In 2020, the Varsity XC team started a holiday party and scavenger hunt tradition for team building during covid. It must have been such a bummer not really having a season at all. Anyway, last year was our first time being part of it and the kids (and parents) had such a fun time! The son of the family who traditionally organized it graduated last summer, so I decided to take over the tradition for a while. Mother Nature had other plans in mind and threw a bunch of snow and ice our way, so the 5-6 mile run turned into a 3 mile hike in snow boots. There were ambushes by XC alumni and Bigfoot. Then everyone came back to the house for dinner, dessert, and a white elephant game. It was a fun night!

This year we didn’t go to Maui, but Jonathan and I decided to get away for a long weekend on Oahu to see the sun. Unfortunately, it rained more than half the time we were there, but it was still nice to get away. Thanks to Grammy and Papa for watching the kids!

We went to Pearl Harbor. It was interesting to see and really brought to life my great uncle Don’s stories of surviving the day on the USS Oglala.

 

We got to see the Navy band rehearse
  

We got a day and a half of sun and two days of clouds and rain. Here’s us trying to soak up the very last of the sun we saw there.

In November we visited Nicole up at WWU. It was great to see her and catch up. Kind of a trip visiting our niece at the college where we met. Avery met up with a friend there for breakfast and also ate with Nicole. We got to see her dorm and take her out for a couple meals. Makes me miss college!

Edens Hall, Nicole’s dorm

Fiamma Burger

Mallard Ice Cream

Avery liked the piano in the dorm

Nicole’s room

Flying the drone

Giant sequoia on campus

All dressed up for the wine gala at The Club

My friend got free tickets to Thunder Down Under at the Snoqualmie Casino. They even came with a meet and greet! Fun ladies night out, and we ran into a surprising number of friends there!

Thunder From Down Under at Snoqualmie Casino on November 18, 2022.

Snow in November! Layla and Kennedy

Silas, making himself useful

We spent Thanksgiving at Grammy and Papa’s again this year. The Avery’s came over from Pullman and Nicole came down from WWU. It was great to have the family together again, especially since many of us missed out on being together at Nicole’s high school graduation.



 

Playing Yahtzee

Avery and his team had a fantastic cross country season. It seemed like they PR’d almost every race, always pushing each other to do their best. It’s so much fun watching them set goals and work to achieve them.

Nike Hole in the Wall, in Portland – boys Varsity came in 1st in their division!

Girls took first in their class, best of the best!

Time for a dip after the hard work

Avery and Dallen, always sticking together

Team cheerleader

Senior recognition at the last home race

Districts at Lakewood HS in Arlington

State-bound! The girls team qualified, along with one of the boys, Drew. He chose Avery to be his roommate/wingman in Pasco. The girls finished 7th and Drew came in 30th. Avery hopes it is a preview for the boys team next year.

With Coach Crane

Avery was awarded the Kelly King (no relation) award, for being the team cheerleader.

Varsity and Freshman poster