Hi everybody! The
Woodinville Millers have had about as hectic an autumn as I can remember, with funky weather all through December to make it even more interesting. Right now, half of Washington seems to be under water... for those of you who were here for the family reunion and went to visit the falls, check out these photos of "normal"
Snoqualmie Falls, and then look at the current state of affairs in the link below. From the air it doesn't even look like a waterfall anymore, just some big rapids despite the 250+ vertical drop that's really there.
http://seattlest.com/2009/01/08/someone_left_snoqualmie_falls_tap_t.php
December was supposed to be a nice break after months of chaos at my job (managing a few hundred million dollars was rather more challenging than usual last year, but we survived), but we had our plans waylaid a few times with weather. We got around fine in the suburban and
audi, but if there's any more than an inch Seattle is a dangerous place to be because no one has a clue how to react in snow. Plus, the county has less than a dozen plows and so roads don't get cleaned up very fast. Near our cabin the roads are plowed to pavement within hours (at worst) in most big storms, though this year all the mountain passes were closed (often simultaneously) a few times due to huge avalanches.
Over New Year's eve, Kari took the girls (Grace, Elsa, and Grace's friend Madeline Burt) to New York. They were in Times Square to see the ball drop and spent the few days after that going to the Met,
broadway shows,
SoHo, etc. etc. etc. When I go to NY it usually involves being picked up at the airport, driven to meetings, six hours of sleep (if it's a two day meeting and I'm lucky enough to avoid red eyes both ways), then more meetings and a return to the airport. I think their version sounds much more fun, I'll have to try it next time. While they were there, I took the four boys to the cabin and we generally hung out, blew up fireworks, watched the snow, wondered when the pass was going to open and if we were going to get home, and tried out our new snowmobile that's fortunately built for powder although it looks like some sort of bug.
Vroom Vroom! Lots of fun.
Other than Thanksgiving, which is covered in Mom and Dad's posting, not much else notable except a great trip that Kari and I took for my birthday in November. We drove to a place called the Stephanie Inn, down in Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was a beautiful suite that we stayed in for three nights with no kids, wonderful meals, big fires, etc. during huge storms that came off the ocean. It was wonderful to hide from work for a few days and talk to Kari without being
interrupted by one of six of the usual suspects.
We did just finish up a pretty big remodel of the cabin - wood floors, new kitchen, new downstairs bath (yeah! a second working shower!), and new carpet upstairs. Kari also added a large sunroom onto the master bedroom at our Woodinville house, we'll use that as kind of a nursery for now so baby cribs don't have to be quite so close to our bed for their first two years.
We're looking forward to next month when we're going to our usual place in Kauai (www.waimeaplantation.com ) for a week or so, then perhaps a few nights at the Grand Hyatt that has amazing water slides and things for kids. If anyone would like to join us there, just get yourself there, the place is already paid for and is plenty big for six or seven more people! Mom and Dad went with us a few years ago, and we're looking forward to seeing the place now that they've apparently completely remodelled it. It's an old sugar plantation in a small town that so far has stayed pretty "local" and not given in to being too touristy, but I think that unfortunately might be changing. We've gone there at least ten times and the kids think it's their second home, so it's sad to see the development that I think may be starting to happen there. Perhaps the global economy will slow that down, however.
In other news, this year in the markets and some minor health issues of mine (probably related, actually) have caused us to reconsider how long we want to stay in Woodinville/Seattle - basically, how long we want to put up with constant traffic to get places and a school system that is OK but sometimes just a little too 'worldly' too early. We realized last fall that Connor spent on average 14 hours per week on a bus or being driven to school and various activities - in this case football. If kids want to play sports in this area, it starts being competitive at age 8 or so and if they want to participate in sports or activities in high school they have to approach it like they're going to be professional in that activity or they probably won't make the team or be able to do much in the group. I contrast this to Moscow, where I got to be on the basketball team (bench, mostly), dabble in track, play in orchestra, be in student government, play tennis, etc. while holding a job and generally having fun without having to spend hours in a car to do it all. There's something to be said for that I think. Anyway, we're shopping for some land someplace around Moscow/Pullman, and in six months to a year may put the Woodinville house on the market, though we'll be in no hurry to sell it given the market and our very loose time horizon. Then, the plan is that sometime in the next three to six years we'll build again on the land in Idaho or eastern Washington and move there. I am in a fairly long term contract at Morgan Stanley but I am fairly flexible as to where I work, and ironically if I get a certain position that's likely if I try for it I could run my group (gradually phasing myself out) and possibly the Spokane and Montana offices or something like that into the future. The firm has been great about being flexible for the future, so I'll just see what the future holds. But, if we always just think about change but don't actually do it... nothing will change.
Miller boy #5 is due May 1, and that surprise will be our last one. This preganancy has been very tough on Kari's body - nine pregancies in sixteen years do that (she had two early second trimester miscarraiges over the past two years for those that didn't know that). We just saw the high resolution ultrasound (wow - it's more like photography) and he appears to be a good looking little squirt. Vigo is very used to being the baby so we're hoping he makes the adjustment, but having a brother closer to his own age will be good for him I think.
I hope everyone is doing well, and let's hope 2009 is a little calmer than 2008 was - fat chance, but at least the crises will be different ones!
- Dale
Connor with his first place trophy for his karate division! Ethan did very well too, though he was the youngest in the 13-16 division for his belt and I thought he was lucky to survive - don't think I would have.
Grace in Glacier National Park --- Kari rented an RV and hit the road in August with our friends the Burts and the Nortons. I unfortunately could not join the family until later in the trip when the swung back down through Moscow, though Dad and I got some fishing in while I was there.
Other than Thanksgiving, which is covered in Mom and Dad's posting, not much else notable except a great trip that Kari and I took for my birthday in November. We drove to a place called the Stephanie Inn, down in Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was a beautiful suite that we stayed in for three nights with no kids, wonderful meals, big fires, etc. during huge storms that came off the ocean. It was wonderful to hide from work for a few days and talk to Kari without being interrupted by one of six of the usual suspects.
