Alaina's Party and Some Outdoor Time

Last Sunday, Alaina had her birthday party at a gymnastics center where she used to take classes.  A bunch of her preschool friends came and they had a ball of a time jumping around.

This weekend, we finally got a break from the rain, and we took advantage and headed out to Point Reyes Seashore.  We were going to spot some whales, as it is peak grey whale migration season.

 Unfortunately, not too many whales today--we maybe saw a spout, but not much more.  What we did see, unexpectedly, were elephant seals.  Apparently all the recent storms have torn apart their normal breeding grounds, so they have moved to new places.  We took a short hike to a beach with plans to picnic for lunch, and found the beach was already occupied by the seals!  They are incredibly loud--alaina thought it sounded like burping.  Anyhow, they were fun to watch, and the day was beautiful and quite warm for January.

Ski Trip

So, last year, after taking Ethan skiing for the first time, Jason and I made a commitment to take them at least twice each winter so that they can grow up leaning how to ski.

Last weekend was the first trip of this season.  It was pretty painful.
Can I go back on my promise???

First of all, we chose the wrong weekend to go.  Several months ago, we chose MLK weekend, and made reservations, as it gave us a little buffer time for travel.  Then the week before, Lake Tahoe was hit with the biggest winter storm in 40+ years.

Imagine: long weekend+fresh snow=worst possible crowds.  WORSE than Disney at Christmas.  On Sunday, we couldn't even get on a shuttle bus to the mountain for over 45 minutes.  The place clearly was not prepared for the crowds.  The lift lines were enormous.  The slopes were packed. UGH.

Add to that a four year-old's first time on skiis (crying >>>>>>>quiet>>>>happy)  
"My feet hurt"  "My legs hurt"  "I am super duper cold"  "I have a tummy ache" "I'm tired".  All rolled into the first three minutes after getting out of the car.


By the end of the first hour I was ready to hop back in the car and drive back to Marin and lock the children in their rooms for the rest of the weekend.  I probably should have.  But, we persisted.

For what it was worth, Ethan actually got a lot out of the weekend and really enjoyed himself.  I can now confidently say that he is a better skier than I am.  Somewhat impressive, considering it was only his second weekend skiing.  I am also not a very good skier.

Alaina: not so much.  She did manage to go down a ~3 ft hill with a 2% grade "by herself" on our last day.  She was pretty proud of that.

I think we put her in skiis too early.

Somehow, other families don't seem to have this problem.  "We started our kid skiing when he was 2 and now we go every weekend and it is the best time ever".

I guess they must have perfect kids.
I hope that mine appreciate this someday.

Happy 4th Birthday, Alaina!

Last week, we celebrated Alaina's 4th birthday.  I went to her school and read 2 stories that she chose for circle time ("Pete the Cat Plays Ball" and "Curious George and the Happy Birthday Surprise").  We then had blueberry muffins (which Alaina helped make) for snack time.

   


For her birthday dinner, Alaina chose pancakes, and asked me to make her a "smiley face cake".  I got caught late at work the night before the birthday, so the cake was not my finest creation, but she didn't seem to mind.

Her birthday gift this year: a new bicycle!

I have to say, I am not too sad the threes are over.  The year was a bit tough for her emotionally-lots of tears, temper-tantrums and stubbornness.  I am hoping she can grow out of some of this as a four year old (and indeed, things have been slowly improving)....Still I love her to pieces and feel so lucky to be her mom!

More Celebrations

As I mentioned in my last post, we arrived home late on December 25th from Chicago, and opened presents from Santa on the morning of the 26th.  Ethan's favorite: a pokemon binder and cards, and of course legos.  Alaina's: a set of wooden blocks.

We also celebrated hanukah with Jason's family:

Ethan really scored:  his uncle gave him a fish tank and 4 fish! Ethan has named his fish "ziggy and the three zags", and talks to them all the time.
He*thinks* he is up for the responsibility of taking care of a pet...we will see.

We worked most of the rest of the week, but were off for new year's eve and had a small dinner party for friends as in year's past (though smaller this year since we were working more).

Here's to 2017!