Last weekend Einar got to hang out with the big kids when we helped as sponsors for our church's high school ski retreat in Big Bear. We accompanied 6 great high school students and the youth leader to Big Bear where we stayed in a cabin, played games, ate pizza, checked out the town, and Jared even got a day of skiing in with the one girl who wanted to ski. Einar had a great time and learned how to "pound fists" as a form of greeting and say "Oh, ya!" They tried to teach him how to say "gross" but it didn't stick. They hadn't had any fresh snow up there for a couple of weeks, but on the morning of our departure, we woke up to about 4 inches! As we were packing up and cleaning the cabin, I assigned one of the girls the task of taking Einar outside to play in the snow before we hit the road.
Last night we used the Oscars as an excuse to dress up and have some friends over for a party. Einar wore his James Bond Tux and looked quite dapper for the evening, but chose not to wear shoes. Jared made an awesome cheese fondue and ceasar salad and I made the brownies, some bread and some yummy cranberry cosmopolitans. With five families and 8 kids, it was a bit challenging to catch the show, but we all had fun. Also, how many other hosts had everyone leave their Oscar party before 8 PM? If you want an early night, just invite lots of families with preschoolers!
It's a good thing that we didn't have a late night since Einar and I got to go to Jared's promotion ceremony this morning on base. I had to drag Rip-Van-Einar's tush out of bed to get there by 9:30, but we were able to witness his promotion to First Sergeant. We're very proud of him!
In other news, we discovered last week that we have a donkey, horse, a half dozen sheep, and 7 or 8 llamas living in our neighborhood. Just on the other side of the block, our neighborhood borders the city's water department station where they use these animals to control the brush and protect against wildfires. All of the animals, except for the llamas, come right up to the fence where we can feed them our yummy veggie scraps. Einar is thrilled, as am I, and even though he hasn't gotten up the nerve to give them the food through the fence yet, he calls out for the donkey, sheep and horsey when we get there and loves to watch the action. It's lots of fun!
