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.
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.
Feeling just a little behind around here, and as much as I do want to catch up, I'm having a hard time imagining how. So, I'm dropping in some current photos right now.
Spring fun meets have started again with swim team. Peanut got talked into it (he really hates racing), and dropped several seconds on his breaststroke time! Hoping he'll keep improving his times and realize that it's fun to just challenge himself each meet.
I've been scheduling as many field trips and fun things as I can knowing that this is it for our homeschool life. And trying not to think about that too much because I definitely have complicated feelings around it. We went to the Sulfur Creek Nature Center in Hayward with my nature group, learned about animal skulls, and spent some time exploring the rescued animals on site.
We've been science-ing weekly--my classes are pretty good this year, with just a little extra chaos in the middle school class (I think almost the entire class has ADHD), but we've been having a lot of fun studying ecology and the kids have been getting better about doing their homework so when I assign posters or presentations, we actually have things to look at in the next class! It's the little wins that count. . .
Part of my field trip initiative involved setting up a few homeschool ski days at Dodge Ridge.
And, on the second one, I decided I was done sitting in the lodge waiting for my people. My last time on a snowboard was 7 years ago, and it was pretty painful. After breaking my ankle, I figured I was done. But I've been doing a lot of strength training and balance work for the past year (with a break in the fall while we were on our trip), and was feeling pretty strong. And. . .
I still remember how it's done! I was pretty nervous for the first run, but by the bottom, I felt like I had it. I'm not doing anything crazy these days, but I can cruise down a blue run with no issues and it felt pretty good. And it's fun to be out there with my family. Now I've just got to get Peanut skiing on harder runs and we can explore more of the mountain. He's kind of a speed demon, but if we can get him more comfortable with his turns, I think he could handle the steeper stuff, too.
We've used the van both times we went up to the snow. It's so much easier to drive up the evening before and not have to get up at 5.
And we stay nice and cozy in there, despite the cold temps outside. Dinner, family movie, and then a solid night of sleep before a day in the snow is pretty awesome.
Peanut has gotten back into 4H since we returned home. He's doing the cooking project this year and we're all enjoying the monthly dinners he makes. Last month was tacos in homemade tortillas--yum!
We've also been pretty busy with our nature hikes.
I've got a solid group this semester with about 6 families signed up for the whole package, and then several others who are coming as many weeks as they can. We had 22 kids on one of them!
These are still my favorite classes and we've had some really fun topics this semester.
Some of the kids get really into it (and then there are still the ones who just want to talk about their imaginative worlds for 2 hours with their friends--I think as long as they're out in nature, it's all good.)
Peanut falls somewhere in the middle--he wants to do whatever the topic is, but some of those conversations are just too alluring. I've been impressed with his nature journalling each time, and let the rest of it go.
And the weeks when we get to really explore are fun for everyone.
Found a couple newts on one of our February hikes.
And lots of mushrooms, of course. It wasn't the best season because we didn't get enough rain in January, but there have still been some good ones.
And finally, a property update. It's getting green over there, things are blooming, but the house is slow. It should be right along the right side of the property here.
But we did get the buildings cleared that we needed to, and they've come out to do testing for our septic system, which means we're making progress. Just not sure how much or what the timeline looks like from here. I'm cautiously optimistic that we might be able to move over there by the end of the summer. We shall see how it turns out. . .
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.
One of our gifts to the kids at Christmas 2019 was a day of snowshoeing. Unfortunately, there was hardly any snow that year, and then when the snow finally came, the whole world had shut down and so, here we are, 14 months later, finally taking the snow shoe trip.
And it ended up being glorious day. Probably the best introduction to snow play for Peanut. Sunny, mid-50's--we were actually getting hot.
He was pretty cooperative and happy, which was what we were hoping for. I have dreams of someday skiing/snowboarding as a whole family, but this was a test run.
We went to a trail right by Dodge Ridge ski resort, and tried a couple different trails. We learned that walking in the snow is a lot more work.
And deep snow is harder to maneuver in, even with the snowshoes.
Lunch break re-energized us.
It was so incredible being out in this beautiful forest.
On our way back to the car, we found a family who had this awesome bike-ski. After watching them do a couple runs, they asked if Daddy-o wanted to try. He loved it!
Then, we had just enough day light to stop at a nearby hill for a little sledding and a snowball fight, making all of Peanut's snow day dreams come true.
Girls against boys. Building up our stash.
We had so much fun. For a family of warm weather people, this was such a great day.
Lots of sledding for all of us.
We really lucked out with the best day.
Who knows, we might turn into snow people after all.
