Ga Ga Arrives

We picked up the kids from Nonny's this morning and took them to Costco, where they sampled every kind of treat they could grab.  In addition to the usual sundries, we came home with petrale sole, sea bass, and gigantic U-8 shrimp.  

When we got home, granddad arrived and the girls demanded he read them books.  After that they watched the new Muppet movie as I prepped supper.  The sole was pan sauteed with oregano, olive oil, and sea salt -- it was delicious served with fresh squeezed lemons, although next time around I won't try to fillet the fish myself.  

We have been coaxing cooperation out of the kids since their birthday party is tomorrow at the park.  They are more patient when they know they are getting a swing ride tomorrow...and cupcakes.  Sunday will be busy, so it's going to be an early bedtime for all tonight.  We hope it's better weather than today's wind and rain.

The picture is M. curled up on the couch with a blanket, pillow, and an old copy of Sunset magazine -- which she is "reading".  

Playing in the Snow at Heavenly Valley

After J. got home we decided to take the kids up to Tahoe, where they could play in the snow and I could get some skiing in.  We bundled them up in their snow pants, jackets, boots and gloves and rode the gondola up to the Tamarack lodge area -- which is about 8000 feet up.  The wind, snow, and cold are all much more extreme than down at the lake level.  Fortunately the girls had a good window of time to play in -- romping all over the snow, trying to make snowballs, and then going to the lodge for hot cocoa.  Of course, despite having glove clips, one of the kids gloves did manage to escape.  Click on the picture below to see a slideshow of their adventure.



While they did that, I went skiing on the Nevada side of the mountain, where conditions were pretty fast for late March.  There has been a lot of snow recently, and cold temperatures, so Sunday was good and I was surprised by how dry/icy conditions were.  Normally one needs a mid day ski wax to keep going through the slush, but the mountain was free of that right now.

Last night it snowed another 3 inches, so we got up early, had breakfast and went back up to the mountain.  I skiied the Stagecoach and California areas, and conditions were terrific.  It snowed most of the morning and was the best I'd experienced in Tahoe all year -- fresh, light snow, with no crowds so one could ski as fast as they liked without having to worry about traffic.  By 1pm, the kids started getting tired, so I met everyone at the gondola and we all rode down together.  We put them into their pajamas, popped them in their car seats and headed down the valley.  After some (more) hot cocoa they fell asleep and snoozed the whole 100 miles home.

It was a nice mini trip.

Big shoes!

Spring conditions at Northstar

After finishing the second part of my exam yesterday, I was ready for some fun, so we went to Northstar for a day of skiing.  Conditions were spring like -- icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon -- but there was an hour in the middle with soft corn snow, perfect for carving.  It's hard for snow like this to bump up, so everything was buffed smooth, and you could ride your edges nicely during that part of the day when everything was soft before getting mushy.

I learned a lesson: avoid the "Euro Snack Shack" at the top of the Comstock lift, where it took the two incompetent attendants 20 minutes to assemble a hot dog.  I begrudge the valuable ski time they wasted, and the $8 spent for that privilege.  Normally we take our own lunches, and surreptiously chomp them down in the lavish lodges, but today we forgot to pack them.  So I won't feel guilty the next time I do that either!

The kids had a good day playing at Nonny's and came home tired.  They had their bath, milk, and then fell asleep without any of the usual protests.  If you click on the picture above, you can see how bright it was up in Tahoe.  I took a photo of the marsupial mascot of the Northstar Ski School -- RipperRoo -- scurrying around the Big Springs deck.

Our first pic-i-nic

Taken in land park after a trip to the zoo.  Kids are lucky that Yogi bear has not come along to swoop up their basket.  They love chomping on their (tangy) dried fruit snacks.