In Search of Snow

It has been decidedly un-snowy this winter.  I know other places in Puget Sound have seen a little snow but Seattle has not.  I believe I saw it snow ever so slightly for about 10 minutes one afternoon but that's about it.  While it makes me a little sad, lack of snow can be devastating for children so young.  Today we headed out to the Snoqualmie Pass with our PEPs friends.

If you've never been,  just east of the Summit at Snoqualmie ski area is a much cheaper place to go sledding/sno-shoeing/cross country skiing.  At the Hyak exit, for the mere cost a daily sno-park permit ($20) and you Discover pass you can enjoy some snow play.  Over the years the sledding has been made a little safer.  They now have the sides for walking back up the hill marked off and there is even a staff member lining up sledders in rows and timing them down the hill so it is significantly less chaotic than it used to be.

The kids hit the slopes running.  We did a couple of trial runs on the bunny slope before going down the big hill.

Linus was quick to show his bravery his first time down.

Look mom, no hands!

Eileen went down with a parent the first few times before braving the bunny slope solo.

sibling love

building a snow fort while being pummeled with snowballs from Eileen

If you look closely, you will see Eileen has a snowball in hand and is making a sneak attack on Linus.

While building the fort two boys around age 9 started throwing snowballs at them.  Instead of getting upset, Linus and Dave engaged them and had a pretty solid snowball fight.  The boys tried to take cover behind a sled.  As much as he liked sledding, Linus actually preferred playing in the snow.  Eileen could not get enough of sledding.  She and Dave went down the big hill countless times.  She did a pretty good job walking back up the hill.

After a full morning of sledding and a filling lunch at a Mexican restaurant in North Bend, Eileen and I collapsed into sleep for meaty naps while Linus and Dave continued their ninja training.    Everyone will sleep well tonight.  It's really too bad we only go sledding once a year.