Before the Return to College

Before Bean went back down to SD for her LAST semester, we had a few more adventures!

She and I went to Pescadero State Beach for the low tide and saw a gorgeous rainbow right after we arrived.

We had fun poking around in the tide pools for a couple of hours. Nothing particularly unusual, but lots of sea stars, crabs, limpets and chitons.

And maybe not so adventurous, but we had a cozy afternoon of reading by the fire on Sunday, which was delightful.

And then, that Thursday, Bean, Peanut and I went up to Dodge Ridge to ski and snowboard.

It had snowed a couple inches the night before, and a couple of feet just a few days before that, so we actually had some powder runs! Bean did her first double black diamond and I did a powder black run for the first time in a couple of decades. It was a lot of fun. . .

until the last run of the day, when we pushed Peanut a little out of his comfort zone, and abilities for that point in the day. He had done a level 4 lesson all morning, and then was practicing his turns all afternoon, and I wanted to do one last run with him before we left, but probably shouldn't have picked something more challenging. Between the wind, the cold, and the exhaustion, he decided it was easier to slide down on his butt for awhile, poor kid. Hopefully we can end on a better note next time.

We had dinner and games with friends on her last night.

We all hate to have to say goodbye, even Poppy. She loves her "baby" time with Bean.

And then, because we wanted one more fun day, I followed Bean down to Monterey on her drive back.

We went to the aquarium for a couple of hours,

and managed to at least quickly see pretty much all of the exhibits before we grabbed lunch and then said goodbye.

Glad I got to send her off! It's hard to believe that she's almost done with her bachelor's degree. We can't wait to see what this next chapter holds for her.

 

Spring Snow

We may have just finished Spring Break, but Peanut and I weren't quite done with the snow. Dodge Ridge was still open and we joined another group for one more homeschool ski day. We camped at the group campground just down the road, which was completely empty, and only a little scary being there without Daddy-o (or anyone else.) It was kind of nice not being the one in charge of this group, and Peanut's lesson was later in the day, so we had a slow morning (slower than I'd like since I wanted to get out there before it was completely slushy, but nice to not be late for anything.)

We did a few runs together before lunch, and then, while he was at his lesson, I went to some new areas that I hadn't seen before. Did my first black diamond in a really long time (although it was just a short part of the trail, and not a particularly crazy one, so ended up being pretty easy.) And then, after his lesson let out, Peanut and I went down a couple of blue runs, including a steeper section, together which was a stretch for him and he did great! He's come so far this year. I'm so proud of him for pushing himself and continuing to work at this. Looking forward to a lot of fun in the next few years, but it's time to switch out to warm weather activities. 

 

February Findings

More nature hikes this month.

We found lots of lichen and mushrooms.

Went hunting for newts,

and instead pulled out a LOT of cattle bones.

Then, finally found a couple of newts.

Watching them walk is one of my favorite things--they are so cute!

Also got to go for a hike with a couple of friends on Saturday morning.

We did a few miles on the Bay Area Ridge Trail near the north bay and got beautiful views.

Love having friends to hike with.

And more exploring local ecosystems with my class. The Huckleberry Nature Preserve is a little pocket with unique native plants due to the way the bay fog comes in and funnels between the hills right there, keeping the area cool and wet.

Found mushrooms, and several native plants (and unfortunately I found some poison oak which got in my eye and led to a round of steroids. This was my first bad encounter since we moved back, which is kind of surprising considering how much hiking I do near poison oak, but I would have been happy to keep my clean record for a lot longer.)

Peanut loves getting to hang out with his friends on these hikes.

Love mushroom season.

I got out on some early morning walks with lots of sunrises.

And a little bird watching.

And we had another ski day. This time, I decided to try snowboarding for the first time in 7 years. I thought those days were over, but I started a pretty serious weight training routine this winter and was feeling a lot stronger. It seemed like I might as well try.

Ended up having a fantastic day with my boys! Turns out snowboarding is like riding a bike--you don't really forget how to do it. I did a few warm-up runs to get the feel of it again, and then started picking up speed and doing small hops. I'm not willing to do anything extreme these days, but it was so fun to be back out there. 

All in all, February was a great month.

Birthday Week

Daddy-o turned 48 and celebrated with a couple of friends and lemon cake.

And then, later that week, we took our first van trip since the big one.

Just one night up near Pinecrest in the snow.

And all so we could go skiing the next day.

I'd set up a few ski days for our homeschool group at Dodge Ridge. They have such a great group rate (and we even got two free tickets because of the number of people who signed up.) Peanut took a lesson again to refresh himself and Daddy-o skied with him in the afternoon.

And while they skied, I went for a little hike down the road and into the forest.

It wasn't snowy enough to snowshoe, but icy and snowy enough to make it a bit of a challenge walking around.

I followed the same path that we often snowshoe on and found the stop sign that we have taken pictures of in the past. I always thought the snow was so deep, but turns out it's just a short sign, haha.

We finished the weekend with another birthday gift for Daddy-o: a movie at the historic Stanford Theater. This place is beautiful and such a crazy good deal--$7 tickets, $1 candy and $2 popcorn.

We saw Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and it felt very timely. The best part was everyone in the theater cheering after a particularly moving monologue from Jimmy Stewart's character. We'll be back for  more movies for sure!

Gorgeous Snow Weekend

After all that rain in December, we've been waiting for another good snowfall in the mountains so we could try out our new snowshoes, but it just isn't happening. So, we went ahead with our weekend trip, but the snowshoes have to wait for another storm. Instead, we spent Saturday at Dodge Ridge. Daddy-o and the older two kids hit the slopes while I tried to get Peanut used to his skis since it was his first time. We hadn't planned early enough to get him into a lesson, but figured I could work with him for awhile and then Daddy-o could take him up the bunny slopes. Well, it didn't play out quite like we'd hoped, and after getting tangled up on the rope tow near the base of the hill, he quit and that was pretty much it for the rest of the day. He hung out with me by one of the fire pits, reading Harry Potter, and then went to play on a little hill. He said maybe next year, haha. I think we'll try a lesson next time.

We stayed overnight in a cabin, and after doing virtual church (seriously, one of the best parts of the pandemic is how everything is available pretty much wherever we are now), we went to Pinecrest Lake to see if we could find a place to snowshoe.

It ended up being walkable, so we just hiked in the snow, but still fun.

The lake looked beautiful. 

And in the mud around the lake, we found these awesome ice crystals.

Whole chunks of them would pull out of the loose dirt along the shore.

The campground made for a fun place to walk and play.

We've been so lucky the last couple years with our snow days being quite warm. No need to bundle up too much!

And we found a snowman at the end of our hike. At least we got a taste of winter, even if it wasn't quite what we'd planned.