Mar 21-23 Ceci's 2nd Birthday

Mar 21-23, 2014

Two years ago on Mar 19, 2012, Cecilia May Lanfear came into this world in a year that winter never really showed up, the trees were blossoming and tulips were blooming. This year she turned two in the year that winter is nowhere near ending, my sister still has a foot of snow in her front yard in southeastern Michigan. Funny how the years can be so different! Bring on SPRING!

Leah and Zac hosted their daughter Ceci's 2nd birthday party. All of the kids had fun going around and around the circle in their basement in a train.

Somehow Austin always ended up at the end of the slide line...

After several attempts Ceci was successful in blowing out her two candles!

  

Push away that vanilla cupcake, I need to make room for chocolate cake! (She is her father's daughter.)

Kitchen full of people!

Ceci hiding in the corner with her new princess dress and new dog purse. For a girl that has refused to wear dresses and skirts most of her two years, it cracks me up she is requesting princess dresses these days.

I had a nice visit in Detroit this weekend with my family, although it was a quick trip. In addition to the birthday party, I also got to spend some time with my girlfriend, Melissa and her family and my cousin Tina.

Mar 18 Crosby, Stills and Nash

Mar 18, 2014

Ryan and I met our friends, Steve and Janey for dinner and drinks before heading over to the Palace Theater in downtown Columbus to see Crosby, Stills and Nash (sans Young).

They are older now, but still really awesome and they continue to harmonize so beautifully. I knew more of their music than I thought I did. An impressive show!

Mar 17 Happy St Patrick's Day

Mar 17, 2014

After Halloween, St Patrick's Day is my second favorite holiday. Spring is in the air (well sort of this year), its a excuse to eat delicious comfort food, indulge in a little alcohol, listen to live music and hang out with good friends.

Ryan's specialty for lunch today, corned beef and veggies. Tastes amazing after 12 hours in the crockpot!

Bryne's Pub in Grandview, our go-to spot for St Patty's Day live music. We are enjoying the sounds of The Blarney Lads.

 Here come the Columbus Shamrock Club's Pipes

and Drums!

Yay! I love catching the bagpipes and drums.

Our crew for the evening, Kevin, Ryan, Greg, Lara and me.

 We ended the night with Shepard's pie and a friendly game of Cards Against Humanity. Oh yes, tears (of laughter) were shed.

Mar 5-12 Goodbye QX and RV

Mar 5-12, 2014

This last week has been up to 67 degrees and sunny in Ohio. It has been as cold as 7 degrees and snowing. Spring is so funny sometimes! We have said goodbye to our means of transportation and our road trip home last year all within 1 week.

Bye QX56, our one year lease is over! I thought you were huge and excessive at first, but I loved you and will miss you. Especially your heated/cooled seats and heated steering wheel :) Thanks Travis for the lease hook up.

Goodbye Outback 280RS! We found a lovely couple from rural Ohio nearing retirement and interested in joining their friends for some camping. Its bittersweet, but goodbye.

Feb 28 Powder Day at Canyons

Feb 28, 2014

Our last day we are skiing locally at Canyons. There was about a foot of powder that fell here yesterday also, so ski conditions were great! The sun was in and out making it much easier to navigate.

Skiing is a little slower with all that powder.

But falling is usually fun, like a world of Charmin!

Lindsay and I are all smiles on our last ski day. We met up with Jarrad's sister and her son Leo today too for a few runs. Thanks Jarrad for your hospitality as always. It was a great week away in Park City!

Feb 27 Snowbird

Feb 27, 2014

Our wish for some powder is coming true today. We drove a couple canyons over from Park City to ski at Snowbird Resort.

The base of snowbird is snow covered.

One challenging part of skiing during a snowstorm is the sky is white, the snow is white and your depth perception is minimal. Am I am about to ski off the edge, I don't know, its hard to tell? After one tram ride up and skiing down in white out conditions, I decided I needed to let everyone else brave it without me. I headed down for a few green runs before I found a nice warm spot in the ski center next to a heat vent.



 
Every branch is covered on our drive home. The snow continued all day.


Why we could barely see on the mountain!

Feb 26 Mountain Snowmobiling

Feb 26, 2014

Ryan, Jarrad and I took a ski break mid week. We went snowmobiling up in the mountains of Wasatch State Park. The vistas were beautiful!

 

Nice view.

 
Jarrad getting his snowmobiling legs. He is lovin' it.

 

Ryan braving a water crossing.

 

My turn. My feet got waterlogged. Good thing it was about 50 degrees and sunny today!

Ryan jumping a little hill. Nice air :)

Our guide was kind enough to take a pic of the the three of us. Looks like it was a gray and black kind of day...

Our guide, Cooper is taking on this steep hill first. The snow was too slushy to get all the way up. We stopped in the meadow below for lunch.

We ventured over to the back of Snowbird Ski Resort, we will be here tomorrow on skis.

This area looked otherworldly. Adjacent to this view was an old silver mine.


 
One last vista before we head home. What a great way to spend a sunny winter afternoon. Thanks Cooper and Lofty Peaks for a fun day!