March update

We started March off with Alesha's 3rd birthday (see post below), then the boys tried skiing and snowboarding for the first time, we attended our first Holi Festival,  we lost our beautiful cherry blossom tree from the "out of the blue" snow, and the boys had their 2nd band concert of the year.

I scored a sweet deal on SharingSpree for a rental of ski equipment, a lesson, and an all day lift ticket.  We have been waiting for such a deal for quite some time.  After seizing the opportunity both boys were outfited and headed up to Mt. Hood Summit with their dad for their first taste of skiing and snowboarding.  These boys were hooked after the first couple hours.  They had the perfect weather and by the end of the day you would never have guessed it was their first time on the mountain.  It has been great to see the boys share in their dad's love of the mountain.  They have a blast EVERY time they go and can't wait until the next weekend arrives to head back up. 

Luke is in the gray coat getting some instruction

Martin headed down the mountain after his lesson.

On March 10th we attended our very first Rang Barse (Holi Festival).  This was SO much FUN!!  We had hoped that 2 years ago we would have been in India bringing our daughter home, celebrating Alesha's first birthday, and celebrating Holi in India, but our adoption story didn't play out like we had planned.  When I started talking about a possible Holi Festival here in our area with Sushmita the owner of Bollywood Movez, I was really excited!  Let me tell you, this lady really knows how to throw a party! 

I was surprised by the sheer number of people that came (500 + people).  There was LOUD Indian music playing, Bollywood dancing, a catered Indian lunch, and lots of color, color and more COLOR!  Alesha, seemed a bit timid at first and then as the minutes ticked by  time went on I watched as she completely check out.  It was so strange to see that blank stare and that look of vacancy in her face.  It was reminisent of when we first brought her home.  I think it was just too much at once.  After about an hour she came out of her "shut down" mode and really began to engage in the activities.  She was throwing color, eating, and wiggling to the music.  I was not sure how she would react to the event, but was surprised by the complete shutting down.  It made me so sad to see her like that.  Maybe it brought back too many memories for her.  Whatever the case, she brightened up and enjoyed the rest of the day.  We had a BLAST and we will be first in line for tickets to next years event!

So excited to go, we purchased the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th adult tickets and the 2nd chilren's ticket to the event :-)

The kids before the real party started.  Sushmita dabbed color on Alesha's face when we first arrived....so cute.

Look at those beautiful colors!  Alesha, wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Luke on the other hand caught on in no time.

This was about half way through the throwing of color.

Toward the end of the color throwing

Martin completely covered in color

Me and Alesha towards the beginning

Daddy, Alesha, and Mommy at the end.

We ran into a few friends, too.

March 22nd we had a very wet and heavy snow that fell.  As a result in the middle of the night we heard a very LOUD scraping noise.  It would best be described as a small cat trying to get traction as he slid off the roof.  That was the first sound that startled us from our slumber quickly followed by what I would call a bobcat or lion trying to get fraction as he slid off the roof.  It scared the dickens out of me.  We looked out the window into our pitch black yard and didn't see anything that stood out as strange.  We just said that was really weird and went back to bed.  Well in morning this is what we saw as the sun started rising.  YIKES!  Our HUGE cherry blossom tree in the back yard could not withstand the weight of the heavy snow and came crashing down in the middle of the night.  Thankfully it missed the house, but the sound we heard was the branches scratching the windows and side of the house as it fell to the ground.  Mystery solved, but WOW, what a mess we had to clean up.  It ripped up the fence when the roots of the tree popped out of the ground.