Visiting Our E. Washington Kin

Perhaps it's because we're on vacation and don't have any particular schedule to keep, but the confluence of arctic air and moisture-laden storms off the Pacific that have kept Washington State swaddled in a blanket of white since we arrived have been a real treat for us. On Monday it warmed up to around 20, so I took Robbie to Randal Park. He had a great time in the snow, but he still did not want to wear his mittens!



On Tuesday we travelled from Yakima down to Pasco to visit my father's family. We had a very nice visit, and a tasty dinner at Cousins, but I did not take enough pictures! Here is one I did take; Robert with his great-grandmother Ardery:



There was around 6" of snow in Pasco. Not quite as much as many other parts of the state, but quite a lot for Pasco. On Wednesday, we headed North to Omak to spend Christmas with Sarah's mother's family. The drive was uneventful, but Omak brought a return to frigid temperatures.

Here are a couple pictures I took of Robert shortly after our arrival:





We all enjoyed our stay in Omak. Our activities could easily be broken down into three categories: over-eating, napping/sleeping, and reading/playing board games. Robbie's aunt Abi and uncle Seth arrived shortly after we did; Robbie likes most people, but he really took a shining to his aunt. He spent most of his time either in her arms, on her lap, or hanging on her leg. I think Sarah rather enjoyed the break. ;-)

This morning we woke up to a temperature of -5 (that's -21 Celsius if you're keeping track). After it warmed up a bit, Earl and I took Robbie out to see the farm. He found the tractor:





Please note that Robbie finally decided that it was OK to wear his mittens. Yeah! And to close out the post, here's a short clip of our drive South of Leahy, WA:



I could have edited the clip down from 59 seconds, but I wanted to you a nice sense of what the drive back to Yakima was like. All 3+ hours of it. Really though, it was a good time, especially once Robert woke up from his nap and went "Uh oh ... ngh, ngh ... Stuck!" while straining in his car-seat. Shortly thereafter we had our first family sing-along, and it proved quite entertaining. Robbie's repertoire is a bit limited at the moment, but we'll soon flesh it out. We're heading to Lacey on Sunday, probably via White pass, so we should have plenty of time to practice.