Today the snow was perfect. I got home from a couple of errands and Em wanted me to stay inside. I said No way the snow is too perfect. So I went out with the boys and wore myself out building this:
The whole neighborhood of kids ended up migrating over and taking part. Last year I never got the roof on, but was able to complete it this year!
Today is April 26th and IT IS SNOWING!!!!!!
oh..and we had an earthquake last night!
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009fwat.php
YES we are fine, thank you for your concern...again.
-Funnyily. We had recently watched an episode of Life, where there was an earthquake in LA and the Main guy, Cruz, was wondering why in an earthquake does everyone ask, "Did you feel that?"
Then last night, the first thing I said to Em was "Do you feel that?"
Well, have a nice day!
Stop me if I've posted this before...
The base has a really cool sledding hill. I guess its really a ski hill, but then it would be a lame ski hill. So I'll call it a really cool sledding hill. Its so much fun. Good pitch to the hill, great length for a long fast slide down the hill. Amazingly the boys haven't complained about walking up the hill, as I had expected, even when the hill was iced over and we kept slipping on the way up. The first time we went there I was pleasantly surprised to find they have the hill lite up at night. Yesterday we had the whole hill to ourselves. Sam is so funny, after being sprayed in the face by the powder a few times, he figured out if he laid down and tucked his face in he'd be fine. He looks like a little black ball flying down the hill, with no idea of where he is going.
And of course there was the HC.
We had an Elders' Quorum Snowshoe expedition today. We went snowshoeing up in the Hakkoda mountains. (As you look at the Japanese characters for Hakkoda - 
This is the beginning on the trail, which is marked by small signs in the trees. We drove up the mountain to the trail head where the snow banks on the side of the road was about 5 feet high.
Four minutes after beginning, I became worried as I was already winded and way too hot. After shedding a layer, (it is really hard to know how much to wear when it can be -40 degree and yet you'll be sweating), I felt better yet still winded. After trudging through the wicked nice powder for about a mile we crossed into a ravine/river bed (no sign of the water 20 feet below except a nice sulfur smell). 
We then proceeded up this ravine for the next mileish. 
It stayed powdery for a while then became crunchy and finally icy until we reached the top. These trees were covered in the iciest, hardest snow I've ever seen. 
The top was a ridge between two of the Hakkoda peaks. Once at the top we traversed another 200 yards to a cabin, the destination. This cabin, I guess, it owned by the government and can be used anytime by anyone. You just show up. We meet our scout troop there, who had come up the day before.
This cabin was crazy. 
It sits on what looked like a 6 foot high slab of concrete. You climb in at the top (due to the vast depth of snow) through this little doorway and immediately climb down a latter into the cabin.
There is one room with three levels of deep long shelves for sleeping. In the middle is an open area for kerosene heater etc. Cool place, but not the type of cabin you'd find in Park City.
It was a very beautiful place, especially in the forest with a little snow fall. At the top are these trees covered with snow. These are the same trees as the ones at the bottom, just buried with 15-20 feet of snow. They call them "Snow Monsters."
After eating lunch he headed back down. It had already snowed so much that I wasn't sure we we on the same trail on the way back. Glad I wasn't leading the way! It took us a little under 2 hours to hike up and 50 minutes to get back down!! On the way down the ravine we were blasted by a bone chilling wind sweeping up the ravine. Thanks to Em, I was outfitted with a warm face mask. I just need some warmer gloves. Also, note to self: You may think a camel pack is a good idea, but after 20 minutes I found nothing but ice in the line!
The other day we got another 12 inches or so of snow so I set out to build my children a giant igloo for us to sleep in. It was tough work. Unfortunately, it got too late and too cold for packing good snow and the roof never made it on top. But they were left with a giant snow fort which has become the cool place to hang out for the neighbors. They went out again yesterday in yet another storm to play on it. That's Max on top of it. Next time it dumps I'm determined to make a complete one.
We just got two "big" snow storms. Not really big, about 8 inches each time, but remember we are a little state so it equals about 3 feet. No really it totally shuts down the state. Thursday it took people over 6 hours to get home from work! Luckily I had stayed home that day. =) So Max and I were able to enjoy the snow. Then today we got a call saying Church was canceled!!! I couldn't believe how wicked wussy this place can be when the roads get a little snow. So...we built an igloo, and had our own church time together with Christmas stories and songs.
