Four Seasons of Suncadia - Winter: check!

It's been almost a year since we first heard about Suncadia. Last February, at the Seattle Home Show, we learned that this "Suncadia" place we'd heard about in passing for many years, isn't a retirement community at all (seriously, for some reason that's what we thought); it's actually a resort community for families, with lots of people who own second homes there and some, even, who live there year-round. AND, we discovered, there's a private community at Suncadia, called Tumble Creek, where homes cannot be rented at all, where the lots are bigger, and where it's generally just a lot quieter and more private, but equally as beautiful.

 Long story short, we visited quite often in late winter and spring, and closed on our new property at Tumble Creek in June. We visited often in the summer and even once in the fall, but never saw Suncadia in the "dead of winter" - though we'd seen photos like this:

 The annual Owners' Meeting was today, so we decided to visit Suncadia in all its winter glory.

Snoqualmie Pass had looked iffy for the past few days, with news of a winter storm approaching, but the drive to Suncadia was just about as quick (80 minutes) and easy (all freeway) as it is in the summer.

The road was wet but no problem at all...

 ...even as we reached the summit - where there's still no skiing, but I have a feeling there will be soon!

Quinn loved the ride and didn't mind the cold at all!

Just as we thought, Suncadia looked beautiful in the snow!

Inside...

...and out.

After the annual Owners' Meeting, we headed out to our property at Tumble Creek.

Shasta and Quinn loved the snow!

 

 

Yeah, we loved it with them!

Our lot looked smaller in the snow for some reason -- or maybe it just looks smaller without the full foliage of summer. But we still love it. I can just see us in a cozy Pacific Northwest Lodge style home on this lot someday, watching the snow come down, all warm inside by the fire... (Yes, I'm a romantic!)

Of course we had to walk the "Spiritual Path" out to "Inspiration Point." I have a feeling this will be our daily morning and/or evening walk when we live here! The trail starts right across the road from our lot and leads to the most amazing view!

By the time we returned from our walk, we were both getting concerned about the worsening weather over the pass. Good thing we left when we did, because our drive home looked something like this:

I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to see RAIN!

So Suncadia passed the "winter" test - just like it passed the spring, summer, and fall (all beautiful!) test! I'm looking forward to this:

(Image borrowed with appreciation from www.suncadiaresort.com.)

“Wind ‘95” becomes “WTF ‘13”

18 years ago, during a violent wind storm (nicknamed "Wind '95" because Windows '95 had just been released), a huge tree fell on our house from two properties away. 

All bedrooms on the upper level of our home were heavily damaged. Thank goodness no one was in them!  A good chunk of the tree went straight into what was then Aleks' and Peter's room and surely would have hurt them... or worse!

One car, which contained all the kids' Christmas presents in the trunk, was totalled and another was heavily damaged.

It took many months for us to have our home back -- mostly because the asbestos abatement work that had to be done due to what we were told was contaminated ceiling popcorn. The hardest part of all this for the kids (then just little kidlets) was watching their favorite toys, stuffed animals, books, and even bedding being disposed of by men wearing alien-looking protective garb from head to toe. It was not a fun time! 

Fast forward 18 years: we now have some fairly minor water damage caused by a leaky roof (which has since been replaced). 

Turns out insurance covers the damage. Yay, right?  Following procedure, they tested the popcorn ceiling for asbestos, in spite of my assurances that there is definitely asbestos there.  After all, we remember it well! 

Surprise: the lab report indicates NO ASBESTOS DETECTED. 

Huh?! 

This is Peter's career field.  He is a licensed Industrial Hygienist and certified "asbestos guy" (I don't recall the exact name of the certification). For both personal and professional reasons, he insisted on a second sampling, taken specifically by him and sent to a different lab. Those results came back today and guess what?  "NO ASBESTOS DETECTED"!! 

This means that the months of inconvenience, but even more, the real heartbreak the kids went through was for naught!!  I can’t even really wrap my head around how this feels.

But, on the plus side, no asbestos!

Slushy in Seattle

After a week of being cooped up in the house while it stormed and snowed and iced outside, I couldn’t stand it anymore and today I just HAD to get out.  Problem is, our neighborhood is still essentially snowed in… or rather, slushed in, with the local hilly roads being rutty with wet, melting snow, making it really hard to drive a normal 2-wheel drive.

So, while Tom took the 4-wheel-drive truck to do some of his errands, I took my own two legs to do mine and I headed out to walk – or, as it turned out, trudge -- to the local store, about a mile away. 

This is what I encountered:

Where is all that melting snow gonna go?  The ground is completely saturated already!

Unfortunately, I no longer have any snow pants or boots because they were cut off me in the emergency room three years ago…

So I trudged to the store and back in these boots from Kristin (remember THAT great story?!). 

Dumb move!  By the time I got home with a backpack full of groceries, not only were the boots completely soaked, but my socks and feet were drenched as well.

Tom arrived home from his errands just as I arrived home, took one look at my boots and pants (which were soaking wet up to my knees) and insisted on taking me to REI to get “real winter boots.”  I told him that boots on clearance at Target are fine with me, but noooooo….

So bring on the next snowstorm, dudes.  My feet will be dry and warm!  (And hey -- bring on some summer hiking in the Cascades and Olympics, too!  I am ready now!)