ahead in 2011. 

Snuggly sisters on the ride home...

...and a brother who knows just when to pop in!

More catch-up stuff:

I left this picture off our Christmas Day recap because I had not yet taken the annual shot on the tree skirt.  We started this skirt in 2001, when Beth was one.  Each year, each kid puts their handprint on the skirt in gold paint.  It is amazing to pull that out each year and see how much they change from one year to the next.  We always run our hands over the little tiny prints of that first year, especially Beth's little bitty chubby baby hand! 

In addition to the tree skirt, I have a picture of them sitting on it each year, in their Christmas jammies!  Sweetness.

This year, one of Brad's gift is, I think, one of the best gifts I've ever given him.  If you don't count those three little gifts sitting on the tree skirt, it may just turn out to be the best gift.  It's a swimp3 player.  Yes, a waterproof digital music player, made for swimming!  It uses "bone conduction technology", when you place it on any bone of your skull, it leads to vibration of the fluid in the inner ear.  Bizarre.  But he loves, loves, loves it.  He loaded up his workout playlist and did a workout today, and it was a huge success.  His only adjustment will be figuring out how to count his laps while getting lost in his music.  Good problem to have.

Brad and Beth swimming laps together.  I love, love, love this.

My two water buddies.

Brad sporting his surround sound swimp3!

That's better.  Now I feel all caught up and ready to head into a new week.  Sort of.  At least in a bloggy sort of way.