After being cancelled in 2019 and again in 2020, the Emerald City Comicon came back to Seattle the first weekend in December.
Of course, they had all sorts of COVID safety protocols in place including proof of vaccination (or testing, if you weren't vaxxed).
We surprised the kids with a group costume idea based on Gravity Falls characters: Grunkle Stan, Bill Cipher, Mabel & Dipper Pines.
We decided to attend the Convention on Saturday and on Sunday.
The first order of business, after checking in and parking the car (valet parking was full - total bummer) was showing proof of vaccination to get our entry wristband.
It was well organized, and we didn't wait at all.
We were also there quite early, so that might have helped.
We headed to the Convention Center to go through bag-check, wristband-check and to line up for entry.
Although it was creepy to be waiting in such a large crowd of people during COVID times, it felt good to be attending something that felt "normal".
Mikey decided to sit to wait for the doors to open.
As soon as the doors openedd, the crowds dispersed, and it was much more comfortable.
Actually, it was the best comicon that we had ever been to. With the crowd limitations in place, there was never a time when we felt that there were too many people. Well, except for a few larger panels.
We wandered the show floor checking out the nerdy merchandise.
Like dice towers.
Sadly, the 501st Legion didn't seem to be at the convention, but the droid builders were!
There were many droids rolling through the halls.
This year, since we would be at the convention for two days, we decided to hit up more panels.
Our favorite panels of this day were a great Steven Universe Sing-Along and, of course, Twisted Toonz: where voice actors read scripts of famous movies in their different character voices.
This year's movie was "Planes, Trains & Automobiles".
Between walking around and visiting panels, it was soon time to head out to eat dinner.
It was the first time the kids have been out to eat since 2019.
We all had heaping bowls of pasta with various sauces/meats and Katie had steak.
We were the only ones in the restaurant in costume.
I had tiramisu in a cup for dessert.
It was really good.
We headed back to the Convention Center for the big Cosplay Competition.
More waiting in lines.
Bill was not pleased.
To make it a little bit more bearable, we let them have dessert.
There were some amazing costumes that evening.
A Queen Xenomorph costume won the evening.
You can read and see more about it here.
After the cosplay competition, the kids stopped for a picture with Snorlax.
We trekked back to the hotel for the evening.
Day two of the convention had arrived.
The lobby of the hotel was pretty small, but definitely cozy.
Hi.
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We had to wait for Huzbend to put our luggage in the car that was parked across the street.
The kids warmed themselves up by the fireplace and sat on the various comfy chairs.
The first thing we did was purchase some Dungeons and Dragons dice from a hometown retailer that had a booth at the event.
The kids don't think there is ever such a thing as too many dice....even though they have apps that roll dice for you nowadays.
Then we played some old arcade games.
I was able to play a few levels of Galaga before we moved on.
The show floor was even more spacious than Saturday.
Granted it was still morning.
It was fabulous.
We paid a visit to Artist Alley to check out all the massively creative and talented people.
We ended our time at Comicon at a Disney Sing-Along panel.
It was a good way to end our visit.
Time to head back to reality.
Here is a look at our Christmas decorations.
Say hello to Christmas Goat.
He doesn't work so well anymore.
I had to use a "chip clip" to get his wire to straighten so he would actually turn on.
I hope he lasts another year....
This is Snoopy, Reindeer (who maintains a year-round presence on our porch) and Private.
No explanation needed.
I only put lights in places where no ladder is necessary.
It makes the prospect of taking them down seem not so daunting.
Ahhhh.
The sweet teenage years when you have corn for dinner.
And I mean ONLY corn.
A big bowl of corn.
Things got busy during the second week of December.
Katie's school had an afterschool holiday party, Mikey went to a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" with a friend and I volunteered at a school district vaccine clinic.
Although Mikey's drama class wasn't able to put on a "live" production, they put together a movie of student-written one act plays. The movie was called, "As the Pencil Rolls".
The drama teacher was able to convince the administration to let us have an in-person movie premiere night.
There were two showings of the movie and students could invite their family members who sat in designated seats spaced throughout the theater.
The original idea included a reception afterwards, but that was nixed due to concerns over unmasking to eat (even though it would have been outside - humph).
