Winter is coming… and we're leaving!

We’ve had a really nice couple weeks of “Indian Summer” around here (it just occured to me that that term is probably racist…) but it can’t last long. We’ve cleaned out the garage and put most of the outdoor toys away. We bought an “electric snow shovel” cause we can’t afford a snow blower, and the old bum leg is going to make shoveling awful challenging.
These are good plans for winter, but an even better plan is just to leave. Since the accident meant not much of a summer for us this year, we decided to reject winter and stay somewhere warmer. Making for two big trips for the whole family:
In December all 5 of us are getting on a plane and spending a week in the Seattle area. This will be the first flight for each of our kids — hopefully the first of many. Nic has a museum pass that will let them explore lots of Seattle’s neat venues, while I’ll be participating in our global sync week at corporate HQ. A friend from work is trying to find us a babysitter so Nic and I can attend the team Christmas dinner party.
We’ll be home for Christmas and all the festivities — we’re hoping to keep the gift acquisition lightweight this year and just enjoy the family that is around. But New Year’s Day we’re all piling into the minivan and driving down to Florida. We’re planning on a couple of visits with friends and co-workers either on the way there or back, but we’ve got a house rented on the gulf coast for the whole month of January. If all the snow storms could plan on hitting while we’re gone, that would be great!
We have a fairly large house, with lots of visiting room — we know of at least two groups coming down to visit us, but there’s room for more if you’d like to meet up in Florida!
Snow looks very nice, and there are some nice outdoor sports to be done, but shoveling sucks, being snowed in sucks, driving in snow sucks. We’re looking forward to some exciting adventures as a family — in warmer climates.