4/2 April Tahoe Trip

During the car ride home from our last ski trip, I brought up with Hansel the idea of going to Tahoe one more time in April. I pointed out that Beck had Good Friday off. Caroline and Leilani also talked about heading back up to Tahoe. They originally were thinking the second weekend in April, but they both ended up having conflicts. So they decided on Easter weekend. Lei talked to us about it, and then started the search for lodging for all 3 families.

It was actually hard to find something for three families (including Lei's mom). Either the places were too big or too small. We were hoping to book two 2-bedroom units at the Hyatt for cash vs points at a super cheap owner's rate, which you can only do a week in advance. They only had 1 unit available. We figured it would make more sense to have Rich and Caroline stay with us since the Yaus had 3 adults and 2 kids. While I was searching for lodging, I had come across some places I thought might work for the Yaus, so I forwarded them along. They ended up getting a condo near the ski school area, so even more in the village.

Since Beck had Friday off, we headed up to Tahoe Friday morning. We wanted to make it in time for the 1:30 Parent and Me class, which we did. But then Hansel and Beck got turned away because Hansel wasn't on skiis. The instructor said that if there weren't other families there that he would have let Hansel do it. 

I took this photo when we stopped for lunch.

Some photos of Mathis while we were waiting for our unit.

The Yangs got in around 7:00, and I think the Yaus got in around midnight, and still made it on the slopes before 10 the next morning.

Since Hansel and Beck didn't make it into the Parent-and-Me class, we talked to Beck about taking a morning ski class. I took Beck to class and let him know that the class was just for kids no parents but that I would go watch him for a little bit. After I dropped Beck off, I got a call from Hansel saying that Maile didn't want to ski any more. I said to have her go down at least one more run and then see. I didn't hear back from him but later found out that right after our call they found the Yaus. Maile was more than happy to ski with Hannah.

Caroline and I went to lunch a little early, so I could check out Beck at ski school. The ski area is right behind where we were eating. Everyone else came for lunch shortly after, so Hansel was able to see Beck, too.

Beck could go straight no problem, but slowing down and braking was all thanks to the leveling snow and the instructor holding onto his hood.

We had dinner at our place that night. Pre-dinner the kids dyed eggs with a kit Caroline brought. For dinner, I got to try out this easy shrimp-broccoli recipe I had clipped from the paper. (Yes, we subscribe to an actual paper newspaper.) After some ice cream, all the kids jumped in a bath together. 

Zoe is missing from the above post-bath photo.

Sunday morning before we left Beck got a little skiing in at the back of the Hyatt. I took the photo from our unit.

Another awesome trip. Can't wait for next season.

3/15 Maile is Star Attraction of the Week

At the start of the school year, Maile's teacher explained to us during Parent Night that each week a different child would be star of the week. Each day during that week, the kids would have a different item to share, like one day would be describing an all-about-me poster they filled out, another day read their favorite book to the class, another day the class interviews the star, and so on. Maile's week was the week after our March Tahoe trip.

We later found out from Maile's teacher that Maile did a great job reading the book to the class. She read it well, read it loud enough, and read it with confidence. She had a harder time with the interview. Even though the questions were about her, she didn't know what the questions would be. I am proud of her for answering the questions as best she could. I know it was not easy for her.

Random March Photos

For a week or so Beck would wake up with puffy eyes. I think it was allergy/hay fever related.

I took this photo of Mathis from below while he was in his crib.

Maile wanted me to take a photo of her beard.

I'd been trying to get Mathis to drink out of a sippy cup. Here he is kind of drinking some water. He has a couple of pencils in his hand because he really liked holding a lot of stick-like items in his hands. So I would give him unsharpened pencils.

On this particular morning there was condensation on Maile's window, so the kids were drawing on the window. You can kind of see a smiley face in the left pane.

Mathis touches his hair when he's sleepy, like in the below photo.

Mathis playing with a toy that originally belonged to Maile. I had recently pulled it out of storage.

Maile dancing on top of their coupe car.

