sunshine and snow days

We enjoyed a gorgeous 'blue bird' day up at Mount Hood Meadows last week.  Sunshine and snow (not the best,  but just good enough - although it has heaps now) and such blue skies. Great skiing and the kids got to try out a couple of new runs.  Loving it.

No filter or adjustments were made to this blue sky!  So lucky.

And today is a Snow Day.  Schools are closed around here.  Snow started late yesterday morning and continue until well into the night  The kids could hardly wait to get outside after breakfast today and had made plans with neighbors and school friends for a sleding gathering.  They have been outside sleding and playing for hours today.  As the afternoon ended, they came in for a movie, popcorn and anything else they could find to eat!  More snow has been falling since late afternoon and will continue all night. Blustery and heavy.  Looks like our weekend will involve a lot of fun outdoors, followed by hot chocolates and gluhwein and cosy evenings in by the fire. Feels almost Christmassy (apart from no tree!).

Happy snow weekend.

it's snow time!

We had a great family Sunday snow tubing at Mount Hood Ski Bowl.

Up and out by 7.45am.  Breakfast bagels and coffee on the way.

Snow time by 9.45am.  A great way to start Sunday.

Even Harvey came along to play.

 

Tired and rosy cheeked kiddos returned home!

Hope you had a great weekend.

something for the weekend

What a delicious weekend menu this would make, or 

the burger or salad for lunch would be enough!

I want to try at least one over the weekend.

Pistachio Lamb and Beef burgers

My Recipes.com

Crunchy Raw Beetroot with Feta and Pear

Jamie Oliver

Blackberry Cardamom Pavlova 

Adventures in Cooking

With no real plans this weekend, we hope to get a day up at Mount Hood Ski-Bowl for some snow-tubing!  Watch this space for some fun pictures!

Wishing you a fabulous weekend.

bouldering

A wet grey Sunday afternoon, with a 10 yr old boy bursting with energy!

Thank goodness he had a friend's 10th 'bouldering' birthday party to go to.

The Circuit Bouldering Gym, PDX.

a frosty morning

A very heavy frost greeted us on Sunday morning in our neighbourhood.

Absolutely stunning.

Beautiful

my city

10 months ago our family moved from Eindhoven in The Netherlands to Portland, Oregon USA.

Today I found this little movie on Vimeo showing off some of the wonderful things about this city and the local areas.  I got a huge smile on my face watching it and thinking this is now my city.  I love the food, wine, coffee and beer culture.  I love the bridges, views of Mount Hood, the mix of modern and industrial architecture.  I love the green spaces and parks, the farmers markets, the friendly people. I love that Portland is 'weird' in a good way!

For all my lovely family and friends scattered around the world....  here's a little view of where we call home (for now at least!).

Finding Portland from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

corner view 'animal'

Thank you Dana for the first of a 3 week CV theme - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.

Sunday morning we spent a couple of hours at the Oregon Zoo.  We have an annual family membership which is great to pop in anytime we feel like and visit specific areas and animals, rather than trying to see everything at once.  My kiddos love to see the penguins, the wild pigs and the bats!

The first animal you come across is this fabulous moutain goat.  Look at that fur coat - how thick and soft it looks.

There were also two very majestic lions lazing around - rarely do you see them do much more!

I have mixed feelings about zoos - they provide an opportunity for us to view and study wonderful animals we ordinarily would never come across, and prevent many from becoming extinct.  However,  its heartbreaking to see the some of the larger animals going slowly out of their minds with boredom in environments so alien to their natural habitat - the polar bears, elephants and brown bears always seem the most affected.

Corner View ws started by Jane and is now hosted by Francesca.

zoo lights

It's great to be back in Portland.  Top of our Christmas 'To Do' list was visiting the Oregon Zoo Lights.  We first did this trip when Luca was just 3 years old (now he's 9!).  Now we have two kiddos in tow and plenty of fun to be had seeing the fabulous lights in the evening, eating hot dogs and elephant ears, with Christmas music in the crisp air.