Winter Finally Arrived

 Last week, we started being teased with the idea of lowland snow in our area. It is fair to say that we snow-lovers in Seattle are a bit skeptical when snow is in the forecast... we've been burned too many times. Well, this past weekend, the snow-loving Olsons were over-the-top happy with the weather! Over a 3-day period, we accumulated almost 11 inches of snow in our yard, with a couple of drifts in places that measured over 2 feet. WOO HOO!

The timing of this series of storms really couldn't have been more perfect. It was a long weekend thanks to Presidents' Day and the kids' school being on mid-winter break. Plus, due to the pandemic, we were home anyway! 

We had snowball fights, built a couple of snow people, shoveled the walkway and sidewalk, made snow angels, went sledding, and just enjoyed the beauty of the snowy landscape. All-in-all, a fairly perfect few days of winter. 

Snow: Day 1

Conor, Huck, and Finn checking out the snow

Not sure if the dogs or Conor had more fun

Ready for sledding

WHEEEEEEEEEE

Snow: Day 2

Snowy fun

Nothing to sneeze at here

Conor and our baseball cap-wearing snowman

Smile!!

Snow angels for the front yard

Snow: Day 3

Ready... aim... fire!

Annika taking cover behind the snowman

Snowball incoming

Exploding snowball

Snowball action

Happy campers

Snow fun

Snow fun is exhausting

One mighty happy kiddo

Thank you to Mother Nature for sending this chapter of winter weather our way. We thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciate you taking us into consideration. 

Annika's Hedgehog and Owl Sketches

Annika has expressed an interest in art/sketching for a considerable amount of time. (She obviously inherited this skill from Eric's side of the family; trust me when I say not inheriting my drawing "skills" is a great thing for her!)

Over the past few weeks, she has started taking online art/sketching classes through and has truly enjoyed them. One of the instructors offers a series of animal sketching classes that have captured Annika's attention. She says that learning how to draw more realistic (rather than more comic-style) drawings has been a fun challenge. A big plus for her, too, has been learning how to shade to show depth of field in her sketches. The instructor for these classes has been good for her because he gives feedback on each student's work along the way, which Annika has found helpful. (She took another sketching class from a different instructor who didn't offer feedback, and Annika noticed how much more she grows with feedback.)

So far, Annika has taken a hedgehog class and an owl class. Later today, she'll take a fox class, so stay tuned for that masterpiece. 

In the mean time, here are the first two animals from her art gallery...