Fall Leaves and Winter Snow

After we left Idaho, the kids and I traveled to Eastern Washington to stay with my parents for a week. And in that one week we got to experience Fall and Winter - our first introduction to living outside of Southern California.

 There were LOTS of leaves in Nana and Papa's backyard so Micah offered to rake them and bag them for $1 per bag. Nana told him he drove a hard bargain, but SURE!

I helped him out a little so we could get it into one big pile.

 

Ashlyn did her part to help out too

 

  Both kids thought it was so fun to be buried in the leaves, but Ashlyn had to clarify, "Just don't cover my face."

 

Micah, on the other hand, wanted to be completely buried, but that didn't make such a great picture, so here he is with his face showing.

 

 Then it was time to PLAY!

 Running...

 Jumping...

 Soft landing. So much fun!!

Ashlyn preferred to just wade through the leaves.

 Then we all had fun running and jumping together

 Ashlyn found one of Aunt Bonnie's old baby dolls and adopted it for the week

 And then came the snow! The first night it was just a light dusting. The kids had a ball playing with it out on the deck, but were disappointed to see it gone the next day.

 So we found something else fun to do that day... we made a gingerbread house! I kept telling Ashlyn not to eat the candy, she needed to put it on the house. She responded that she wasn't eating it, she was just tasting it (licking the sugar crystals off it)!

The finished product! (Notice Ashlyn's hand in the bowl. Can't let any of that sugar go to waste.)

 Then the next morning the excitement level was over the top as they looked out the window to find a winter wonderland outside. Micah's first request... "Can I go shovel the sidewalk?!"

 

 Ashlyn just enjoyed walking around in it.

 

 We even had a enough to make a snowman!

 

Once we were all too cold to stay outside, it was time to warm up with hot cocoa and marshmallows (or smarshmallows, as Ashlyn would say).

 It kept snowing throughout the day, so in the afternoon Papa took him out to show him the snowblower. I was a little concerned. After all, Micah has a winter full of shoveling the driveway in front of him and I didn't want him to start desiring the easy way out.

 But I had nothing to fear. Although he was impressed with the snowblower, he was much more interested in shoving it himself!

Here's Micah with his 14 bags of leaves that he bagged up. Total earned = $15 (Nana gave him an extra $1 tip).

 Any visit to Pullman requires a stop at the WSU Creamery, where college students make the best cheese and ice cream!

Ashlyn enjoyed some snuggle time with Papa.