I decided to make up take home hot cocoa cups for everyone.
I had Mikey help assemble them so he could get some volunteer hours for Junior Honor Society.
All together we made up 120 cups.
Another tiny bit of normal...
We got to be in the school theater again!
It was the first time since Dec. 2019 and Katie's last show as a 7th grader.
Ugh.
It had been too long.
Mikey took a break from hanging with his drama buddies to come and say hi.
You've seen these people before!
They're just all dressed up for winter instead of a summer party in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Yep.
Just like the older siblings, the younger all in drama class together.
...and his emphatic desk pounding.
After the movie premiere, the students headed outside for a reception line and to autograph programs.
Everyone got a take home cup o' cocoa.
As the event wrapped up, we stayed behind to help with cleanup.
We also stayed behind partially because Mikey was busy singing and dancing onstage with his friends.
Katie and her friend took time to visit with their former drama teacher.
So, I got this for my birthday from my Mom.
It was very entertaining.
Ralph didn't know quite what to make of it.
After he spent a good 30 minutes sniffing it and hoping that it would come alive and play, he consigned himself to the fact that it was fake.
That didn't; stop me from making him pose with it.
The resemblance is pretty good, eh?
Well, except for Ralph's knobble head.
I also got this for my birthday from Huzbend.
Apple crisp. Yummy.
That wasn't all that I got for my birthday.
Disney and Sony were nice enough to release "Spiderman: No Way Home" for my birthday.
An unknown benefit to having your birthday in the middle of December.
Lots of good movies are released JUST FOR YOU.
Like the Lord of the Rings movies.
Mikey was invited to see it on Saturday with some of his friends to celebrate a birthday.
So, he got a sneak peek
We ended up going to see it in IMAX on Sunday morning.
Mikey was good and didn't spoil any of the movie.
The Monday of Winter Break was spent prepping and packing for our upcoming trip to the mountains.
There had been a lot of snow in the area that we would be traveling to, and we were just a bit nervous about traveling conditions.
We were so distracted being nervous about driving and getting stuck there that we forgot to pack a lot of the food that we wanted to bring with us.
Whoops.
The next day, Katie drove up to the mountain and got us as far as the exit off the highway.
It was just a little too snowy for a learning driver.
The cabin wasn't too far off of the highway and - not a shocker - the driveway was not shoveled/plowed.
The car made it most of the way up the driveway, but we had to shovel so that we could actually park.
After a bit of confusion over how to unlock the door (which led us to discover that the sliding glass door was unlocked and open), we made it inside.
The cabin itself was beautiful.
But just like any AirBNB, there's always some "surprises".
"Surprises" noted in this one: the freezer was broken, the only heat in the house was a gas fireplace on the main floor, there was no cable TV just streaming services (Kids: "WHAT? NO FOOD NETWORK!?!? Let's go home."), and the kitchen was pretty sparce (we had like 4 spoons, and they were all extra-large size).
We got settled in and hoped that we didn't get stuck there.
The kids watched a holiday bake-off show on Netflix.
Huzbend got to work on dinner and realized all of the things that we forgot to bring.
While he was busy, I decided to wander around the house.
This was the bedroom Huzbend and I slept in.
It was located on the second floor off of the main bathroom and laundry room.
On the second floor there was also a game room with a spiral staircase that led up to a loft that contained two single beds.
This is where the kids slept.
They did NOT like the stairs.
They were wobbly.
Here is the view down from the loft to the main floor.
After dinner, we sat to watch more holiday bake-off.
Mikey was allergic to one of the couches, so we sat together on a leather love seat.
Katie sat on the floor next to the gas stove trying to stay warm.
This is a view up from the main floor to the third-floor loft.
Mikey is in the picture.
Look next to the black pipe.
When we had arrived that afternoon, it was snowing.
A good couple of inches had accumulated.
But overnight, the snow turned to rain.
The rain made the snow heavy, and it took turns sliding off the roof all night long.
This caused mini earthquakes as the snow slid noisily off the metal roof and slammed into the ground next to the house.
With not much sleep, we were up early the next day for our ski adventure.
First, though, we had to get all of the ice off the car.
There wasn't that much snow on the roads, and we were able to make it to the base of the mountain pretty easily.
