Anya’s selected the peregrine falcon as the bird she wants to write about for her class’ reports on birds. Jan thinks the usual search on the web for material could be rounded out with a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo, which boasts an excellent raptor exhibit—including two peregrines. Today happens to be an unexpectedly glorious sunny and warm day for early February, with our crocuses and flowering quince coming into bloom, so a zoo trip seems like a fine idea to Anya and Liya. It’s also a fine idea for hundreds of other families, so there’s a line at the zoo entrance. We head straight for the raptor exhibit, and are disappointed that they’ve just put the falcons away for the day. The staff does say they’re going to giving a little flying show, and bring out a succession of birds for quick flights: a vulture, a barn owl, a Harris’s Hawk and finally—perhaps to help us out—one of the peregrine falcons. The falcon, Leyla, isn’t a great flyer, and was in fact a falconry drop-out, but the zoo staff are trying to retrain her. She swoops overhead a few times, mostly ignoring the leather bird decoy they swing around for her, but finally pounces on it to devour a tiny attached bit of quail meat. She’s a beautiful bird to see up close. Research mission accomplished.
Super Bowl Sunday is always the best day of the year to ski. Angela took Anya and Liya skiing at Snoqualmie a couple of weeks ago, and now Jan gets to take a turn. Liya’s decided she wants to spend the day at home, so it’s just Jan and Anya. We head up to Stevens Pass for a nice day of skiing, and the pending Super Bowl means we practically have the place to ourselves. Anya does a short lesson in the middle of the day, and then spends the rest of the afternoon trying to rediscover a nice trail through the trees her instructor had shown her. We finally come across the middle of the trail we’re looking for, and have fun zooming up and down, side to side, on the somewhat luge-like trail. (Good thing we’ve both got helmets.) We head back up so we can do the whole trail from start to finish.
Angela was the “Mystery Reader” for Anya’s second grade classroom last week; today it’s Jan’s turn. Anya was surprised the first time, and today is even more so the second time—it’s a rare thing for both of kid’s parents to read to the class. Angela read the first chapter of a book to the kids, and they were on the edge of the seats by the chapter’s end. The kids are all quite happy to hear that Jan’s going to read them the next chapter. If we each read them one chapter per grade, by the time they graduate in eighth grade, they’ll have finally heard the entire text of “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”.
Anya knitting
We drive to Big White, British Columbia, for a week of skiing during the girls’ mid-winter school break. Our normal destination for a big ski trip would be Whistler, BC, but with the Olympics there this year, we’ve and three other families from the girls’ school have decided to give Big White a try. The drive takes all day.
Our first full day at Big White. The snow is great, but it’s really foggy! Once on the mountain, we eventually meet up with the families of some boys that attend Anya’s and Liya’s school: Dylan’s family, and also Zachary and Austin’s family. Bree’s too little to ski, so she spends the day in daycare.
A stunningly beautiful day—perfect for Angela’s birthday! It’s crystal clear, and from the mountaintop we can see for miles down the Okanogan Valley. The top of the mountain is covered with “snow ghosts”: big snow lumps that are actually the tops of trees completely buried in snow. We have great fun skiing through a giant garden of enormous snowy lumps. In the late afternoon, the family of Anya’s good friend, Jane, arrives.
Jan picks up Bree from daycare. The two walk back across the snowy ski village, stopping along the way to pick up a previously-ordered birthday cake for Angela. Jan manages to carry wriggly Bree on his shoulders and hold the cake box and walk up and down the snowy hills all the way back to the rental condo without dropping child or cake.
To celebrate Angela’s birthday, we’ve invited the other three families to our rental place for a pizza dinner. Angela’s surprised by the cake. So is Richard, the husband of Wendy, whose birthday is tomorrow. Jan’s set the bar for “wife’s birthday celebration” pretty high.
It’s super-foggy again, and we have to be extra careful not to get separated from the kids. Jan leads Anya and Liya on a great run (Cougar Alley / Whiskey Jack) that leads through trees to a thinned-out glade. Jan’s duty on this trip, it seems, is to be the only adult who consistently agrees to lead a pack of kids on hair-raising rides through the trees. We love those ski helmets.
We host another birthday party at our place in the evening, this time for Wendy, the mom of Zachary and Austin. Husband Richard comes through with a birthday cake for Wendy (ordered from the same bakery Jan used—the only one for 50 miles in any direction).
One of the boys on the trip, Dylan, is a fearless little skier. He consistently seeks and finds every little jump on the side of the runs, and all the other kids inevitably follow him. We enjoy watching Liya take the jumps; she gives a big smile after each one.
Since Sabriya’s been spending each day in daycare, she hasn’t had much chance to actually enjoy the snow. Jan decided to remedy this, and brings our plastic toboggan with him when he goes to pick up Bree from daycare. He asks one of the daycare workers if there’s a good hill close by, and they suggest the long cat track behind the daycare building that leads all the way down to an area called Happy Valley. Outside, Jan puts Bree on the sled, then climbs aboard and pushes off. Bree happily screams as we go down the long, winding run. After we cross a little bridge, the run suddenly gets steeper. Jan digs his heels into the snow to break our speed, producing an enormous spray of snow. Bree stops her happy sounds. The ride gets steeper. Jan digs in his heels more, producing a completely blinding spray of snow. When we finally bottom out, the sled coasts to a stop… then Bree begins to wail. Jan consoles himself with the likelihood that Bree won’t remember this incident (consciously, anyway).
On the plus side, we get to ride a gondola back up to the ski village, and Bree loves the gondola ride. Every time we pass a gondola car coming the other way, Bree shouts, “There’s another one!”
Last full day at Big White.
Anya and Liya ask if they go night skiing, and Angela agrees to take them. The girls learn that night skiing isn’t nearly as fun and cool as it sounds, and come back after two runs.
Another beautiful day as we head back south for home. Bree is quiet for 7 hours of driving and then (as she always seems to do) throws a complete screaming fit ten minutes from home.
Liya got a case of strep throat last month, and didn’t respond to Penicillin, so now she’s on a course of Amoxicillin. To brighten up the experience of taking her medicine three times a day, Jan composes “The Amoxicillin Song”. He sings this for her each time she needs to take her medicine. Liya points out that the lyrics seem to change each time. The song goes something like this:
The Amoxicillin Song
It’s time for Amoxicillin,
And you know that it’s been chillin’
In the refrigerator.
Have some now,
And have more later.
Kinda chalky,
Kinda fruity.
It’s a pain in
The patootie.
But when you take Amoxicillin,
Bacteria is what it’s killin’.
So you can get
Rid of strep throat,
And you won’t cough
Like a billy goat.
Amoxicillin
Yeah yeah yeah
Newest Ya-Ya candy fad: crushed Jolly Rancher dust. Anya loves Jolly Ranchers, but they stick too much for her braces. They don’t seem to stick when smashed, which Jan does with a hammer. Liya and Bree naturally want the same special treatment.
Anya went to the orthodontist yesterday. After X-rays, the doctors said that she should get her braces off ASAP! Yay!
It’s been so warm, Jan and the girls decide to plant some vegetables early: chives, carrots, snow peas, arugula, and cucumbers. Bree wanders around the garden moving trowelfuls of dirt from one place to another. Jan is looking at one plant with Bree and says he doesn’t know what it is. “It’s a flower”, she says. “Yes, but I don’t know what kind of flower it is”, he admits. “It’s a blue flower”, Bree declares. Which is about the extent of Jan’s gardening knowledge, too.