After 17 months of wearing braces, Noah got them taken off this morning. He may have to wear them again in a few years to help move his jaw again and to solidify everything, but for now we are celebrating. Noah will now need to wear a day time and a night time retainer. Can you tell by his grin that he is one happy boy?!
Before and after shots...
Fresh off last weekends avalanche course, my neighbor, friend and fell classmate Abe, wanted to head up early and ski Tumalo (across the road from Mt Bachelor) mountain this morning for his birthday! Hunter was up at the hill yesterday, Noah had a friend over, so I was able to head up.
Here is Tumalo mountain in the summer.
A trip up Tumalo mountain last winter in Jan 2016 (snow conditions were much much better today)
We got up there at 6:30 and headed out just as we got some nice morning alpen-glow on Mt Bachelor.
It was a cold morning but clear and beautiful as we headed to the top. Note in the first photo down low that is the parking lot at the main lodge of bachelor still empty at this time.
Couple shots of the top before taking our first run down the bowl on the north side.
Shots from the bowl (our first tracks)
Video - me laying some fresh tracks on a section of the bowl
Over the presidents day weekend, I did the first 2 of 3 days doing an Avalanche course (level 1). Last day will take place in march. As I have started doing more back country skiing, it felt like a good thing do get some additional training on. Obviously best option is to avoid getting into situations where there is likelihood of one happening, and actually that's exactly what we spent a large portion of day 1 working on. Mostly training but still got out and a couple runs near the end of the day in some nice powder.
If you are wondering - the picture of me in the hole with the shovel - this is called a compression test, where you dig a pit, and test the different layers, and how well they hold together. Interestingly when we probed the snow to the ground we were standing on about 7 feet of snow.
Hunter wants to be a pilot when he gets older. At winter fest there was an air national guard display and Hunter got to put on the helmet of a fighter jet pilot!
I took these this morning as the moon was setting over the mountains and the sun was rising. The moon looks huge as it gets closer to the ground.
Each month our school focuses on a character trait and then once a month at chapel recognizes students for demonstrating them. Last month we had a snow day on our chapel day, so this month they recognized two traits. We had been informed that Hunter was up for the December award but we didn't know that two of our kids would be getting them and it was such a wonderful surprise. So proud of Hunter for getting the Character Trait Award for Self Control and Abbie received the award for Gentleness. Great way to start out the day!
We all went to the mountain today. Hunter was boarding with a friend and we put PJ in a day lesson.
The remaining 4 Donaldsons skied together!
Some great shots of the mountains from our back window over the past week on some cold winter mornings. The first is actually sunrise with the moon above the mountains. The moon is actually setting here as the sun rises behind.
The second is also sunrise from today with some great color in the sky.
