February fun

 Jason spent a week in Arizona.  He had a business trip and decided to stay a few extra days to have fun in the sun.  He got a chance to hang out with both his sisters, check out Sue's new house, played bocce ball with his sisters and John, played Top Golf with John, went to the Killers concert with Frann and ended the trip with a quick flight to Seattle (for work) and got to take his niece Lauren out to a nice sea food dinner. While he was gone Kaiden enjoyed sleeping on his side of the bed. It snowed and Kaiden built a snow fort in the front yard with his buddies. I took Alex and Kaiden to see the Dogman movie. Rachel and Connor saw Captain America- Brave New World. We played some board games. I had to prove to Connor he is much taller than Rachel (he thought they were close to the same height). And I took Kaiden to Literacy Night at his school. 

Ski 49 degrees North

 For Valentines we spent the night at my parents house in Chewelah.  (The boys had a 4 day weekend for snow-makeup days that they never had to use). My parents are still in Arizona, but my brother, John stays at their house 1/2 the week while he works as a Pharmacist in Colville. We had dinner at the Sporty's in Chewelah and then got to visit with John for a few hours. The 4 of us slept in the living room in sleeping bags/blankets. The next day we spent the day skiing at 49 degrees North.  Great day of skiing.  Top was foggy and a little icy.  Connor and Jason went down a few runs from the top before it got so foggy that they closed down the lifts. Then they spent the rest of the day on the lower half with Kaiden and I.  Kaiden found a bunch of trails through the woods with jumps that he loved.  Connor is all about speed.  He points his skis straight down the mountain with his poles tucked behind him and just flies down the hill.  Kaiden is all about the jumps, getting air, doing tricks.  Although Kaiden is fast too.  Jason likes to explore the mountain and tried to find runs that we would all enjoy doing together.  I really like the cat tracks and side trails.  I had a ton of fun skiing with Kaiden on the trails through the woods.  Although 49 degrees North also has some of the older 2 person chair lifts, the side edge rail is tall and there are big side poles on the outside on both sides.  The seats are also spaced out and not close together like at Mt. Spokane. They will slow down the lift for you, but with the spacing you really don't need them to.  Plus the lift moves slower than at Mt. Spokane too and the person working the lift grabs the seat before you sit to help you get on too.  We didn't have any issues with these lifts!  Plus they have some of the nicer quad lifts for other runs too.  The lodge is big, food is good, runs are great and lifts are easy to use.  We didn't discover their terrain park until just before we left, but next time I'm sure Kaiden will be spending more time in this area.  Overall, very fun day!  We stopped in Deer Park on the way home for dinner at Masters Brewhouse.  I've heard a lot about their amazing burgers. I got a bacon jam burger and Jason got the bleu cheese burger.  We spilt so we could try both.  He ended up liking the bacon jam the best and I liked the bleu cheese the best. I also got a cider flight and Jason got a beer flight. The boys played some arcade games. Kaiden played with the pool table. And we enjoyed the live singer that they had for Valentines.  He was really good! We ended the night with a movie- Kung Fu Panda 4. Best Valentines day ever! Last picture is Superbowl. We had Mikaela, Brian and Kevin come over to watch the game and have snacks.

EWU rock climbing

 Rachel and Connor both want to attend EWU this fall.  So, we planned a family day to check out the campus.  I took Connor and Rachel and Jason took Kaiden and Alex.  First we checked out their rec center. We were going to try ice skating, but there was a hockey match going on, so the 4 kids did the rock climbing wall instead. They all had fun.  Connor actually made it to the top too!  He's scared of heights so that's an accomplishment! Alex and Rachel did several climbs too, but had to stop due to their fingers hurting.  Kaiden had the most fun.  His hands hurt, but that kid would have kept climbing all day if we had let him.  Afterwards, Jason took Kaiden and Alex back home while I explored the campus with Connor and Rachel. It was cold and snowing, but we walked all over campus and got a good layout of the buildings and then had some lunch at their cafeteria.