Snow's Last Fling for the Season

Our daughter celebrated her 21st birthday this past week.  It is hard to believe our little baby girl is now an official adult!  The years have been wonderful, each one passing by more swiftly it seems than the one before!

To celebrate the big day with her, we chose to go have one last fling with winter...

We went to a local ski resort that has an amazing tubing hill.  We have come here many times and have always had such a fun time.  But this time, we all agreed it was absolutely the best we have ever had!

We have had days and days and days of rain and mud, and I was worried that the hill might not have enough snow.  However, the owners assured me that it was going to be just fine when I called to make reservations.  The very day we were to go, the sun came out in such a glorious way, just as if the Lord was smiling down on us! After enduring days and days of rain, we were thrilled to not be going down the hill in rain, but in sunshine!  We were going, rain or shine, but OH how glad we were to go with such glorious sunshine!

The little creek that passes by the hill was roaring today, full of all the water that had been falling out of the skies!

There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and the sun was so warm, we were soon stripping layers of clothing because we didn't know what to expect.  Hats, gloves, mittens, jackets, all were coming off!  It was still about 40 degrees outside, but with the warm sun, it was was like a heat wave!

The reason it was the best time we've ever had was not just because of the sunshine, but because we had the entire place to ourselves! Yes! That has never happened before!  For a full 2 hours we were able to slide down the hill, and not have to wait in line to be pulled back up in our tubes to slide back down again.  It was amazing!

Because of all the rain we had gotten, and the freeze the night before, the hill was crazy fast, it was almost pure ice going down!  Wheee! Oh my, it was a quick flight down! In a blink of an eye, that was it, it was over!

At the bottom of the hill they had spread straw to slow the tubes down.  It was a good thing they did that, because by the time you hit the bottom of the slope, you were almost flying!

My husband and I did about 10 rounds up and down, and then I decided it was time to take some pictures, so we sat on a bale of straw about halfway down the slope, and got some great shots of the kids and my daughter's friend who came with us as they flew by us.

Soon even they got wore out from all the fun zipping and flying, and I think we were all hungry too, so it was time to go.

We told our daughter we would treat her to lunch, and she got to pick the place.  Originally, she had chosen Panda Express.  My kids and I love Chinese food, but my husband doesn't care for it at all.  He is a meat and potato kind of guy, if you know what I mean!  However, because it was our daughter's choice, he was game for it.

When we showed up at Panda Express, our daughter noticed that a new restaurant had just opened up next door called "NUDO".  I had never heard of it, but apparently it is a ramen noodle Japanese restaurant, and our daughter changed her mind and wanted us to try this place out.  So we did!

Tonkotsu with fried Goyoza 

We needed an interpreter! Thank goodness for the lovely waitress who helped us understand the menu and put it into English context for us. I ordered the chicken ramen Tonkotsu with Goyza (fried spring rolls).

My husband and son ordered the beef ramen which was called "Shoyu". That seemed safe for them, lol.  And we were all amazed as we watched my husband carefully take his first bite.  My husband is known for being a picky eater, and this didn't look like his type of food at all.  However, with much gusto, he took his first bite, and ... his reaction was a smile... he LOVED it! We were all amazed, and glad that it passed his taste test.  Indeed, the food was excellent, and we really enjoyed the unique different taste, but it was very, very good.  Kind of like wonton soup with noodles and vegetables.  I would highly recommend it, if you've never tried Japanese ramen noodles, they really are good :)

Back at home, sweet little Riley had been outside all day patiently waiting for us, and she just collapsed in exhaustion when we got back inside, lol! It's hard work being on guard duty!

After such a fun day, we were brought back to the reality of the springtime world we are living in... mud, mud and more mud!

We were SO thankful that the clouds parted and the sun shone for our fun adventure together, we needed all that wonderful vitamin D, and good memories.

We have had to use 4x4 to get in and out of the driveway because the mud is horrendous.  We have a lot of gravel and base on our driveway, but not nearly enough apparently.  This is the worst year for mud that we've had here.  As soon as it dries up, we have plans to get several more loads of base and gravel hauled in.  What a lovely spring mess! But it is not all bad... because in the springtime...

... the most amazing rainbows begin to appear in the sky... this lets me know too that spring is well on its way!

This gorgeous rainbow showed up in the skies after another round of rain had passed by.

The world around us just sparkled from the light mixing with the rain drops, and the two glorious rainbows!

It was such a large rainbow, that from my perspective, I was not able to fit them into the lens of my camera.

This was other side of the rainbow, it was a large expansive one!

We can't have rainbows without the rain, now can we? And so, I give thanks for all things, even the mud.  For soon it will dry up, and the ground will be completely replenished and green shoots will break forth and an abundance of green-hued joy will abound in our yards quite soon... and for that I give the Lord praise... all seasons that come have the good and the bad alongside each other, and one can't exist without the other.

And so I remind myself to smile when I look out into the yard, because soon, very, very soon, I will have flowers... why indeed,  my tulips (just planted last fall) smiled at me today when I walked through my garden, as they burst forth from the earth...

Soon... soon... they whispered... spring will be here... and I nodded my head in agreement.

Yes!  Spring IS coming!