We were skiing at Summit West at The Summit At Snoqualmie.
The Summit is a collection of four ski areas up in Snoqualmie Pass.
They also have a tubing park.
This was a first for Mikey.
He had never been skiing before.
As for Katie...well, let's say it had been a long time since she had been on skis.
Like, 10 YEARS.
(This is back in 2012, I think.)
We got geared up and walked over to the lodge.
Mikey decided that he wanted a lesson.
His rental equipment and lift ticket were included in a package.
Katie wanted to just try it on her own with Huzend and I as her "teachers".
Hmmmm.
Katie and Huzbend went to get their rental equipment, while I figured out where to take Mikey.
We were a bit early, so Mikey palled around with this bear statue until it was time to drop him off.
With Mikey successfully dropped off for his lesson, I picked up my rental gear and we were good to go.
But first, we had to get to the learning area.
Katie decided she wanted to put her skis on and make her way over.
It took a while.....and a bit of pushing.
And some more pushing.
We finally shuffled over to the magic carpet.
Katie got on it without falling(!) and made her way to the top of the beginner hill.
She should've taken a lesson.
We tried to show her how to snowplow and it mostly worked?
We had all forgotten how hard it is to get up when you've fallen over.
You know, with two large sticks attached to your feet.
Halfway down the hill - and it wasn't a very big hill - Katie had to take a break.
I mean, I got it.
She had fallen about a dozen times at that point.
Huzbend waited at the bottom and took these photos.
Here is a photo of me trying to convince her to get back up so that she could get to the bottom of the hill and lay down.
Someone was tired and getting grumpy.
Totally and completely understandable.
Meanwhile, down the hill, Mikey was learning how to walk on skis.
Katie rallied and made it down the rest of the way.
She decided to take a break and chill at the bottom.
Yep.
Huzbend fell.
I did too.
We both fell once.
Mikey was finally done learning how to walk on his skis. They finally made their way over to the magic carpet.
Upon making it to the top, they took turns skiing down.
There was a lot of falling.
Here he goes!
Annnnnd, he's down.
As you can see, some fog was rolling in and snow was starting to fall.
As Mikey made his way down once more...
...Katie decided to give it another try.
She went back up the magic carpet with Huzbend.
Taking a moment to visualize the run before pushing off.
BEEP. BEEP. BOOP.
And she's off!
Meanwhile....30 yards away.
Mikey's lesson came to a close and it was time to break for lunch.
We were the only ones in the lodge for lunch.
See? Empty.
We had brought lunch - as we always do - so we bought some chips, so we didn't feel bad for sitting there.
The kids were not very excited to get back out on the slopes.
Skiing was "painful".
I couldn't disagree with that.
The boots are a pain in the ass.
After lunch, Huzbend and I went up the mountain to ski a big slope.
The kids waited at the bottom near the fire pits.
It had gotten pretty foggy, and visibility was very limited.
"It's scary up here."
This is what it looked like at the top.
Yikes.
It was also snowing at this point.
Here we go.....
He's still got it.
I guess I do too.
When we got down, Mikey decided he wanted to try one more time.
Katie said, "HARD PASS!" and continued to toast by the fire.
Magic carpet time!
Huzbend came too.
WHO DAT?
Mikey decided that he had had enough for the day and parked it next to the fire with Katie.
Huzbend and I went up for one more long run.
After our run, we dropped off all our rental equipment and headed to the parking lot.
Quite a few inches of snow had accumulated during the day.
We decided to put snow chains on the car to help us get out of the parking lot and back to the cabin.
Now I don't have picture of us putting the chains on the car, but it took us about an hour.
Eventually, Mikey got tired of playing in the snow and hid in the car.
Katie just hid in there the whole time cuddling under some emergency blankets.
FINALLY, we finished putting on the chains, but not without lots of swearing, sore arm and shoulder muscles and cuts on hands.
The roads had gotten pretty dicey, and the chains made for easy - albeit slow - drive "home".
The kids and Huzbend played a drinking game while I cleaned up after dinner.
We spent the rest of that evening watching dessert competition shows on Netflix and Thor: Ragnarok.
It snowed a lot overnight.
