Leavenworth: Sleigh ride

Right down the street from our marvelous Leavenworth lodge, you can take an actual horse-drawn sleigh ride around the valley. The day we went, the clouds draped themselves among the trees on the mountainsides, and it could not have been more beautiful.

Leavenworth: Snow tubing

Leavenworth has a terrific snow tubing run just outside of town, and several of us went. You buy a pass for six runs. When your turn comes, you grab on to a giant inner tube and slide it over to the tow line. You sit in it, a guy hooks it on, and the tow line pulls you up the hill. Magic!

Then you shoot insanely down the hill, flying and bumping and spinning out of control but somehow never falling out. (I made sure of this before I participated.) It was a total thrill. However, after four runs I had to stop because my poor neck could not take any more of the shaking. The kids gleefully used my extra runs.

Leavenworth: Hot tub

A great feature of this house is the giant covered porch, where the kids dump their wet things, and where there is a hot tub. I was surprised by how much time the kids spent in the hot tub. I was especially surprised by the middle schoolers; I have never seen Jordan enjoy such a thing before, and did not think of packing a swimsuit for him, but he and Ori and Ian and Nat and Nathaniel were all in there. They were like college kids. Some had brought swimsuits, Jordan went in his clothes, and Ori, who is the most adventurous, wore boxer briefs – and jumped in the snow to cool off! I wish I had pictures of his exuberance. Instead, just the younger kids… but they were exuberant too.

Leavenworth: Yard

One of the best things about this Leavenworth house is the yard full of snow. The kids run out there the minute we arrive and play for hours on end, without anyone having to take them anywhere or do anything other than yell at them to close the door, and maybe put their stuff in the dryer. It’s fantastic - probably the highlight of the whole winter, for our kids. Thanks to Don, Dale, and Juju for these gorgeous photos.

Aaron, Amara, and Maya led the construction of a very ambitious snowman. His middle body was so big that the kids built a snow ramp to roll it up onto the base. He was quite the friendly presence!

Leavenworth: Lodge

[Way behind on blogging, sorry, better late than never.] We had so much fun on our snowy weekend in Leavenworth last year, we were excited to do it again, and rustled up a bunch of friends to join us. We stayed in the same luxurious lodge as last time, with its eight bedrooms, two living rooms, huge double kitchen, hot tub, home theater, and yard full of snow. We played board games. 

We worked together on crossword puzzles. I usually do crosswords on the NYT app, but this was a device-free weekend for those under 18, so in solidarity I printed a bunch out. This made it way more fun to collaborate, and I have to say we were a killer team.

Some snuggled in with books.

Some played foosball.

Some just hung out.

We cooked delicious communal meals, poured gallons of cocoa into the children, and just generally enjoyed the heck out of each other. And this year there were no major injuries! We have already made reservations for next year.