The Hill Family Highlights: Winter

It has been quite the winter wonderland here. Looking back over the past 3 winters when we first arrived in Michigan, we had one of the mildest winters in years (according to our neighbors), hardly any snow, and a record early spring. We thought, "hey this isn't bad, we got this!". The next year, we had way more snow and spring didn't come until the end of April! And this year with the Polar Vortex (-30 wind chill!), it has been a record breaking winter in Michigan for snow, and cold. We are grateful for the chance to experience winter in this capacity, but are definitely looking forward to sunny days!

Kevin made a little snow ramp in the front yard which the boys have enjoyed. Kevin is busy with school, but is much more relaxed with this being his last semester. We are looking forward to moving back to California in May. Elijah is keeping busy at school, Jacob turned 3 in December, and Jonathan will be 6 months on Saturday. The time goes by so fast! We are keeping busy, staying warm and looking forward to Spring!

December/January Pictures...

our first attempt at a gingerbread house :)

proud of their snowman

Thankfully we were able to escape the cold over Christmas. We ended up spending almost 3 weeks in sunny California. Due to some unfavorable weather conditions we extended our trip to avoid some of the harsh storms hitting the Michigan area. It was great to be able to celebrate Jacob's 3rd birthday with family and for everyone to meet Jonathan. Here's some pictures over Christmas break...

Our big 3 year old!

Santa Ana Zoo for Jacob's birthday

Christmas with the family

Jonathan meets Great Grandma Mar for the first time!

Tide Pools at sunset in Laguna Beach...

Viking Cousins courtesy of Grandpa :)

At the end of January we decided to take a trip out to Chicago with some friends. Little did we know that we would be driving through several snow storms on the way. I don't think I've ever been so afraid of driving in my life! I think we saw over 15 vehicles stranded on the side of the road, including 2 big rigs at different points along the way. There was a point when all traffic stopped because you literally could not see the car in front of you. To make it even more memorable, poor Elijah got car sick and threw up half way through and we couldn't even stop to clean, we just had to keep going because you couldn't see any exits or off ramps. We finally made it to Chicago safely (thank the Lord!)and had a great visit. We went to the Planetarium and Aquarium the first day and the Fields Museum the next. It was a quick trip, but fun memories.