There were no roof avalanches though, so that was a good thing.
The skies were clearing by morning.
Sort of.
It was hard to get the two sleepy heads out of bed.
Waiting for them to rouse, I snapped this shot out the windows from the third-floor loft bedroom.
While I was busy packing and getting the kids up, Huzbend was outside shoveling so that we could make it out of the driveway.
Lucky for us, the neighbors had a snow blower that they used to clear the main portion.
Our plan for the day was to go sledding at Hyak sno-park. Sno-parks are a thing in Washington state.
There are sno-parks for different uses. The one we were going to was for "snow play".
We decided to head home after sledding as there was another big storm headed our way that was forecasted to dump another few feet of snow.
Best to get out while the mountain pass was open.
The mountain passes close frequently in winter due to bad road conditions and avalanche danger.
It was good that we still had our chains on.
We needed them just to get out of the driveway and to get into the sno-park parking lot.
There was a pretty great sledding hill at this particular sno-park.
It had three lanes, and everyone just lined up to wait their turn to go down.
First up was Katie.
It was a pretty good-sized hill.
Mikey snuck his run in on another track when I wasn't looking.
As Mikey made his way back up the hill, Huzbend took a turn.
As soon as Mikey got to the top, he flew back down again.
I decided to walk down the hill to take some video of their runs.
Everyone took a few more runs and then were just too tired (or cold) to walk up the hill again.
It was quite windy with off and on snow showers.
Can't. Walk. Up. Hill.
Or can I?
The wind allowed some blue sky to peek through the clouds.
Katie decided to do a few more runs.
The gentlemen decided to wander off into the deep snow and chuck snowballs at each other.
"Is that all you got?"
"You want the thunder? I'm bringing the thunder!"
They did that for, like, 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Katie decided to build a snowman.
I busied myself with trying to stop from sinking waist deep into the snow.
Tiny snowman.
He was so cute.
The snow was quite fluffy, so it was hard to put a snowman together.
I guess Mikey ran out of thunder.
And then, he was promptly buried.
After a few hours of snow play, it was time for lunch.
There wasn't anywhere to eat, and it was pretty chilly outside, so we ate in the car.
Did I tell you that Mikey had started eating sun butter and jelly sandwiches?
It only took 12 years for him to like a sandwich.
Everyone had had their fill of snow, so we decided to call it a day.
Time to head home. To our actual home.
We left the chains on to get out of the parking lot but decided to remove them before we got on the highway.
They may have taken about an hour to put on...but they took about two minutes to take off.
Grrrr.
Bye bye snowy mountains!
Hello gingerbread house!
I had promised the kids that they could decorate the gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.
Originally, we had planned to be driving home on Christmas Eve.
In order to make sure that the house was sturdy and ready to decorate, I put it together before we left for our trip.
Who wouldn't eat an Oreo covered in chocolate frosting?
Time to play...
"Which side is whose?"
You decide....
Frenzied and phonetic.
Who could be the master behind these walls?
Symmetrical and stylish.
Who could it be?
We told the kids to go to bed so Santa could come.
And then, BAM! Presents were there.
It must've been magic.
The next morning, the kids got to have surprise allergy-safe cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Nope.
I didn't make them.
I bought them.
Present time!
What would Christmas morning be without some DICE?
Specifically, chicken dice.
And froggie dice, of course.
Ralph did not get dice.
A very fitting shirt for Katie.
Mindflayer or Kraken?
I guess it depends on if you're into hockey or Dungeons & Dragons.
These are hot cocoa bombs. They were all the rage.
I was able to find ones that are everything free...well, except the chocolate.
Huzbend got cookies for Christmas from Grandma.
He was happy.
Peeps and....
....Pokemon.
What a combination.
Don't worry, Mikey got video games too.
Katie got this super fuzzy rug for her room.
She was in love.
It felt like a "giant Ralph ear".
If you've ever felt Ralphs ears, you would agree.
The rest of the day was spent eating Peeps, playing Pokemon and laying on the rug.
Ralph agreed that it was very comfortable.
He wished he could have his own "Ralph Ear" rug.
Speaking of Ralph, he got presents too!
Alas, they were not long for this world.
