From the sublime to the ridiculous - meet Milo the Snow dog.

Okay so the second time was definitely the charm (to paraphrase) and this time we took Milo along for good measure, yes you've guessed it, we took another drive to the mountains in search of that elusive stuff called SNOW - you see Christmas day gave us a taste and we wanted more... and more is what we got and how, it was actually a beautiful day in Portland, the sun was even shining and no rain to be seen anywhere, so we once again packed up the car, this time dressing Pap in snow gear from head to toe - (Darren sacrificed his snow pants so Pap could stay dry.)  Off we went once again to Mount Hood - only this time it started snowing before we got to the base of the mountain, and snowing, and snowing and really blizzard conditions snowing.  A journey that usually takes an hour and 20 minutes turned into a 2 hour trek as we obviously weren't the only ones with this idea.  Still we decided to try the same spot as we had previously and as soon as we let Milo out of the car he just wentbeserk with happiness and started running as hard as he could through the snow at amazing speed until he'd hit a snow bank and disappeared up to his shoulders into the snow with only his tail and head showing.  He had a fine old time which is more than I could say for us as we battled the snow and the biting wind climbing up the hill to find a place to sled... and if wethought that the lack of rain would deter the sinking into the snow up to our crotch we were sadly mistaken.  At least this time I didn't split my snow pants from laughing so hard.   Mainly because I had just purchased new ones the day before and also it was too cold to laugh and after only 20 mins or so, Morgan was not having it anymore and  decided she was just too cold and wanted to go home - even Pap dressed in his warm clothing was finding it a tad too chilly - I couldn't see anything between the fogging up of my glasses and the snow blowing in my face.  After another 10 minutes ofthis torture, we headed back toward the car and as luck would have it Morgan found the perfect spot to sled - by then Owen had given up and had with Opa/Pap gone back to heat up in the car. So we decided perhaps we should find somewhere to eat lunch and warm up a bit.  So we headed into Government Camp, the local town, to find a place to eat and the snow kept falling.  So we left a pooped out Milo in the car in search of sustenance and found ourselves in a local restaurant that unfortunately took their sweet time in serving us.  Still it gave us enough fortitude to try to brave the snow once more but by now it seemed that all of Portland had headed for the hills and we couldn't really find anywhere to park near the snow park wherethe kids could go inner tubing so we pulled out our trusted plastic sleds and headed with everyone else to sled down a snow covered street that everyone else was using with great success...and this time we couldn't get the kids back in the car.  Of course with all these people there was the occasional wipe out but at least no one was seriously injured and Opa/Pap wisely decided to stay with Milo who at this point was quite happy to just eat the snow and have a good sniff as well as mark his territory.  (You know what they say about eating yellow snow - DON'T).   And still the white stuff fell from the sky.. and as much as the kids wanted to stay we decided that we needed to head home.  So we loaded ourselves back into the truck and managed to shed various layers of clothing so we no longer resembled the michelin men - however after all the food we've been eating this holiday even removing the clothing layers didn't really help with that issue and after a cold day out in the snow the dinner we ate really didn't help our waistline but man it was most definitely well received and much welcomed and none of us seemed to get enough of it as we all got stuck into a sumptous pot of  this:  

And so ends our two weeks with Opa/Pap. It just flew by but I'm happy to say that his bruise is almost completely gone and he isn't as stiff as he was and hopefully the next time he comes to visit he doesn't take a fall right before he arrives. We've had a fine time with him and I know the kids will sorely miss him.  Tomorrow we're getting up at the crack of dawn to take him to the airport for his 8.50am flight back to NY. 

I think this may well be my last blog of the year as I don't anticipate writing again until next year... it's been an interesting year and an exciting one as well so to all who read my blog I wish you a glorious 2008 may your dreams and desires and ambitions and wishes all come to fruition in the days to come.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!