East or West...

... home is best.

We're back :D  Went to the Oregon coast for Thanksgiving - just like two years ago - and had a wonderful time.  Thanks to my very, very generous parents :D  Same people, same rental house, same beach... good times.  Just a little crazy getting there, but then it was all good.

My dad decided to buy a new (to him) truck.  In South Carolina.  So he and my brother flew across the country to get it, and drive it home.  Rather, to meet us in Oregon.   So, in a shuffle of vehicles and work-schedules, the boys and I rode down with my mom, and Kerry with my sister.  (It made sense.)

We planned to leave on Tuesday, but - as I mentioned - it snowed over the weekend.  And on Monday it hit Seattle.  And it was insanity.  Because here's the thing about western Washington.  We can drive up in the hills to snow any day of the year.  But it doesn't actually snow down in the cities very often because we're near the water (which moderates the temperature - and there's your mini-meteorology lesson for the day), so we're not as prepared for it as you might think.  Not so much in the way of plows and sanding equipment.  (I've actually seen a truck go through our neighborhood with two city employees standing in the back and shoveling sand onto the road.  Seriously.)

And the drivers?  You'll hear this from nearly everyone with a Y-chromosome:

Well, I know how to drive in the snow.  It's those other wackos you need to watch out for.  But I know how to handle it.

Right.  And I can slam-dunk.

Did you see on the news that many people who left their day jobs in Seattle on Monday evening didn't get home until from 1 to 3 am?  True.  (To be fair, you should know that the snow here is fairly wet, and when driven on quickly compacts to ice.)

So Tuesday morning my mom called and said,

On the news they're telling everyone that doesn't absolutely have to get somewhere to stay home.

So we need to get going right away.

All right, Mom, I see your logic.  (?)

So we loaded all our stuff, extra food and water, warm clothes, blankets, hats, gloves, boots, and my three precious babies (!) into her car and took off.  Praying for safety.  (Okay, I know they're not babies.  But when possible danger is involved, they're My Babies.)

And it was amazing.  I think everyone was scared to go out.  And yes, there was snow on the road from Everett to Olympia, but with hardly any traffic, we sailed right through.  Easy squeezy.

Got to our rental in the (fading) daylight, without being bundles of nerves.

And Gramma even took us out to dinner.  And here was our moment of comic relief.  She wanted to go to a Lincoln City institution - The Pig 'n Pancake.  But Gunnar was a bit concerned.  He wasn't sure that Christians ought to be going there.  Huh?  Um, say it fast.  He thought it was the Pagan Pancake.  Too bad for Gramma -  it was closed - so we settled for Li'l Sambo's. (No kidding. Not part of the chain.)

I'll try to get some pictures up, but in the meantime... it was all great, but it's good to be HOME!