December

Wow, there has been a startling lack of adventure this December.  Too few nickels too, I suppose. 

That's the way it goes when there is only sixteen minutes or so of daylight each day. 

But now we are past the solstice and the days grow long again.  I think we had eighteen minutes today.  We decided to use all that extra time to go out and find some snow.  We had heard there was lots of it nearby, but couldn't see more than a mile or so out, due to the rain.  We pointed the car toward Rainier and started driving.  Sarah found a webcam up at Longmire that showed several feet of snow on the ground, so we went for it.

Then traffic happened. 

After the two hour drive, there was a line heading into Rainier National Park that wasn't moving very fast.  I guess going up there over the Christmas holiday, on a Saturday no less, is a thing up here.  The daylight was trickling away and we made a desperate decision.  We would turn around and go back toward a city park we passed earlier and just let the kids have at it.  It's important to be flexible. 

We weren't the only people that had that idea.

Ready for snow, what should we do first?

Belly flop.  Always a strong choice.

I love how it looks like it's snowing, but it isn't.  It's just snow in the trees.

Maxie being cute.

Now going in to eat some snow or something.  Both of them...

I don't know what it is, like they lost a contact lens or something

Of course it was only a matter of time.

The first casualty

Even Mommy got into the fight.

Max found an ally.  He could donate ammunition.

Maybe hiding is a better bet.

Or you could feign peace by making some gesture.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would ya...Mom?  Mom?!"

Chillin'

Somebody found a happy place.

I don't think they're looking.  Get 'em.

I think it was a good idea to turn around.  We had a pretty good snowball fight with some of the other kids there.  The boys built snow forts and snow angels and nobody ate any of the yellow stuff.  Maybe we can hit Rainier on some other, non holiday, non weekend day. 

Until then...