Santa Barbara Surf and Turf

Hi all,

We just returned from a fun Memorial Day weekend down in Santa Barbara. We had never been there before, and it was a great location to meet a good friend of mine from college and his family, who live in San Diego, the Christensons.







We rented a house about a block from the beach, and all the kids shared a bunk room. Mark has three girls, age 1.5, 3, and 5. Carson, as usual, odd man out and looking for someone to play ball with (me again!).










We ate some good food - Mark cooked a killer breakfast on Saturday, and then another killer meal on Sunday night - rack of lamb and saffron risotto! Plus he brought some of his wine collection to match! We ended the evening with a contentious card game of spades, during which we debated the Biblical principles of child discipline.






Santa Barbara is great, with a nice beach front, shopping district, and lots of parks, including a vintage carousel which the kids enjoyed (not quite as cool as the Santa Cruz one with the rings you get to toss into the clown's mouth, though!).

Another nice surprise was that we actually had other friends, from way back in my Navy days, who are now living in Santa Barbara - Mike and Marcia Moore and their son Nicholas. Mike works for a defense contractor there and was instrumental in introducing Annett and me back in Washington DC!

So we called them, and lo and behold they were in town so we met up in a local park on Saturday, which was very windy and not very beach-friendly.




After some playing on the playground and lunch under the huge fig trees, we headed up hill to the Santa Barbara Mission, built in the early 1800's, which was having the 25th annual Maddonari Italian street painting festival.













There were some terrific pastel paintings, and we also spent a few minutes on the self-guided tour of the mission grounds - tranquil courtyards accented by palm trees and fountains, large cemetery square shaded by a massive fig tree, and an old adobe-oven kitchen were some of the highlights.


 





Plus the view from the front steps over the paintings and lawn to the ocean and channel islands beyond!

We spent the last day at the beach again, playing with kelp, hitting the whiffle ball, jumping in the waves, and building sand castles.



































 
Overall we had a great time, and will definitely come back - we could easily spend a week lazing on the beach, exploring the town and restaurants, and doing some hiking in the rugged but swimming-hole-riddled Santa Ynez mountains above the town. Every few hours an Amtrak train would whistle through town, and Carson would say "it's the Surfliner!" - maybe we'll take the train next trip....

OK hope all's well with you all! Bye for now!

Sunny Sunol in Springtime

Backpacks, Check!

Hi all,

We are just back from a fun overnight backpacking trip with Tom to the Sunol Regional Wilderness! The kids' first backpacking trip, and we think it was a success (i.e. the kids will do it again with us - Yay!).

We started the hike after Carson's baseball game - we drove over to the trailhead, which was about 40 minutes from Mountain View. The hike in was about 3 miles, mostly along fire roads and the beautiful rushing Alameda creek canyon. We stopped for a snack at Little Yosemite, which is a small boulder-filled gorge which really doesn't do justice to its name.



Eagles' Aerie at 1500' Elevation



Then up the steep incline to the campsite, at about 1500 feet in elevation. I was testing the new backpack, and it worked great. The kids wore their own school backpacks, but instead of books they carried their sleeping bags and clothes.  Tom used my old backpacking tent and my day pack, which worked out fine.

The campsite itself had a beautiful view of the canyon and ridges up towards Mt. Rose at 3800'. Hawks circled in the thermals, and we passed a flock of wild turkeys gobbling on the way.



Go Fish in the Tent



Later that night, after a meal of pasta and homemade brownies for dessert, we played Go Fish in the warm tent until we got tired and went to sleep. An owl hooted outside the tent, which the kids found very cool.





The girls - Ruby, Maggie, and Maggie



The next day we met our neighbors, each having daughters Maggie's age, and one even named Maggie! They were instant friends, pretty much, sharing pop tarts on the rocks. 



The wildflowers are in full bloom at the moment too, lots of poppies, lupines, and yellow daisies. 




Spring Wildflowers























Found the Cache!



We then went Geo-caching, in search of nearby treasure - we found it after some searching, and added our names to the registry. There being somewhat not-so-desirable booty in it, the kids decided to save their contributions until the next time. But it's always fun looking for buried treasure!



