Hi there.  Been a while since we talked.  Rest assured, I’m not ignoring you, it’s just that life has gotten pretty busy.  I’ll catch you all up later, but how about just the current events.  Right now, we’re at Snowbird in Utah, getting some last snow days in.

Paul has been kind enough to house sit and watch Tilly and Lucas, and we escaped with the Harnesses to The Cliff.  The snow has been pretty good (typical spring skiing conditions - hard in the morning, nice by midday, slushy in the afternoon), but we got a couple of inches last night with more forecasted for tomorrow.  The kids have been having a blast - Alex is the “mad bomber”, and Leah had a GREAT day at her first ski lesson at Alta yesterday (after much trepidation).  We’ve been spending the rest of our time in the pool (yes, outside), the hot tub, and the game room.  Fun stuff.  Pix are in our gallery here.

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Happy Holidays to you and yours.  We’ve had a wonderful time with the family, and so far have:

• ate
• drank
• gone Christmas caroling (yes, outside with candles to the neighbors)
• played countless games of cards
• cooked a big pot of posole
• unwrapped many presents
• saw Santa
• played with the dogs
• ate and drank some more

A wonderful time so far - next we head out to WV for some time at the cabin, and are planning on climbing Ice Mountain, making a big fire in the fireplace, contemplating our resolutions for 2007, and having a big dinner.  Good times…

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Congratulations to the Seattle Riot for getting a bid to the 2006 UPA Club Ultimate Championships! Anne and I took the kids up to Burlington on Sunday to see Sharon and the team work hard through 2 Final games (the Front-Door and the Back-Door since there were 2 bids to Nationals available via the Northwest Regionals). We didn’t actually get to see Sharon play since she had hurt her shoulder the day before, but are looking forward to her doing some rehab and kicking some serious butt at Nationals! Go Shark!

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Well, we have weathered the Seattle Public School process/system/lottery for kindergarten/elementary school selection, and, I’m proud to say, Alex will be attending Alternative Elementary School II @ Decatur (AE2 for short) next year.
Very cool school - teaching principles based on ELOB and project-based learning. I know Alex will thrive in this type of hands-on environment, where his voice will be heard and his leadership skills given a chance to develop. Leah too - next year she’s switching from the PNPC to a Montessori program around the corner from our house, and then on to AE2.

It’s a relief to have gotten our #1 choice, and be done with this process. I never realized how much thought and effort goes into this choice - maybe it was just easier when I was a kid, and just went to the local/closest school…?

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We just got back from a week at Snowbird in Utah, and had a great time. We went with the Harness’sss and it was a ton of fun to get the kids on skis for the first time. Pictures will be up soon are here, but I wanted/needed to write about it before I forgot all of the fun stuff, so here’s my brain dump (in no particular order):

• Sharon joining us and being woken up the first morning on the couch by the kids pestering her for hot cocoa.
• Noah strapping on skis for the first time in 10 years (I’ve been snowboarding) and taking the first turns down the slope at Alta — just like riding a bike, you never really forget how…
• Kris grilling steaks on the balcony (umm, no, actually, he never did this, as far as you know)
• Anne cruising down the slopes with her new skis (orange, the same color as every pair of rental skis on the mountain)
• Andrew bugging the maintenance guy for more hot cocoa
• Leah bugging Noah to watch “Beauty and the Beast”…again…
• Dropping into Great Scott, and not quite making that first turn (I recovered though…)
• The many trips to the game room to play air hockey and the snowmobile game
• Snowball fights with Alex
• Seeing Alex and Gabby go from total beginners to passable skiiers in 3 days. Can’t wait to see what the years to come bring — it’s true; get them started as early as possible.
• Playing “ball” with Leah in the swimming pool
• Watching Gabby learn how to swim and not drown
• Kids in and out of the hot tub…about 100 times…
• Cruising Bananas
• Anne’s crick in her neck (that “allowed” her to spend the whole day at the sauna, steamroom, solarium, and massage table…
• Anna’s sunburned teeth (and gums)

I’m sure that I’m forgetting something (probably a lot). Let me know…it’s too good to forget…

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Ah, Disneyworld. Or is that Disney World? You would think that after a week here, I would know. Au contraire – all I know is that I have been to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney/MGM Studios over the course of the past 5 days.


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Again! It happened again! This time, they left the car, but stole everything inside it. Like a big vaccum - everything is gone. This sucks - leave my car alone! And in front of my house, even. AND, they stole my Club off the steering wheel. Oh yeah, that makes me feel safe. I might as well just leave the car unlocked.

SPD | Carprowl

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I knew it was coming, I was just surprised and shocked when I finally heard it.

“Daddy, Leah just stuck her doll in the potty!”

Luckily for me, it was the kid potty, which (as I’m sure you all know) is more of a basic bowl than a real flush toilet. Therefore, I got off easy - no plunging necessary or emergency calls to the plumber. But I’m sure this won’t be the last time…

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This was one of those days that I love - the kind that leaves you so tired at the end of it that you fall into bed with a thump and a sigh, with just enough energy to think about how much fun you had. Of course, spending a full day with my kids will always leave you tired, but this was above and beyond…


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Well, still no car. I’ve been doing some looking around in the neighborhood, but my hopes are dimming. I went as far as to look up the Blue Book value of the car today — just being curious (and no, it wasn’t heartening).

Looks like I’ll be working from home or catching a ride to work for a while - luckily, with a broadband connection at home, working remotely is just fine.

Looking forward to speaking with the insurance claims adjuster on Monday. We’ll see where that leads. I’ve been trying not to get myself bummed out by all of this, but it still stinks…

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