Mt. Hood

I wrote this blog two weeks ago...so sorry for the dated info, but I wanted to post it so people knew about our trip to Mt. Hood!  So here you go...

I have so much to blog about and my temptation is to write it all in a single blog, but I am going to have some self control and write about one subject at a time.

Mike was supposed to be gone on a business trip last week, Wednesday - Friday.  His boss ended up getting sick and his family was sick, so they ended up not traveling to California.  Yay for us!  I was not looking forward to Mike leaving again. 

On Tuesday morning last week I was talking with some parents at Tommy's preschool as we were waiting for the kiddos to get out of school and they had taken their kids up skiing over President's Day weekend.  I thought what a fun idea and Tommy is definitely the age I want to start him skiing since I was 4 when I started skiing.  So then daydreaming, I thought wouldn't it be nice to go up to Mt. Hood during the week and have the mountain not be crowded at all.  Then Mike called me and said basically the same thing - although not skiing, just general mountain fun.  So spur of the moment we were headed to Mt. Hood on Thursday last week for the night.  Mike's wonderful cousin Mary Jo came and stayed with Jesse and Molly (the dog and cat respectively).  We packed dinner - meatloaf and a mashed potato casserole - for Thursday night since we were staying in a condo at Resort at the Mountain that had a full kitchen. 

We were able to check in early to the condo on Thursday, which was great because Morgan needed a nap.  The condo was great!  It was two bedroom two and two and a half bath condo with a kitchen and a full washing machine and dryer.  Morgan took a nap and then woke up early so we headed up to Timberline.

We had cheese fondue and beers for a late afternoon snack.  The kids had great hot chocolate.  It was a great atmosphere and made me wish we were staying there.  Morgan was able to meet the Lodge's St. Bernard puppy.  Then of course Mike (the softie) went to the gift shop and bought both Morgan and Tommy a stuffed St. Bernard puppy.

We headed back to the condo and prepared the dinner we brought from home...meatloaf, a mashed potato casserole and asparagus.  Yumm.

We also decided that we needed to stay another night.  It was so much fun to have a mini-spur-of-the-moment vacation that I just wanted to keep hanging out.  So Mike checked with the front desk and we were able to stay!  Yay! 

So the next morning we got up and headed to Summit Ski Area and went intertubing.  Morgan made it down the hill once with me in tow...and Tommy and Mike made it down the hill three times!  They had fun, but then it was time for hot cocoa.  So we sat and enjoyed our hot chocolate. 

We went back to the condo for lunch and naps.  Then we made Carbenerra pasta for dinner.  It was super yummy and totally what I remember from being over in Black Butte as a kiddo during the winter.  It was fun to share that with the kids.

The next morning, our friends the Mitchells came up to enjoy the snow with us.  We had a great time sledding on the golf course by the condo, but as noon approached, it was time to pack up the condo and checkout.  We went to the Zig Zag Inn and all the kids and I had grilled cheese sandwiches and the adults mostly had burgers.  The pizza there looked really good so if we go back I will definitely order pizza.

Time to head home and all-in-all it was one of the best trips we have had as a family.  Really fun just hanging out!

Cheers to spur of the moment trips!