Back from Sky Camp



Back to camp to pack up the tents and head down to the valley along the McCorkle trail, with beautiful views over the peaks and meadows.



Tom's Backpack



Lunch break at W Scramble



We stopped for lunch along one of the many still-rushing creeks and replenished the water supplies.



Mt Rose and the ladies



Hiking boots have had it!



By the time we reached the valley, we were pretty much all tuckered out, and Annett and my hiking boots had nearly disintegrated! We hadn't used them for at least 5 years and the rubber soles had essentially broken down. Thank goodness they held together until we reached the parking lot...now to convince REI to fix them :-)

Anyway, this was one of the "experience gifts" we gave Tom at Christmas, and I think he even had a pretty good time! Carson was a trooper, the first one back to the car, and Maggie even made it almost the entire way with her pack on her back (Papa helped a teeny bit).

Now for Yosemite! Carson said "I can't wait to climb Half Dome!"......

OK take care all and enjoy the spring time!





Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Carson getting the signal from the coach in today's game

Hi all,

Well we've transitioned rapidly from winter to spring, from skiing to baseball! For our European friends, we'll have to do a separate tutorial on baseball when you come to visit us :-)

Running evaluation in Feb

 The season started out with evaluations in February, and Carson spent a couple of hours fielding, running, and hitting while being evaluated by the coaches. Then the season began with some practices and clinics run by the league.

Warming up for hitting evaluation

Fielding Clinic

At first, Carson was anxious about going - "too competitive", he said. He's used to being the best footballer and hasn't really played baseball in over two years. But after the games this week he's fired up.

Carson ready to take the pitch

Carson started this week with a couple of games with his team, the Mountain View / Los Altos A's. He's played a couple of positions so far, including third base, center field, left field, and the last couple of games he's been catcher.

Batter up!

Getting ready in the dugout

So far the games have gone well - they have won both of them. I got to score today's game using the baseball shorthand...yikes! Never done that before and only screwed up really bad twice...But we got the score right which I guess is what really matters. That and the pitching count, since the kids are only allowed a certain number of pitches to avoid injury.

The team lining up to be introduced

Most of the games are played at the local elementary school Huff, about half a mile from our house. Maybe 10 parents and siblings come out to watch, so there's a bit of cheering but more advice from coaches than anything else.

Post-game wrap-up

Coach Bice always takes extra time to review the games with the kids, complimenting them on their strengths. The coaches are all volunteer so we're fortunate to have Coach Bice since he's very dedicated and has lots of experience...and doesn't tolerate the kids fooling around!

Looks like Coach Bice is more nervous than Carson on third base!

Today the A's beat the Indians 15 to 10, Carson had an RBI single and was on base a couple of more times after walks, got several stolen bases, but unfortunately didn't end up scoring a run. Andrew Bice (coach's son) had the highlight with a Grand Slam with bases loaded! Didn't get that on camera though, since I was too worried trying to figure out how to score that on the score sheet!

Anyway, we had a great day and Carson now can't wait for the next game on Saturday!

March Madness

Carson and Maggie armed and dangerous

Madness not of the round orange bouncy kind, but of the snowy kind!

We took another trip up to the Sierra this past weekend, and it turned into a bit of an adventure! Note to self: when there are tornado warnings at the office, don't try to get in the car and drive to Tahoe! We left at noon on Friday to "beat the storm and the traffic" - yeah right. We drove in the pouring rain the whole way, getting a flat tire in the process, only to hear that a major accident further up in the mountains in the snowstorm had closed the interstate. So we stopped for dinner, bought a new tire, and went clothes shopping with the kids to kill time down in the valley while the accident was cleared. It wasn't, so we ended up staying in a hotel in Roseville, along with hundreds of other wannabe skiers, and drove up Saturday morning...and got stuck in the snowstorm traffic anyway.

