Dad Comes for A Visit

Last week my dad flew out to spend some time in California, and get away from the cold Chicago winter.   He arrived on February 13, and we all celebrated Valentine's Day together!   Friday was Rancho Day at Ethan's school--which is a celebration of California's Mexican heritage--they are in the middle of studying California history in Social Studies.   My dad and I were planning to volunteer, but Dad got a case of the stomach flu.  :(   So I went alone and served a Mexican lunch to 160 4th graders!  At least I didn't have to cook!

We had originally planned to head up to Lake Tahoe for the long holiday weekend--but a huge storm blew in, closing the Interstate.  Plus, Dad was still under the weather.   So we stayed home and enjoyed some local sights instead.  Saturday and Sunday were still pretty rainy, but by Monday we were able to go on a cool waterfall hike--Cataract Falls.  

The kids were also off from school on Tuesday, and I took the day off of work.   We did a spectacular, 5 mile hike that my dad did when he was here back in September.   It started by the top of Mt. Tamalpais and looped downhill and then back uphill through a ravine.  Funny how he knows more of the trails than us locals!

Anyhow, we made the best of the visit, and I am glad he was able to come and spend sometime with us!

Brrrrrr...

It has been really cold here!   Ok, nowhere near as cold as the polar vortex hitting the midwest, but still quite cold for California!   In the past week, it has snowed twice on this top of Mt. Tam.  Here is a pic that I snapped this morning on my chilly run.  Yes, just a dusting--but super rare around here!

It has been at least 5 years since we have had snow on Mt. Tam--of course, this is also probably cease we have had such little precipitation over the past 5 years.   This year, the snow pack is already 125% of normal--we have had a lot of rain!

Ethan Turns 10...in Andorra!

We just got back from a vacation.....this year, Jason was assigned the week of January 28.  We found an excellent airfare to Barcelona.  Since Ethan's 10th birthday fell during the week, decided to make the trip a surprise.   And because his favorite thing to do is ski, we decided to spend a few days skiing in the Pyrenees.   Before planning the vacation, I didn't realize you could ski just 3 hours from Barcelona.

In a lot of ways, the geography is similar to San Francisco--Barcelona is on the Mediterranean and quite temperate.  We were lucky to have sunshine most of the time when we explored the city.

 A highlight for us was that we got to see our friend Alberto.  He came to Barcelona from Bilbao, and we spent Sunday hanging out with him and his girlfriend Isa.   It was so great to see him again--we last saw him in the summer of 2013, when he came to our house.  

 

On Monday and Tuesday, we spend the day exploring the city.   We found it to be clean (especially compared to San Francisco), and very easy to get around.   We toured the Sagrada Familia, which allegedly his going to be completed in 2026, the Park Guell, and the Picasso Museum.   We had some great meals, and Jason and Ethan especially loved the seafood.

For the second half of the trip, we rented a car and headed north to Andorra.   We skied for two days at Grandvalira, a huge ski resort.   We were lucky as there was a ton of snow--and it snowed each day we were there.   Alaina is doing a great job with her skiing, and Ethan has for sure surpassed me.

We had a nice birthday dinner with Ethan--and he had the "best day ever".   I can't believe that he is a decade old!

We feel fortunate we were able to take this trip!