Dating, Ben flying and playing Blokus

A couple of random photos...  The photo above is how Dan and I chose to spend our Valentine's Day date (we don't actually really celebrate Valentine's Day, instead opting to honor the anniversary of our first date which is on Feb 8th).  And I'd show you photos from that dinner out, but Dan baned the camera (since so much of my life turns into Outside Inn blog material).  But regardless of a nice meal out or an afternoon of skiing without the kids, it's nice to do something with just us from time to time.  We have successfully been together as a couple for 16 years, this year marks our 17th year of "dating"...    

Ben flying through the air at High Camp, Squaw Valley.

And these photos were actually from a couple of weeks ago.  The boys and I were playing the game Blokus, which Roz gave us for Christmas.  I love their concentration....  I can't remember who won, I think I may have won.  There's my random shares for mid-Feb...     

Pinewood Derby

Some pictures from the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby event on Wednesday night.  Dan had the important role of Starter, he lined up the cars and pulled the lever.  49 heats later....  Lots of loud excited boys.  Ben's car won the heat in the photo above, but didn't place in the top times.  I posted a blurb about it on the Outside Inn's blog too, click here.  

Life, one week in January

Stopping... reflecting on the week... marveling.  A few moments in one week in January.

We went to the library the other night and Josh got his very first library card (you have to be 5).  Love the look of concentration here.

We went to Tahoe, where it rained...  so we went out for lunch and I took these two photos.  Might finally get a crack on my 2013 resolution to print some photos, the photo above is just breath taking.  If any of you want to help encourage me in this department please let me know, just hasn't been a priority of mine.

And today we took some more photos for Treats (it's a rough job, but someone has to do it)... and these two just make my heart melt.

Skiing

Family fun up at Alpine Meadows.  New milestones this week, Josh rode up Summit Chair and skied down Alpine Bowl and Wolverine Bowl.  Ben skied down Sympathy Face, D-7, Wolverine Bowl, Tree Run and Banana Chute and the knolls.  Good times had by all... although the boys are currently obsessed with talking about going down all the double black diamonds.

Apres ski at River Ranch.

Josh's First Day of School

Josh's first day of school.  In New Zealand kids start school on their 5th birthday, not at the beginning of the school year.  I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the group of kids of Josh's baby group all dress up in their school uniforms and head off to school.   So Josh just turned 5 last week and technically in the US he's too young to start school, so we have enrolled him as a home schooled kindergarten student, which allows him to take part in the enrichment classes at Forest Charter on Wednesdays.  In a nod to his Kiwi roots, I put him in Ben's hand me down primary school fleece and took his photo this morning. Here's a photo of Ben on his first day of school.

Happy Birthday Josh

Happy 5th Birthday Mr. Joshy...  Last night in the parking lot at the grocery store we said we were going to get milk for cereal and he replied, "We're not having cereal for breakfast, we're having chocolate chip pancakes because it's my birthday tomorrow."  Right, good thing we got that memo in the nick of time.  So above is the photo of the child (in his underwear) eating his chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.

And here's a few photos of the rock star skiier, who skied from 10am to 3pm, not bad for those little legs.  (There was a hot cocoa at the Chalet and a lunch stop, but still....).  He went up Roundhouse, Scott, Yellow and Sherwood chairs.  And he ended his ski day with a large bag of gummy bears from Treats.

A year in a review

I did a top 10 reasons I love Nevada City on the Outside Inn's blog, click here, and thought that I should do a top 10 favorites of 2012.  The idea of sorting through all the photos over the last year is too overwhelming, so this is a collage of only a small slice of our life in the last 12 months.  And while we talk about our favorite thing of the day at the dinner table every night, I'm not sure we've talked about our favorite thing for the entire year.... but I'm pretty sure I can hear how the conversation would go...

Dan, "My favorite thing of the whole year was going to Africa, and maybe my second favorite thing was going camping with the boys in Yellowstone."

Ben, "Going to Disneyland."

Josh, "Getting a Wii for Christmas"

Erin, "My top 10 things of 2012...

• Going to Africa and celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary
• Having Ben lose 8 teeth in the span of 6 months
• Being a part of Megan & Dan's wedding
• Taking over 2000 photos... and having a few published 
• Getting asked to teach a social media/blogging talk and teaching a series of card making classes
• Surviving 12 months of The Clubhouse 6am workouts
• Going back country skiing for the first time
• Spending countless hours making crafty goodies, including being asked to join the May Arts design team and being a part of the Artful Delight DT.
• Being an active part of the Nevada City community, from friendships to business relationships and branching out of my comfort zone in the name of "Outside Inn blog research."
• Hanging out with Ben, Josh & Dan