Books from the Heart

I am the point person at my office for the Books from the Heart Campaign. The purpose is to collect books for children in state custody. For every new book you donate you will receive a $10.00 certificate to McCormick and Schmicks restaurants. I will have certificates or you can donate at any Barnes and Noble. The benefit of giving them to me is they will be distributed to the children that are served in my branch. So dig deep and buy a new book or two for children who wouldn't otherwise get a new book.

Skiing....again

When Travis and I decided to teach Carina to ski we decided that it was really all about "growing" a skier. Which as we figure it means that it is our job to make this as much fun as possible for her. We initially started off taking her in a child carrier back pack... and that worked until Travis took a bit of a fall with her and she HATED it after that. We were worried that we had ruined it for her forever. But thanks to some you tube videos of little kids skiing Carina was hooked and hence the "I wanna ski by myself" post of earlier.

We did buy her her own skis and she has enjoyed it. We took her up with the sled this weekend, she wanted to start off in the sled and stayed in there all the way to our lunch spot. It is a beautiful spot with a great view of Mt. Hood.

















Carina and I stayed at the top of the hill while Travis made the drop. We made the snowman and went Sledding. It was an incredibly fun and silly time.









Carina managed to ski for about 1/4 of a mile back down to the car. She did really well but she was tired and got back in the sled and passed out all the way back to the car. When she woke up to get in the car she told me " that was really fun skiing."

Carina's magic carpet ride

Carina took her first ride at the resort. Mt. Hood Meadows has a conveyor belt like contraption that gets kids, mostly, up a small hill with out the complications of a lift line or the dislodged shoulder of a rope tow.









The first attempt Carina ended up on her buns and in tears. So Travis was then in charge of getting her up the hill. She did pretty good so long as we were both holding a hand going slowly.









But she eventually loosened up and enjoyed going fast and even let me take some action shots.

She even tried a few "fries" and "pizzas"