Snowy grandkids and The Boy gets whipped

Mrs Notthat made it back last night from three days in the Greater Auberry Metro Area with the grandkids. The kids LOVED it up there and did not want to leave. (I can imagine that the local wildlife and others may be enjoying the sudden quiet though.)

This is one of the few times that all three kids were being quiet and somewhat still (they are watching a DVD on a screen about twice as big as an iPhone). Shortly after this picture was taken, chaos broke out and all was back to normal.

Here they are trying on their snow pants. Riley was a tiny bit wound up.

The next morning Nermac (not her real name) and Darci were swinging, after a fashion. Note that Nermac has her boots on. Odd.

Riley loved feeding the goats. He spent a lot of time handing them straw.

I can't really explain this picture. Either Riley is in the middle of some complicated yoga thing ("getting centered") or he really doesn't want to be bothered.

Darci and Nermac on their rock.

Once they were done rocking out (yes, I really am just that clever!), they headed back to the swings. All still have proper footwear on. Maybe it was just when I was around that Nermac felt she had to remove her boots to swing.

Evad had to go check something on the back 40, and naturally all the kids wanted to go.

Finally on Monday, they headed to the real snow!

This thing is intended to be stood on to ride, but Riley liked doing his own thing with it.

Darci learning the harsh lesson that what slides downhill must be dragged back up if you want to slide again.

Murphy the Wind-Up Dog hears a dead gopher in the woods.

Yram and Darci take a ride on the Widowmaker.

Yram pretending to be a sled dog (with Murphy providing tips and encouragement). Darci learning the not harsh at all lesson that sometimes you can con an adult into pulling you back to the top of the hill.

Building a snowman. They went to the same place we went to before, but almost all evidence of the snow things we made on Thursday were gone.

Finally it was time to get out of the snow clothes and into a dry, warm van and head home. Mrs Notthat had done such a good job sealing Riley's pants to his boots that they stayed together.

Here are a couple of sunset pictures Mrs Notthat took just before heading home.

It's so weird to be above the clouds like this.

And on the home front, all the pieces for The Boy's 102" whip CB antenna finally came in, and he mounted it today. This thing is REALLY tall and will probably end up annoying even him fairly soon as it smacks into tree branches and such while driving down the street.

But it certainly looks cool.

That's it - move along...