We drove to Hood River to ring in the New Year with the Allstot family. It was a sunny, uneventful caravan down and we found our house south of Hood River in the fruit warehouse town of Odell.
The first evening we nested and relaxed together.
Friday we did some early morning shopping and then drove toward Mt. Hood in the sunshine in search of a sledding hill.
Along the way, we helped pull a lady out of the snow and realized how icy the road was. Once we got to the hill, that was confirmed by the conditions there!
The place was packed with people and the runs were compact snow and ice. It was hard to even walk a few feet without slipping. The sledding was super fast!
We all enjoyed ourselves and the fast rides.
The sunshine kept us warm and the kids were dynamos!
Shan was fearless
and did countless runs alone and with partners.
We all enjoyed ourselves and laughed a lot.
With four sleds, someone was always waiting, but the grade of the hill meant we usually needed to catch our breath anyway.
We drove back toward town and Mt. Adams thankful to have enjoyed the day and not been hurt. It was seriously dicey and we all walked away relatively unharmed from our wrecks and collisions.
The hot tub awaited and helped pass the time before Julie, Russ and the dogs arrived.
We enjoyed opening presents that evening and the kids modeled their new Grama pjs.
Saturday was game day! We donned our colors and headed to Hood River. The park was a good place to spend some time - albeit extremely cold due to the wind.
Shan tried so hard to face the sun and wind!
After the park, we spent several hours at Pietro's Pizza where they kindly let us watch the UW - Alabama game on the big screen. We took some shopping breaks at halftime, but managed to see most of the game. The first half was promising, but, alas, the Tide rolled over us.
The kids played lots of games at the house, including Set, Battleship, and Mitchell's new baseball game.
Sometimes they were even quiet and let the adults sleep a bit in the mornings, as with New Year's Day. We adults did manage to greet the new year at midnight as we struggled through the cheesy 80s-ness that is 'Top Gun'. We saw the ball drop in NYC and then went to bed.
On Sunday, New Year's Day, we returned to Little John and were delighted to discover fresh powder. A whole foot, perhaps. Plus, there were hardly any people there. Mitch was the first one up the slope and had to cut the track through the deep snow.
It was awesome sledding! We were able to start higher on the hill since it wasn't sheet ice and there weren't as many people to run into. So many wonderful runs - and wrecks!
Shannon was all smiles - until she got cold. Grama gave her the socks from her own feet and the Blonde rallied.
An epic wreck by Mom. Russ and I bragged about both of our parents as they rocketed down the hill. Not many nearly 65-year-olds are as hard core as our parents!
Dad had lots of excellent runs!
Mitch and Russ take a snowy spill.
Mountain Man ready for a mid-winter rendezvous!
It was a wonderful outing!
We ended again before injury and returned to our cozy abode.
Monday morning we awoke to about 8 new inches - beautiful, but not welcome on travel day.
We took our group shot and were photobombed by incessant snowflakes. Then we all packed it in and drove oh-so-slowly home. Our drive time increased by 2 hours as I-84 was sheet ice. Again, however, we all made it safely. Here's to a happy 2017 - may it be better than we fear!
The two of them were blithely unaware of what was coming until Dave announced their names before the boys' varsity game.
