Life with the Conleys

Before Christmas there was the annual trip into the woods to find our tree and play in the snow. Finding snow was easy but the trees were elusive. Last year we found a spot that had some nice trees and we were hoping to go back to the same area. However, the snow was much deeper this year and there were trucks stuck all along the road, which made it impassible. I'm not certain we would have made all the way in our Subaru even if other vehicles weren't blocking the road, but it would have been fun to try. Outings like this make me miss Idaho. There are probably places in eastern Washington that aren't so busy, but this close to Seattle even the forests are crowded. So rather than find a tree we found a spot to play in the snow, enjoyed our traditional lunch of chili and hot chocolate, and then went to a tree farm for a tree. I will say, it was the prettiest tree we have ever had so it wasn't all bad. We will give the mountain another try this year. Eating the snow.

For Thanksgiving we visited Josh's brother and his family in Virginia. We hadn't been to visit since they moved to VA several years ago and they have had two kids in that time. We were excited to meet our nephews and Eli was excited to meet his cousins. We were also looking forward to doing some East Coast sightseeing. Our first adventure was to an old mill near their home. The water wheel and gears were incredible, the movement was almost hypnotic. At the Burwell-Morgan Mill Our next adventure took us into Washington D.C. for the day. One day was definitely not enough time to see everything we wanted to see, but we really enjoyed our time there. To get to D.C. we drove about an hour to a Metro station and took that the rest of the way. Eli and cousin Benjamin both seemed to really enjoy the ride on the train. We enjoyed it too, other than when Eli decided to lick the handrail. That may be the most disgusting thing he has ever done.  Once in D.C. we headed to the

August, September, and October went by and we took only a few pictures. It's sad really, we did some fun things. In August we went camping on the coast with some friends. They have a son the same age as Eli and they are good buddies. Even though it was August, the weather was not very warm and the water is always cold but they didn't seem to mind. We camped only one night, but it was a great time with friends. The only decent picture from the camping trip.  Josh missed the next adventure because of work, but a few weeks after camping Eli and I went to my parents house in Idaho to spend time with my family. We were camping for most of the time there as well. All of Eli's cousins from the Mendenhall side of the family were there and most of the aunts and uncles. Ginger, Eli, and Kimberly getting the last of the whipped cream from the mixing bowl. Hanging out in the back of Grandpa's truck. (L to R: Andrew, Susan, Ginger, Kimberly, Lilly, Eli, MaKenna)

In late July we went to an air show at Payne Field in Everett. It was predominantly WWII era airplanes, which was pretty cool. I think air shows are interesting but Josh and Eli both really enjoy them. Inside the Pan American DC-3 Two happy guys  Eli was not a fan of the teeth on this P-40 Watching the show.  We think this is a Grumman Hellcat A few weeks later we went on a hike to Bertha May and Pothole Lakes. Pothole is a good descriptor for both the lake and the road to the trailhead. We ended up parking on the side of the road and walking the last hundred yards to the trailhead because we did not have the clearance to tackle the last section of "road". The hike was fairly short and the bushes around the trail were packed with huckleberries. They were ripe, and dense, and delicious. The abundance huckleberries made up for the total lack of fish. We always hope there will be good fishing in the lakes we hike to, but that seems to rarely be t