The Weatherman

Brian flew up on Saturday night and we spent the day on Sunday at Crystal Ski Area. Crystal had about 2 feet of fresh powder and snowed all day while we were there. Very good day indeed.

While it was powder, it wasn’t the light, fluffy snow you get in Utah, but definitely better than Sierra Cement (the temps were in the mid 20s).  We ended up putting in about 5 solid hours of skiing. But the most memorable run was when we went down Little Portillo. We were making the fresh tracks down this run with no one around. There was a reason for this. The 50 yard uphill trek that awaited us at the bottom. See, on a normal day you can get enough speed to make it up the rise. But definitely not yesterday. Brian ended up getting buried to his chest and spent a good 20 to 30 minutes digging himself out. Luckily I stayed on my skis so plowed a little trail to the top.

The drive up and back was a little slow going since the roads were snow covered, but unlike the pass highways no one is racing home. We stopped off in Greenwater for a coffee on the way back - good little store with some high end ski clothing (may have to do a little shopping there). Last night we went to Endolyne Joes where I had the Southern Fried Chicken - good stuff.

Today, Steph is working and I’m watching the kids. Nate is sick with a cold and I’m stuffed up so not a real happy family.

A bit of a cool breeze  blowing out at Alki Point

Both of these were mucked around with in Aperture.

It has started snowing again. There is a snow advisory for our area with 2″ expected. Stay tuned for more info/pictures.

Update:  What a bust of a snow storm.  Hood Canal area got up to 9 inches…we got a trace.

Since I’m not working between Christmas and New Years, I actually have time to update the blog. 

Sunset just south of Alki Point.

Another shot…notice the water is blurred a bit.  These were taken with no tripod (trying out my IS lens).

From Highland Viewpoint.

We are supposed to get snow tomorrow…hopefully I’ll get some good pictures.

Sleeping on the couch downstairs since I fell out of bed upstairs.

Post projectile vomit and 2 poops.

Zach fell out of our bed during his nap…not sure if he was asleep or just messing around, but he was screaming pretty hard.  I brought him downstairs and he got cozy on the couch and fell asleep.  Then Nate began crying…he had his second poop of the day.  I got him changed and brought him back downstairs and then he had projectile vomit.

They are keeping dad busy.  We did go out earlier looking for an open jewelery store to get my new watch sized but nothing was open.  We returned home and I noticed our Christmas tree really stunk…so I took it down and threw it in the yard.  At least that is done!

Here is the Christmas movie.

Christmas Movie 2007 

This was my first white Christmas.  This never happened in California and we never stayed in Tahoe over Christmas.  I guess this was the first white Christmas in Seattle since the 70s - aren’t we lucky 

Let me rewind a bit.  Yesterday was a mellow day around the house.  Steph had to work so Jan and I took care of the boys for the day.  Last night we went over to the Alessi’s for dinner…very yummy pasta dinner with lots of wine.  During dinner the boys, Dominic and Zach, had ventured over to the stereo system and one of the them decided to play with the volume.  He turned it up as loud as it could go…and it was loud.  Sasha hauled butt into the living room to turn it down.  But the boys were already freaked, which was to be expected since they were both standing in front of these large speakers.  They both came running into the kitchen crying and screaming…definitely had to be there.

This morning we got up and opened gifts with the boys.  Zach did well for a while then basically got sidetracked playing with stuff, so Auntie Jan got to open the remainder of his gifts.  Zach made out like a bandit with all sorts of toys, books and clothes.  Nate didn’t do too bad either.

As for most expensive gifts, I definitely took the cake there.  Steph got me my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens - SWEET! And she also got me a Citizen watch I had been eyeing.  Definitely over board…but I don’t care  :-)  Oh, and I got some reading material (not appropriate for the blog)!  Thanks Hon!

After gift opening I cooked up some meatballs, mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy…and we chowed all day.  Yummy!   Other than that, we hung around the fire and watched it snow.  I made this ragin fire that was very hot…kept things comfy all day.

Here are some photos.

Dominic and Zach dancing.

Zach liking the pasta.

Nate hanging out on Christmas day.

Yeah, I’m awake.

Christmas Blizzard 2007.  We got a half inch…it made things pretty.

Zach playing with a race track.

Movies are coming…building it now on the computer.

I made it up to Crystal Mountain yesterday for my first day on the slopes.  Sorry no pictures…since it was pouring rain.  It was a heavy, wet snow for a while on top of the mountain but eventually it all changed to rain.  I was able to get about 3 hours of skiing in with a friend of mine before our gloves were soaked all the way through.