The squeaker broke in one and the other was de-stuffed in about two weeks' time.
Such is the destiny of dog toys.
We went another Christmas without an official tree.
Well, except this one and the "live" one in our backyard.
("Live" is in quotes because I think it is partially dead after our 100 degree + heat last summer).
Plasti-Ralph got into the holiday spirit.
And, good ole Pip, was still as smiley as ever.
Dinner that evening was scrumdiddlyumptious.
Green beans (obvious), roasted fingerling potatoes (also obvious) and filet minon with a wine/mushroom sauce.
I'm hungry just looking at it.
The rest of Christmas was filled with phone calls to families, lots of eating, playing video games, watching the Disney Christmas Parade (which is just a large advertisement for the parks with singers interspersed in between), and chilling out.
We woke up the next morning to ......
Yep.
I would say, we got about five inches.
Mikey shoveled the driveway to get "community service hours" for Junior Honor Society.
Katie decided that she had had enough snow for the year and parked herself under a blanket on the couch.
The rest of us headed out to our local sledding hill.
I love when the snowflakes sit on Ralphs head.
We made Ralph wear his embarrassing jacket.
I forgot to mention that it was actually cold here.
The high temp on this day was 20 degrees.
I'm not gonna say this was a disaster....
Because it wasn't.
I was shocked.
But it did lead to a snowball fight.
"Mommy. I want to sniff the snow."
Being tired out from our ski/sled trip a few days earlier, Mikey called it quits.
We retreated inside to escape the cold weather and drink hot cocoa.
The following week brought continued below freezing temps a tiny bit more snow.
Mid-week - after some partial ice melt - we met some friends at another sledding hill.
There was just enough snow and ice to make for a thrilling, if not painful, ride down.
Ouch.
Don't worry.
Katie had her helmet on.
Only because she hates hats.
Don't ask. I cannot explain.
Recovering from a trip down the hill.
It was a pretty steep hill to walk up.
Good thing there was a bench up there.
Wheeeeeeeeee!
One of the dads attempted to do the "downward dog" yoga pose on a sled.
It didn't quite work out.
We were not surprised.
The kids had one final race down the hill, and we packed it up.
It was New Year's Eve.
This was the state of the gingerbread house.
Inspired by Huzbend's cookie gift from Grandma, Katie decided to make everything-free Santa Snax for her and Mikey to enjoy.
They were a little gooey in the middle, but they thoroughly enjoyed them.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
New Year's Eve seems to be all about waiting.
Waiting for friends to arrive.
Waiting for midnight.
Waiting for Mommy to stop watching Walt Disney World East Coast New Year's Eve fireworks and pet me.
COVID makes things so complicated.
Our friends had close contact with another person in their family over Christmas who was then designated as a close contact of a COVID positive person.
They all took rapid tests which were negative but were still waiting for their PCR test results.
We'd been COVID nervous for so long, it had made decisions like these so hard.
We decided to go for it.
They brought along their little doggy, Oliver.
He proceeded to play with all the toys that Ralph hadn't touched in forever.
Ralph was jealous.
Mikey and his friend headed downstairs to play some Dance Dance Revolution.
There was a lot of giggling, and they were both out of breath when done.
Meanwhile upstairs, the teens played a taiko drum game.
All the while, Ralph kept a keen eye on Oliver.
To kill some more time before midnight, we played a drinking game.
It was a game in which you can end up with a bag on your head....
...You might have to text a friend and be the first one to hear back....
...or you can all end up talking like cowboys for an hour.
Everyone was entertained.
FINALLY, the countdown had begun!
Everyone was set and ready to go with their beverage, their grapes and their noisemakers in hand.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Queue the confetti!!
Queue the noisemakers!!
Queue the laughing so hard that you snarf your beverage!!
Queue trying to scarf down twelve grapes in one minute without barfing!!
I am happy to say that all was accomplished.
There was no barfing.
Oliver didn't like fireworks.
He cuddled with his mommy.
Was the party over?
Not quite.
There was a bit of hyperness.
The kids decided they needed to do jumping jacks to ring in the New Year with good health.
Yes. This was after drinking too much soda and scarfing twelve grapes.
Hello 2022.
Wondering just what you have in store for us.....
