MLK at Northstar

This year, for MLK weekend, we went to Tahoe, to my childhood favorite place, Northstar.  We stayed in the village for two nights, so that we could enjoy two fun days of skiing and snow.

Sunday morning, the kids had a great private lesson.  They spent three hours non-stop trying out all sorts of runs, and in the end the teacher said they would do well on blue (intermediate) runs. The morning nicely gave Arne and me a chance to ski on our own.

Then in the afternoon, I skied with Elsa and Arne skied with Liam. We had a snack in the village and played in the snow.

After a fun day of skiing, that evening we enjoyed the hot tub!

On Monday morning, we hit the slopes early while they were uncrowded and managed to go on a number of fun runs with the kids. After a morning break, we then took many runs on my childhood favorite, Powder Bowl.  It was such fun for Liam to try all the paths through the trees! After a late lunch we drove home.

A great ski weekend.

Goodbye Summer

On January 5, we said goodbye to Summer dog.  Summer joined me, just as I met Arne, on Memorial Weekend 2008.  She was a skinny little rescue Australian Shepard, that I got from the Northern California Beagle Rescue group, through my yoga teacher that also ran that group at the time. At the time they said she was about 5 and had been rescued from the streets of Hollister.

Summer has been with us through everything.  She and Bogey joined us on many adventures.

She was a star at our wedding.

And we went for a walk at the beach the Friday before Elsa joined us.

She was so good with both of our kids and they loved her a lot.

Every year she joined us on our Mother's Day trip to Fort Funston and many years she was also in the holiday card.

She was such a good dog and a wonderful part of our family. We miss her.

Happy New Year!

On December 27th we flew down to Southern California for a short adventure.

We started in Santa Monica, right near Muscle Beach and the Pier.  It was great fun to see Elsa's tricks on the traveling rings.  She then took 3 trapeze classes on the Pier.  It is so amazing to see her fearlessly fly through the air.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed out on the light rail o the California Science Center.  It is always so amazing to see and walk under the space shuttle.  We then explored the special Dog exhibit and saw a fun IMAX movie on SuperPower Dogs.

Sunday we continued to enjoy the beach, building sand creations and playing a bit in the water (Elsa more than anyone else). This is such a fun and happy place for us to visit.

On Monday we headed down to Arne's cousin Ryan's home on Balboa Island to meet up with his family.  We hung out at the house and then in the afternoon I took Elsa out Paddle Boarding. Liam loved doing Legos with his uncle.

For New Year's Eve, we headed down to Legoland.  Liam was able to meet up with his friend Karam and Elsa and her cousins' had fun on all the rides.  After the sun set, we all came together to watch the brick drop and see the Lego fireworks.

What a wonderful trip, revisiting so many of our favorite places in SoCal.