This was my first time at Crystal - what a good mountain.  Also, it’s very easy for me to get there…only about 80 miles away and only a few miles of mountain driving.  I’ll definitely be heading back.  It is very similar to Alpine Meadows in California.

This was also the first time I got to try out my Volkl Vertigo G4 skis I bought on ebay.  They were amazing - cut through the crud easily.  On my old skis I would not have enjoyed the day yesterday.  But these skis made it effortless to cut through the heavy, wet snow.  Definitely an ‘A’ in my book.

Last night, Steph, Jan, and I went downtown - we had wine and cheese at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar followed by dinner at Benihana.  Except for Jan…well, being Jan, all was good. 

I must admit that it is nice having groceries delivered to your home.  In the past, it was annoying since you had to select a window of time to be home - I could never guarantee I’d be around for any of those windows during the week.  This left me with weekend deliveries only but that I meant I must order by Friday and that never happened.

Well, Amazon Fresh provides a new type of delivery that is a great idea.  Pre-dawn delivery. You can order your stuff the evening before and it will be on your doorstep in plastic totes (whose lids are tied down) before 6am.  This is exactly the type of delivery I need.

I’ve used it twice.  The first time was last week and it was a small order - only around $36.  Oh, you don’t pay a delivery fee for pre-dawn if the order is over $25 - sweet!  The first order was all non-perishable items.  It was delivered before six and everything was exactly as ordered.

I placed a second, larger order last night, and this was loaded with plenty of non-perishables.  I ordered chicken breasts, yogurt, milk, orange juice, bagels, bread, cookies, firewood (yes, firewood) and more.  Everything showed up in a tote by 6am this morning.  The perishables were in totes that contained a styrofoam ice chest with some ice packs.  The firewood was stacked on our doorstep so there was nothing special we had to do there.

All dates well into the future - no concern about which day you hit the grocery store and whether you get bread that is 1 day old or 7 days old.  Our milk is dated Jan 22, 2008 - how is that possible?  I assume they get early shipments and these items don’t have to be delivered to stores and then stocked which all takes time.  Anyway, the point is, everything is fresh.

The chicken breasts are individually vacuumed sealed - that is incredible.  Amazon Fresh works directly with a meat distributor.  All there beef is corn fed and comes straight from the butcher.  It too is vacuumed sealed like the chicken.

So far I’m very impressed with the service and quality.  The predawn delivery makes it very easy also.

BTW, they will either pick up the totes on your next order or they will stop by within a day and grab them - your choice.

Our PEPS group held their gift exchange the other night at the Alessi’s (Dominic’s house). I’ll let the video speak for itself (there may be a few more movies - I need to check).

Christmas PEPS 2007 Movie

Found the other movies…Here they are.

Christmas PEPS 2007 Movie #2 

Zach was all wound up today…playing all morning, having lunch, and continuing into the afternoon with no sign of slowing down.  He completely skipped his nap - never even came close to sleeping.  Around 3pm he and I went to Target to pick up some things.  He was walking quickly to get into the store - his usual pace.  I placed in the cart and began shopping.  He was being very good and pointing at things he saw.  We were moving up and down the aisles grabbing what we needed.  After about 10 minutes I looked down and Zach was falling over in the shopping cart seat.  He fell asleep…at least until his head fell over, then he would wake up.  He proceeded to this throughout the store, through checkout and out to the car.  Once we got home he was good.

Until dinner time.  He was playing actively from when we returned from Target until about 5:30 when he was continually bugging us for dinner.  We sat him down at 5:30 with some food (about an hour earlier than normal).  After about 10 minutes I heard Steph ask him if he was OK…I glanced over and he was rubbing his eyes.  Then all of the sudden they closed and he started to fall over.  A quick yell and he woke up.  We quickly got him to bed and he was asleep by 6pm.  This is what happens when you don’t nap.

The rest of the weekend was mellow.  Steph and Nate went to Costco yesterday morning while I took Zach downtown for some shopping.  We cruised around Pike’s Market, up to Nordstrom and Park Place, and down Pike back to the car.  We ended our morning with breakfast at Skylark - yummy.  Zach slept for over 3 hours after this adventure…I definitely tired him out.

Today I went to McClendon’s Hardware and picked up a new furnace filter, rat poison, and a rat zapper.  First, I’ve been putting off using the rat poison, but the rat guy I used has been neglecting us - and I really don’t want to spend another grand on someone else.  I also picked up this rat zapper.  It’s a long box with bait at end.  When the rat goes for the bat they get electrocuted.  Fried Rat!

