January in Summary

January ended up being a very full month for us. First, we bought a new car (a Subaru Outback wagon) and sold our old one (a Volkswagen Golf that Greg bought post-college). It was a very involved process, but now we have all the safety features (multiple airbags, 4-wheel drive, anti-skidding technology) to drive under all kinds of conditions.

Which allowed us to take 2 ski trips. First to Whistler, BC where our friends Mike and Jen's family have a cabin. It was our first trip with Clara cross-country skiing, and she loved it. She talked about snow all weekend-long. Clara also had her first bout of carsickness on the winding road from Whistler to Vancouver. Thankfully, Greg had done his research, and based on parents' advice on the Web, upgraded us to leather in the new car. The parents were right: It is much easier to clean vomit off leather than it is with cloth seats. Makes you wonder why Graco and Britax haven't come up with a leather car seat yet. Seems to me there must be a market there.

Our second ski trip was to our friends' Carol and Joachim's family cabin near the Snoqualmie Pass. We got their just in time, as subsequent weekends the pass has been closed due to avalanches. The weekend we were there, at least a foot of fresh powder fell, which made for great skiing for us, but also for very dangerous conditions after we left.

The end of our ski season was marked not just by avalanches but also a particularly wicked bout of flu for me. Greg had a snow day and took an additional personal day off from work to care for Clara while I recuperated. Thankfully, they both seem to have been spared this nasty bug. I am mostly recovered now, but still have a touch of upper respiratory congestion that just won't give up.

We've been enjoying some tasty reminders of springs and summers past these last few weeks, cracking open jars of plum and blackberry jam, defrosting applesauce made from our apple trees, and pureeing frozen peaches for custard. A delicious foretaste of warmer days to come!