A Sunny Weekend at the Cypress Cabin

Liam and Hana row the luggage towards the beachOff to the cabin

Liam and Ben clown around on the beach

Anna on crutches (all weekend - what determination)

New Year's Day

Our dear friends Kevin & Gitta (and Sam) Cashman sent Liam this great t-shirt in honor of you know who on the floor.

A trip to the beach on New Year's Day.

The Yurt

Liam stand outside the "bathroom"....brrrrr.........

On our way home from Yellowstone, we spent two nights with Uncle Damian and Aunt Darcy in their yurt in St. Ignatius (outside Missoula). They are in the process of building a barn/house on their beautiful 30 acres and it was fun to see their amazing process. Here is Liam marching around the yurt (Damian and Darcy have lived in this yurt for 6 years - no running water or electricity...they are hard-core and inspiring.)

Taking a tour of the property with Uncle Damian leading the way.

Looking back toward their new house from up on the hill. What an amazing piece of land at the bottom of the Mission Mountains!

While visiting, we helped Damian and Darcy install one of their two woodstoves. Here we light the inaugural fire and enjoy some wine and snacks.

Cross-Country skiing with a three year old????

Having been in Yellowstone for a few days, and having the benefit of borrowing cousin Finn's skis, we decided to give Liam a turn on the groomed trail. Here Liam and Gabe "suit up" for the expedition.

Liam did great. It was a very cold afternoon, with snow blowing all around, but he stuck with it a good hour and was able to shuffle along and stay upright. It was fun, although Gabe and I had to take turns going out and back to stay warm. Skiing in tracks is great for kids....we highly recommend it.

Liam on his skis.

Heading out....

Snow fun.

Yellowstone

We spent about 9 days with Gabe's family at Gabe's brother Chris' cabin right outside Yellowstone National Park. It was a fun-filled, snowy, family-filled week. Here are a few pictures from the week of Christmas. Above, Gabe, Liam and I enjoy some "hot drinks" sitting around an outside fire one evening.

Building the fire and enjoying the beautiful evening and surroundings.

The girls on vacation - clockwise from the top: Aislinn (sister-in-law), me, Anne (Gabe's sister), Lisette (Gabe's mom) and Helena (Gabe's youngest sister). Darcy, my other sister-in-law, had left by the time we took this picture. Gitta, Gabe's middle sister, is in the Peace Corps - due home this spring!

Cross-Country skiing in West Yellowstone: Gabe, Anne and Helena.

Here is a picture of the cabin and the kids about to go down a monster hill on the big, wooden tobaggen! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Time with Cousins

Being at the cabin near Yellowstone was great time for Liam to catch up with his cousins. Ashton is 5 and Finn is almost 4. They had a ball and got along (most of the time) without interventions. The "boy energy" was running high and Ashton sometimes needed to sit out and read or be quiet. When it got too high, it was time to bundle up and head out into the snow.....

Liam and Finn playing in the snow outside the cabin.

"Two little old men" sitting around the fire.

Bedtime story with Uncle Gabe.

.... and another with Mutti.

Snowcoach Tour of Yellowstone

We arrived at Chris and Aislinn's cabin (Gabe's brother and his family) on the evening of December 23rd. It was a loooooooooooooong drive to Yellowstone and the weather added some additional hours on the road. The Mast clan had almost all arrived by that time and we were greeted with a great dinner, lots of drinks and the crazy noise (and warmth) of Gabe's large family. Christmas Eve, a group of us took a tour of Yellowstone in a snowcoach (see above) from the 50's. The driver, Mike, was a real character - an Irishman and friend of Aislinn's family. He had some great stories to tell and lots of history, geology and wildlife information to share. Here are a few pictures from the tour.

Liam looks out to window to get a glance at some elk.

An elk from the window of our "coach".

Liam's long-awaited "Bifon" (as he pronounces it) spotting.

The three cousins head out to see "Old Faithful".

Snow!

W0w, what fun to have snow for the holidays! We had snow on the ground for a solid two weeks (which is pretty much unheard of in the Pacific Northwest). I got a couple "snow days" off from school which was great and helped me get ready for the holidays. Here are a few pictures from the week before Christmas.

Liam enjoys the snow in our neighborhood.

Walking around the block on a sunny, snowy morning.

Our house.

I had to take this picture as we drove off for Montana on December 22nd. We were so sad to leave a potentially "White Christmas" at home. Luckily, we were heading to cold, snowy Montana...with lots of snow predicted on our drive east...yikes. So what if we have three mountain passes to cross? Good old Subaru!