Work last week was busy but things are finally winding down.  Now I can catch up on all the things I didn’t get done over the last 3 to 4 weeks.  No pictures or movies tonight.

This was the weekend to get into the Christmas spirit.  I don’t mean the decorating and all that - we already did that last weekend.  I’m referring to getting and visiting with Santa, watching the Christmas Ship, and getting drunk at Jak’s.  Yes, the latter is part of the Christmas spirit.

Lin is up for the weekend visiting with here grandkids.  Yesterday we went and visited with Santa at Westwood Village.  It’s an outdoor mall and Santa sits in his little Santa hut while all the kids and parents line up outside.  We ended up waiting close to 45 minutes before Zach and Nate got to see Santa.  During that time, Nate hung out quietly in his stroller while Zach ran around - the whole time.  Not a problem since Zach was a very good boy.  There were some Christmas carolers serenading the crowd and Zach loved that - he stopped and listened the whole time.

So how did the Santa thing go?  If you remember last year, Zach had nothing to do with Santa.  Same thing this year.  He didn’t cry but he didn’t dare go sit on that jolly man’s lap either.  I barely got him to sit on my lap.  Nate more than obliged and sat on Santa’s lap.  Anyway, we took a family picture and headed home for naps.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the toy store so grandma could spoil her boys.  Zach loved it in there…all these toys.  That made it tough to leave, but we got him out kicking and screaming.  Then we went down to Seacrest Marina and watched the Christmas Ship - a dinner cruise ship decked in lights that blasts loud Christmas music at us folks hanging out on the beach.  Oh, and they setup a bonfire.  It’s a 20 minute show that was very enjoyable…just cold.  It started at 5:15pm and the temp was around 34.

We dropped off grandma and the boys and Steph and I went to Jak’s Grill in West Seattle.  You can’t make reservations here so you end up waiting for 75 to 90 minutes.  Which is fine by us - we just sit in the bar and drink.  They make excellent, and very large, drinks.  2 Manhattans for me and 1 cosmo and 1 lemon drop for Steph - and we were done.  We barely made it to our table.  We ordered up our food - Steph got a shrimp dish and I got the $40 Jak’s special Filet Mignon (YUMMMMY).  We ordered up a pricey bottle of wine (2004 Chimney Rock Cab)…then things went downhill.  Did I tell ya we were beyond tipsy.  We made it through the salad and a half bottle of wine and a little dinner.  That was it - we needed to get home.  Called a cab and that was the end of our dinner…overall it was a pleasant 3 hour dinner…mostly spent in the bar.

Here are some photos.

Nate waiting for Santa.

Zach got freaked out after his buddy almost (accidentally) pushed him in the creek.

A few minutes later and we were happy again.

Post Santa line-up.

Seattle skyline (to lazy to go into photoshop and straighten it)

And the Christmas Ship.

This storm started to roll in around 9pm…since then we have had 2.70 inches of rain. For those of you not from Seattle - that is a ton! It’s rare to get 1 inch out of a storm…Since midnight we’ve had 2.30 inches. Yesterday we had 1.30 inches and .40 inches on Saturday - 4 inches since Saturday.

Oh, and it’s still raining at 1/3 inch per hour!

Update: 3.60 inches since midnight - that means 4.00 inches for this storm so far. Current weather forecasts have this continuing to mid-afternoon. Will we break the single day rainfall total?

Update #2: 4.14 inches since midnight which puts us at 4.54 inches for this storm since last night at 9pm. This is officially the second wettest day in Seattle’s history.  We’ve had 6.04 inches of rain for the month of December - we are only on the 3rd day.  It’s looking like we may have a chance of snow this weekend again. 

Yesterday we received 2 inches of snow during the day - what fun. We drank wine, decorated our Christmas tree, had a fire and threw snowballs…exactly what the doctor ordered. Later in the evening it turned to rain and by morning most of the snow was gone. But then it started to snow again and we received enough to cover everything this morning…before it turned back to rain and began to dump. Oh, and then the wind picked up. Looks like SeaTac was registerings gusts into the upper 30 mph range.

Tonight we are expecting a lot more rain with some pretty severe winds. There is actually a Hurricane Force Wind Warning on the coast - ouch, that doesn’t sound good. It has warmed up considerably in the last 24 hours - now our temp is 46 degrees vs the 33 of this morning.

On Friday I left work early (2pm) and picked up our Christmas tree, put the lights up and setup the Christmas tree in the living room.  Not bad for a few hours of work.  The remainder of the weekend was spent setting up for Steph’s work holiday party which happened tonight at our place.

Snow covered grass

The old homestead with our first snow.

And now for the movies - snow and snow ball fights.