The Little Women awoke this morning to find 5+ inches of snow on the ground, which is a real treat for a temperate place like suburban Seattle. Of course, under such circumstances, school could not go on. The kids all went outside to play in the snow, though Annika declared herself bored by 10 AM.
Clara and Nicolyn, however, made the most of the snow: playing snow dogs, eating snow, trying to sled on a “hill” that was not steep enough for sledding, and building snow things like this one:
This picture was taken a split second before the snowman’s left eye fell out.
The snow will soon disappear, but the memories will linger.
The Little Women are pleased to announce a new online museum where their readers and fans can see some of their finest works, many of which were previously available only in exclusive private collections (i.e., the living rooms of their relatives).
Adoration of the Magi and Everyone Else, by Clara, puff paint on canvas, 2017.
The exhibits will be updated periodically and are available here. Happy browsing!
The Seattle housing market may be cooling down, but the gingerbread market was warming up at the Vance house last night. The Little Women unleashed their creative talents on some blank gingerbread canvases from Ikea.
Here we see three little builders, ready to work their magic.Like every Ikea product, it came with instructionsGrandpa Tom and Grandma Shauna did some nice piping workNicolyn makes a river. For some reason, most of the houses had waterfront property this year.Clara ponders how she can best stick more candy to her house.Jenelle and Jonathan’s house. Jenelle did everything that’s beautiful. Jonathan did the pond with the dock and sailboat.Shauna and Tom’s house. Note the lovely evergreen trees, which are really ice cream cones in disguise.Annika with her house. Before the evening was over, she had started “remodeling” (i.e., eating) the walls.Clara’s house.Nicolyn’s house. She was especially please with the frolicking reindeer in the front yard.
All of the houses now have a place of honor next to the Christmas tree.
Here we see the Little Women hard at work on assembling Christmas cards, bringing holiday cheer to people around the globe.
This year they took a page from Henry Ford’s playbook and assembled the cards in an assembly line. They also adapted his philosophy on customer choice, namely, “Our friends and family can have any Christmas card they want, as long as it’s this one:”
Last week the Little Women enjoyed an extended visit from some special guests on Jonathan’s side of the family: their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, and their nine cousins (plus Aunt Aubrey’s dog). As part of giving their visitors a taste of the Pacific Northwest, they reprised last summer’s hike in Wallace Falls State Park.
The hike started out under some large power lines, which crackled loudly in the morning sun (yes, sometimes there is sun in Seattle). It reminded Jonathan of the house he grew up in outside of San Francisco.
The hike followed the course of the Wallace River some of the time.
The rangers’ office handed out these bingo cards to kids with the promise of a prize for those who spotted enough foresty things.
Annika and Maddy were buddies during the hike, and during all other activities that week.
Daddy, why must you keep taking pictures?
Annika and Nicolyn sporting their family-reunion T-shirts on the trail. Aunt Autumn designed the shirts.
Here is Nicolyn at Lower Falls. Surprisingly, Nicolyn greatly enjoyed the hike and asked if our family could go hiking more often.
After considerable effort (and a break for a snack), the hikers cruised past Middle Falls and made it to Upper Wallace Falls. This was new ground compared to last year’s hike.
Annika and Nicolyn with their aunts and cousins at Upper Falls.
The 5.4-mile hike helped everyone sleep a little better that night. Hopefully the guests will come back for more hikes in the future.
And now for a very belated report about how the Little Women spent their Christmas break. The short answer is that they spent it in Germany, the place where Jonathan would gladly spend every Christmas.The week before Christmas they flew into Frankfurt, where they met up with Aunt Aubrey. (This is important because during the trip Aunt Aubrey introduced them to many life-changing activities, like taking selfies, posing for photos with statues, and doing facials in your hotel room.) Their short time in Frankfurt allowed them to visit Christmas markets in the old part of town and also see Mainz, the old stomping grounds of Johannes Gutenberg.
After a couple of days they took a train to Dresden, in the eastern part of Germany. Having previously spent Christmas in Dresden, the Little Women knew that a great Christmas market was waiting there for them, along with beautifully restored buildings. On Christmas Day they visited the historic and beautiful cities of Görlitz and Bautzen.
Once Christmas Day was over, the Little Women packed up their growing stash of holiday treats and took the train north to Berlin. While there was much to like about Berlin (what with the girls’ love for hip European capitals), their favorite part about the city was the fantastic breakfast that the hotel served every morning.
With December drawing to a close, they whisked back to Frankfurt to spend one more night there before flying home. When the plane touched down in Seattle, the Little Women had great Christmas memories, and Jenelle and Jonathan still had their sanity, so it must have been a fantastically successful trip.
On Friday the Little Women took advantage of mid-winter break to drive into the Cascade mountains and visit Hyak Snow Park. They were thrilled to find two to three feet of snow waiting for them.The park’s main attraction was its sledding hill, but it turned out that their sled wasn’t very good. (Maybe that’s why someone gave it to the Vances for the low, low price of free?) Fortunately there was plenty of fun to be had with snowball fights, digging snow caves, and tromping through the forest.
