December Skiing

Ski season is here!  We have officially put the kids in "the program."  And guess what?  They're loving it!  Even in the 3 weeks that they've been on the ski team they're learning curves are already huge.  We realize that it's really only a mater of time before we can't keep up with them, but for now they're both grinning ear to ear and excited to share with us their new confidence and skills.  (We'll skip the part about Josh on icy runs and everything reverting back to square one). 

Celebrating...

Since we shared Thanksgiving with family, we were able to spend the first night of Hanukkah with Dan, Roz, Dad and Uncle Bob.  Due to the enthusiasm of D2 and Mihky Bus for sharing the traditions of Hanukkah with the boys, they are enthusiastic about all things related to the celebration (dreidels, singing the prayer, lighting the candles, sharing the celebration with others).  When we left Half Moon Bay we spent the night with our friends Tim & Lydia and the boys were able to light the candle with James.  When we returned home we lit the candles with family members via skype and face time.  Josh and Ben happily took part in many of the arts and craft fun that came in a huge care package from Mike & Mihky.  When I asked Josh why we celebrated Hanukkah he said, "Because Uncle Dan does." 

The photos below are from our Christmas tree adventure.  In Dan's family tradition the Christmas tree was always put up the day after Thanksgiving, since we were out of town we did it on Saturday afternoon.  Originally we thought we'd go back to the tree farm we went to last year, but then had this great idea to go visit our new property and harvest a tree.  While the tree isn't the traditional tree (and gave Dan a huge allergy attack), it has a special meaning for the fun adventures that lay in our future.

Happy Thanksgivukah

Happy Thanksgivukah from Half Moon Bay!  A day to be thankful for.

Faux Mustache Family Photos

Josh made this mustache on a stick at school the other week and I took it as a great opportunity to take some silly photos.

Brian & Stephanie

Congratulations to Brian and Stephanie, who tied the knot yesterday in Lyons, Colorado and then celebrated into the evening with many friends and family in Boulder.  I feel so fortunate to be a part of the Ritter family, even if the family tree is a little confusing (just say cousins, it's much easier to understand).  But having been to the twins' bar mitzvah while I was in college and Matt's bar mitzvah later on, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to help celebrate another milestone with this amazing family.  Three cheers to the happy & beautiful newleyweds.  

Halloween

I should've posted these photos last week, but for those who know the Halloween mayhem, it goes without saying to say we were busy and then exhausted.  For more photos of the Inn's haunted pathway and the haunted house click here and for a few more photos of the Halloween parade click here.  We gave out over 1400 pieces of candy at our house... craziness!

a weekend in Healdsburg

Congratulations to Ted & Heather!  Dan and I snuck away for a weekend in Healdsburg to cheer on our friend Ted.  Such a delight to see Ted grinning ear to ear.  We loved sharing our "fun Ted" stories with some of the other wedding guests, that time he invited himself to Tahoe for Thanksgiving and brought the turkey, the time he broke his neck but came to visit us in New Zealand with his neckbrace and we went sea kayaking (I was 5 months pregnant with Ben at the time), camping on Cache Creek, skiing at Alpine.  The wedding was at Asti Winery in Cloverdale and absolutely stunning.    

And since we had time to spare before the wedding we spent a hour or so at The Shed in Healdsburg, chilling at the Fermentation Bar "Unusally offering by Tap."

And before the wedding we went for a hike in the redwoods with our friend Gabrielle.  It was amazing to walk around such large trees, the largest being over 300 feet tall and 13 feet wide.    

Fall Family Photos

Look, a photo of me!  We recruited Megan to help us capture a photo for our Christmas card and these fun photos are in mom's yard (where the last several years Christmas shot has been).  But this isn't the photo that will making it into people's mailbox in December, so enjoy these fall festival photos.

Empire Mine

We went for a visit to the Empire Mine in Grass Valley today and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about how the video game Mine Craft relates to a historic gold mine, oh the things you learn through the minds of a kid.  The boys were both very impressed with the mine shaft and I love that when we played trivia in the car on the way home they both had retrained some of the information we'd picked up on our wanderings.  What a great way to spend a beautiful fall day.  

Cub Scout Campout

Cub Scout Pack 23 Campout, good times had by many.  Dan was in charge of organizing the scavenge hunt, which was thoroughly entertaining to watch the boys work their way through the clues (the simple part of reading the entire clue to the end was a lesson they had to learn several times, as the herd mentality would all run in the direction they thought they needed before they realized they didn't know what they were looking for).  I left early, but the boys spent the night and said their highlights were the s'mores, the campfire and the hike-a-thon.  Ben walked 10 miles and raised over $600 and Josh (as a honorary Cub Scout) walked 8 miles and earned a double scoop of ice cream.  

making banana bread

There are so many every day moments that I'd love to capture, share and perserve, but I'm not sure why taking the time to photograph the boys isn't always my first project.  These photos were from the other afternoon, Dan was at a meeting and the boys and I had some homeschool assignments to do, so we started off our afternoon with baking banana bread.  I think everyone would say this was a successful learning opportunity.    

First Day of School

The boys, on their first day of school... 3rd grade for Ben and "second year of kindergarten" for Josh (those are his words, the child likes people to know he did homeschool last winter and he's back for more fun and games as a mature kindergarten student).  Precious little people.

Homeschooling, August 2013

The last day of August... and what do we have to show for our summer?  While school doesn't start in the class room till Tuesday for the boys, we've been busy doing some homeschool projects over the last 10 days.  So here are the many faces of homeschool.  Josh, top left, baking in the kitchen- I love when I asked him to get out 3 eggs from the egg carton he replied, "But mom we have 11." The top right is part of social studies restaurant blog review, bottom right is Josh drinking a healthy green juice, which he loved (and even helped pick the apples for the juice).  And the bottom left is Josh, with a happy face, working on some writing.

The many faces of Ben and his schooling, I wish I could say that every lesson at home went beautiful, but there have been a few meltdowns along the way.  But, I'm so touched to say that Ben has become engrossed in the Origami Yoda books and has read 3 of them cover to cover in the last fews days.  The photo in the middle was part of the baking lesson and the photo on the right is a trip to the local radio station, where Ben joined me so I could record an ad for the Chamber of Commerce.

South Yuba River with the cousins

I can't believe summer is almost over....  well thankfully our kids don't start their classroom studies till after Labor Day, so we're squeezing in a few more play days before we hit the books.  We had the Murrarys come visit us from Denver, so we took the family down the South Yuba River.  All summer I've been hearing folks talk about this certain swimming hole downstream from Edwards that was previewed on a local news station last year and I kept going, "not sure I know the one..." and when I mentioned this to my mother she laughed and enlightened me that it was the one we went to all the time growing up.  So, to refresh my memory, I dragged the kids downstream and they loved it!