Thanksgiving

we love turkey!

Perfect day for the zoo!

The kids are enjoying the zoo today with their grandpa.

 

It's cold, so they are all bundled up.

Look at our fancy new car seats

We're in our big girl car seats now...no more facing backwards. Plus they come with a cupholder too!

Dim Sum is the best food ever!

We took the kids to a very crowded dim sum restaurant down in the OC where they gobbled up sticky buns and tofu wraps.

And they decided the chopsticks were drum sticks to be banged on the table too...

Good time, and amazing quality. Going to a busy place, even if you have to wait, is worth it since everything will be made fresh when its rolled out on the steam carts.

Click on the picture to see what happened.

Halloween - Kids dressed as sheep

The girls dressed up as their favorite cartoon characters (Shaun the Sheep claymation characters) and went trick or treating last weekend.

Click on the picture to see a slideshow, to play look for the icon upper left after you click through.

We miss you dad

It's been sixteen years since we've lost dad and we miss him. We know he would have loved the kids. This picture is one of the fondest memories I have of my childhood, from 1979 on the day I got my first dog, Brier. I'm on the right, wearing the yellow superman shirt that I demanded every day.

Skiing above the Fjords

Pumpkin Patch Trip

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch today. It's easy to forget how Sacramento was primarily the agricultural hub for the central valley; but when you get just a few miles away from the city hub -- you are in the middle of miles of rich farmland. This farm was less than ten miles from our house, and the downtown core. The kids had a blast, and came home exhausted. Click on the picture to see the slideshow (and then look for the slideshow icon on the upper left for the full screen effect).

Party at Bill's

The kids got to put on their party dresses and shoes, for a trip to Bill & Linda's. They played with their excitable Labradoodle and gnawed on some breadsticks. A good time all around and it was nice catching up with old friends. If you click the picture above you can see the slide show.

At the park...

Click on the picture to see a slide show...

Girls go out to French restaurant

The girls went out a few weeks ago with their aunt, to a French cafe.

Patio repaired - yay!

Our patio was finally reassembled and repaired.  Not as pretty as before, but certainly better than after the rains.

The Independant (a UK newspaper) Guide to Skiing

This is sort of like the NY Times on line ski guide, but European centric of course.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/skiing/

 

The NYT doesn't put theirs out til December and it seems to me that people start booking travel plans earlier.

 

 

Kids and dog

Dogs at the Library!

The kids spent the night at Nonnys, where they exhausted themselves playing with the dog and running all over her carpeted house.  After we picked them up they fell asleep so fast when we got home.  This morning we made waffles for Mom, and threw them all over the baby room.  Then we went to the library where they were having a service animal day.  People who had guide dogs brought them and let the kids meet them, and talked about how the dogs helped them in daily life.  After that we went to Costco, where the girls enjoyed the usual smorgasbord of samples.  Then they came home and had spaghetti for dinner, which had been bubbling away in the crock-pot all day.  And after that -- time for a bath to clean up all that tomato sauce!

Ski weather for next season

The predictions are for a La Nina weather pattern this year, which may mean that California, Utah, and Colorado get somewhat less snow than usual.  These years tend to be better for the Northern Rockies, as well as Northern New England.  

La Nina and El Nino are names for the patterns of ocean temperature near the equator.  That creates jet streams that carry storms into the mainland, and are somewhat predictable, when those conditions are known.  Most seasons though do not have Nina or Nino present though.

Our (stuffed) pet dauchshund

We are back now

The girls were so happy to see their pets, although the love is somewhat coolly requited on the other side. Cats are not so much into public displays of affection.

Best 99c toy of all time -- big bouncy balls

Matching kid swings, although one is a little suspicious of the Olympic credo of "Higher, Faster, Farther"

And after all that fun, a reward of a cupcake.

Getting the girls back after being away for a week was nice, and we took them to the library as well as their favorite supermarket where they could sample things, from the edible to the not so edible.

Piano

Modern confectionary design