The snow is already all melted, but this morning felt like a winter wonderland when we woke up. Ripley and I went to play outside for a while and it was all silent and peaceful (except for the kids yelling and throwing snowballs at each other down the street). I think most people took the day off. It wasn't a lot of snow but after living on a tropical island for the last nine months it was kind of surreal. Weren't we just sweating our brains out in Taipei a couple of months ago?

Ripley was cautiously optimistic about the snow until she slid on her butt

The last few days have been ridiculously cold. I was excited at first but the dog and I started getting pretty stir-crazy mid week. I hope it warms up next week. We found a great off-leash trail (where dogs can run around off their leashes and terrorize squirrels and unsuspecting hikers) only about a mile away from home. I can't wait to take her back so she can get into the creek and bite at the fishes but it's way too cold out right now. 

We're finally starting to settle in to our new home a little more. It was really strange coming back to the states and to a new city but little by little it's feeling like real life again. The highlight of the week (other than the snow obviously) was my first trip to the local library. I got a card and a stack of books. Something I dreamed about many times in Taipei (yeah I'm weird. I longed for the library...)

Definitely not a scene you see in Arizona.