Amster-shh!: 2012

For Christmas, Ignasi and I headed to Washington State to see my parents. It was wonderful to spend the holiday with them and my sister Rachael, with her husband, Chris. Unfortunately my little sister, Heidi, was unable to make it, as she was spending the holidays on the coast with Colin's family. But we did manage to get her out in the snow anyway, as you'll see later in the post.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a decent amount of snow and decided to take full advantage of it. Every day we either snow-shoed, cross country skied, downhill skied, or went sledding. It was great!

This shot was after Ignasi and I got some exercise clearing the deck of snow, so it doesn't look like they have a ton. But the stump by the deck railing is a fairly good indicator of how much snow my parents had:

FRIDAY21:

All in all a fairly relaxed day. Recuperating from jet-lag. We took the snow shoes out for a spin with Mom. And when we got back we decorated the Christmas tree. With some help from our friends Eggnog and Pendleton Whiskey...of course.

SATURDAY22:

We headed up to Black Jack in BC Canada, for some cross country skiing.

In the evening our family went over to the Ashworth's for dinner. It was great to see some old friends that I haven't seen in years, as well as feast. Sarah and Paul had brought up 50lbs worth of shrimp, fish, and venison from the South. So naturally, we had to help them take care of some of that. Traditionally this mountain of goodness would just be spread out on the table-top, but Elissa decided to class it up a bit by instead serving it in a sled. Or saucer if you will:

SUNDAY23:

Went sledding. Hauled a couple loads of firewood for Dad. Shoveled the snow on the deck. And then sat down to watch the Seahawks game. No official Killings family gathering around the TV is complete without popcorn in our wooden bowls. And not any ordinary popcorn. Our recipe: butter melted with tamari (or soy sauce), poured on popcorn and tossed with nutritional yeast. Delicious!

MONDAY24:

Went skiing at 49° North. There were some rolling clouds, but all in all a very lovely day. We met up with the Ashworths and got to do a few runs with them, as well as enjoy lunch together. It was great to explore the new Chair 6, and spend some time on the new-ish Chair 5 as well.

Not the ski hill, but rather, just some nice scenery on the drive to the hill:

With Mom near the top:

Ignasi was very enthusiastic for his cafeteria "American Burger!"

And do we see ski patrol Santa in the background?

Clark calling Elissa, super smiley Sarah, and a very white-mustached Paul:

TUESDAY25:

And then it was Christmas. We had a nice spread for breakfast in front of the tree, including some of Rachael's pickled green beans, Mom's Christmas bread, and Jamon from Spain via Ignasi's parents:

It started something like this:

And ended something like that:

Thank you Heidi and Colin for the hard cider! We wasted no time in consuming ALL of it.

Sipping our new hot cider around the fireplace outside, and chatting it up with

Heidi and Colin:

The other Killings girl:

Chris cleared the downstairs couches so we could set up the ping pong table. I didn't manage to get a game in, but the guys sure enjoyed it:

For Christmas dinner we had some Salmon. And pre-dinner Mom pulled out one of her wines. I think was is one of her best bottles yet!:

WEDNESDAY26:

Ignasi's Birthday! We got out of the house and enjoyed some outdoors. Ignasi and I cross country skied while Mom, Dad, and Chris broke out the snow shoes.

We were very lucky and got to see two bull moose trot up the hill above us. As it turns out, the following day my Mom and Chris spotted 3 moose! That is a lot of moose in 2 days.

After skiing we taught Ignasi the fine process of dipping beeswax candles:

And then ate dinner, cake, and opened presents:

THURSDAY27:

For our last full day we headed up to Red Mountain in Canada for some skiing. Some of the best conditions I've had at Red in awhile. The coverage was great. For visibility, it was a mix of white-out and sun, so, half good, half bad. Ignasi was very impressed by the snow-engulfed trees. He thought they looked like creatures about to start walking around.

Lunch at Paradise lodge. Introducing Ignasi to Canadian burgers and brews:

FRIDAY27:

Off to the airport for a long journey home.

But first, our yearly parting shot:

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Amsterdammers love to play dress up for any party, and of course, Halloween is no exception. This year we celebrated the Saturday before at a party where everyone partook in the mandatory terrorizing.

Today we have pumpkin carving at work, and Friday we will have another Halloween party. So we will definitely get our fill of 'scary' this year.

Here are some shots from Saturday. I went as Dr. Killings, and Ignasi, well, he's just on a trip, visiting from hell:

I think a favorite of the evening was Josh's Van Gogh. Lauren got a great shot of him in front of a painting. Too perfect:

And it turns out...we weren't the only fans:

I left the camera at home for the party, so I was unable to take any pictures of the many many impressive/scary costumes. Luckily the talented Myscha Oréo was there to take pictures. I've included a some below of a few friends. I'm tempted to post more...everyone there had amazing costumes.