Finally, 24 hours after leaving home, we arrived at Alpine Meadows where we were to meet some other friends. They ended up way behind us so we skied just the four of us in the blizzard - at one point the wind at the top of the Roundhouse chair blew so hard Maggie started skiing backwards! I had to reach out and grab her.  It was stormy. Maggie and Annett lasted a couple of hours then went into the lodge, but Carson and I skied till the lifts closed, having a great time discovering his first black run, Hot Wheels Gully. He was very proud of himself!

Carson playing Uno Attack with Liz and Malik

The friends we met at Alpine invited us to crash at their condo, since one of the families they were supposed to be with decided to abandon the whole shindig, so the kids had a great time playing with friends - it was a nice bonus!










We also had a nice charcoal-grilled tri-tip for dinner (our friend Doug has a thing for barbecuing in the snow!) and a pancake breakfast the next morning.

Carson, Liz, and Malik in the lift line of 10 people

Overnight Saturday to Sunday, another couple of feet of snow fell, and Alpine and Squaw both announced they were closed for the day due to the storm. OK, well at least we can still drive home - not! I-80 closed again, this time due to whiteout conditions. Great, let's find a ski area that's open - ah, Homewood is nearby, and they had a $25 lift ticket special. So we all piled in the cars and spent the day there. Maggie decided she didn't want to ski, but the rest of us went out (Annett joined us later) into the blizzard.

Our friends Debbie and Doug behind us on the chair!

It was not nearly as windy as at Alpine but boy was it dumping all day!

Annett summed it up beautifully:

 

 Carson and I closed down the place again on Sunday, but by the end of the day the road back to our condo was closed due to an avalanche! We'll never get out of here, we thought - weather forecast for 15 more FEET of snow by the end of the week...well, we actually did get out. On Sunday afternoon I-80 re-opened, the CA rt 89 avalanche was cleared, and we quickly joined the traffic jam through the chain control and returned back home sweet home by midnight. Luckily the kids didn't have school on Monday so all's well that ends well. But we'll probably avoid Tahoe in a blizzard in the future if at all possible!

Carson is busily drawing his own imaginary trail maps and can't wait for our next trip up...I am thinking more about getting the veggie garden started!

Snowy Sierra Sport

Hi all, 

We have had a great time in the snow the past few weeks, after a cold snowy Christmas we had a warm January, and now winter came back with a vengeance in February! Kirkwood had 14 (that's fourteen!) feet of snow in one week! Then last weekend we headed to Bear Valley for four days and stayed at a friend's ski house with our friends the Players.

Kirkwood

We took a day while visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Sutter Creek to visit Kirkwood on a beautiful Sunday. As we approached Silver Lake, you can see the walls of snow are already higher than the cars. Here is a picture from last weekend at Carson Spur at 7800 feet!

 Mary Beth joined us for the day.

 The sun was warm and the snow powdery!

 So powdery that Mary Beth bit it and sank down quite a bit into the poofiness a few times.

 Mary Beth and Maggie on the lift, soaring through the snow-covered trees.















Bear Valley

 Mama and Maggie riding the lift up from the base lodge. Thursday was partly sunny, Friday was stormy so we stayed home and built a sledding run and snow cave, Saturday was cold and beautiful, and Sunday was warmer and beautiful. We stayed near Arnold at about 5000 feet, but the snow was amazing!

 The girls enjoyed the hot tub - note the icicles they were slurping!

 Here is the back of the house from the "top" of the sledding run.

 Here Maggie and I are careening down the slope!

 Maggie and Tessa in the snow cave. That's the top of  a tree popping through the side wall...

 Sam and Nicole ready to make their run!












The kids enjoyed sitting in front of the fire playing games.

Saturday was an amazing powder day, clear blue skies and about three feet of soft light powder in Grizzly Bowl. Whoops of joy floating down the open slopes.









Here's a video recap...

We have one more ski weekend planned in March, then it's baseball season! We'll be heading up to north Tahoe to ski at Northstar and hopefully enjoy our last few days of skiing for the season. Maggie and Carson are both skiing the intermediate runs now, so they have progressed and I think still enjoy it!

Ski heil und auf Wiedersehen!!