February 2011 Recap

February was another busy month of exploring around Seattle…and dealing with unpredictable weather!

The highlight of the month was each of us taking a four-week skiing class at Snoqualmie Pass. There is a great ski facility there, and it is only about 45 minutes from our house. For all of us, the first week was spent getting used to being on skis. Joseph and Jack had been on skis once before in their lives; Henry never had. Mom and Dad had been on skis a few times, but it had been a while, so we took lessons as well. Each of us was in a small group of about 3 or 4, and spent two hours with an instructor. By the end of the month, Joseph and Jack (as well as Mom and Dad!) were able to get up the ski lift without any problem and come down the mountain without falling.

Also in February Joseph won his class spelling bee, though he was eliminated in the school-wide bee on the word “feud”. Who would have thought that “e” should come before “u”? There was several wonderfully clear winter days in February, with temperatures in the mid-40s for most of the month. Joseph and Dad took advantage of a gorgeous Saturday to take a hike to the top of Rattlesnake Ledge (there are no snakes there, no one knows why it’s named that). It’s a bit easier than last month’s climb of Mount Si – Rattlesnake Ledge is 2 miles up and 2 miles back down, with an amazing view from the top of a lake and the Cascade Mountains (known  as the “Issaquah Alps” after a nearby town).

In early February, Dad and Henry went on a one-on-one outing to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. It was a bit of a cold day, but we got to see penguins, giraffes, a really neat Komodo Dragon, and lots of other interesting creatures. The highlight for Henry was seeing meerkats, his favorite animal. They are very cute animals, scurrying around their burrows and tunneling underground. In school, Henry is learning about air and weather. Maybe soon he'll be able to predict when it's going to snow here - since that seems to challenge even the most experienced forecasters!

Jack continued his basketball games this month. He also found out that he will be on the “Mariners” for Little League baseball – practices starts in early March. Jack is learning about rocks and minerals in science and took a field trip to the Seattle Natural History museum in February.

We also had a nice visit from Janet, Meghan, Tommy, and Ryan. Unknown to us, apparently in their carry-on luggage they brought with them the snowy weather that has hit the East Coast all winter. While Seattle hadn’t gotten a single storm of more than 3” before the Webers arrived, today is Sunday and it has snowed off-and-on since Tuesday. We got about 6” on Wednesday/Thursday, and another couple of inches yesterday and today. While the mountains outside of Seattle get lots of snow through April, this is the first time in over twenty years that more than 3” of snow fell in Seattle after February 15^th. Thanks Webers!