3/28 Two Birthdays

On March 28, we had two birthday parties that day. In the morning, Maile and Beck had Madison's 6th birthday, and in the afternoon Maile had Hannah's 6th birthday.

Madison's birthday was at Safari Run in San Mateo. I knew about this place, but it was our first time there. It's not as big as The Jungle, but it is super clean and super organized. In the main room, there's a big play structure, a little tot area, and racing lanes. All the kids first played on the structure, then one of the staff led them in races and a game of duck duck goose, and then the kids were back on the play structure.

At one point, Madison's mom, Kerry, came up to me and commented how well Maile and Beck get along. I said it was good and bad. Good because they have a built-in friend but bad because they can be really dependent on each other. As I was saying this, Maile was holding onto Beck and trying to keep him from raising his hand to race. They did end up racing with a little encouragement from me. Maile was so sweet when they raced. She would run slow enough to stay just a little ahead of Beck, so he wouldn't finish so far behind.

After all the playing, the staff led us upstairs to the party room. We had lunch and cake, after which we were led back downstairs to the game room. The kids had a great time in the game room winning tickets to turn in for trinkets. Madison requested no presents, but rather for guests to bring a book that another guest would take home. Thanks for a great party, Madison! I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of you.

In the afternoon, I took Maile to Hannah's birthday party at Create It, a paint your own pottery place nearby. Out of all items Maile could choose from, like a penguin, which they were learning about in school, to cute containers, Maile zeroed in on the Little Mermaid.

Hannah and a classmate of hers both decided to paint containers that were in the shape of cupcakes because they both have the same cupcake shirt (they weren't actually wearing them that day but that would have been a cute coincidence). They wanted to paint their container in the same colors as their cupcake shirt, so they conferred on the colors. It was very cute. The staff member would hold up a color, the girls would whisper to each other, and then either raise their hands or wait for the next color.

After the painting, the kids had a light dinner and cupcakes. I helped myself to a cupcake. Yum! Thanks, Hannah, for a great party!

That night we took Hansel's mom to Fu Lam Moon for dinner. Below is a photo of Mathis licking a plate cleaning.

3/27 Maile Cuts off 8 Inches

For Maile's birthday, Joyce had given her a gift certificate to Snip Its, a haircut place for kids, in Palo Alto. I finally planned for her to get her haircut the last weekend in March. Sometime before the haircut I talked to Maile briefly about cutting off 8 inches to donate to someone who needs it. She didn't want to. She liked her long hair.

I took Maile during Beck's nap. When Maile got into the haircut chair, I mentioned to the stylist that we had talked about donating her hair but that she didn't want to do it, which was fine. The stylist said let's see what that would look like. She measured, and 8 inches would be around her shoulder. So we asked Maile if she would be okay with that, and she said okay. I looked at her face to make sure she wasn't saying it begrudgingly. So, the stylist cut off the hair. Disney Cars showing on the stylist's station distracted Maile from the big cut. Admittedly, I still have Maile's hair as well as my hair from December. Maybe I should donate them to the Gulf cleanup.

I loved Maile's haircut. Thanks, Joyce! She looked like a little girl again. I thought we should have done this sooner. After the haircut, we walked around a bit because they had Easter activities around the shopping center. We picked up some free samples from Snip Its, some candy from the Easter bunny, and Maile planted some grass in a cup to take home. That evening we went to Rich and Caroline's for their dinner get together, where Maile got to show off her haircut.

3/24 While Daddy's Away, Mathis Sleeps

On 3/24, Hansel went out of town for a few days for work. We managed while he was gone, and I even had a semi-breakthrough with Mathis. Before then, Mathis didn't really have a set bedtime. He pretty much stayed up until we went to sleep or sometimes I'd hold him to sleep while we were watching TV. But for the three nights that Hansel was gone, I put Mathis down after I put the kids down, and he'd stay asleep.

But after Hansel came back, we went to Rich and Caroline's newly remodeled home for dinner, and Hansel's mom came into town. Sidebar: Their house is gorgeous and embraces the idea of the kitchen being the heart of the home. They were very thoughtful hosts. They specifically made salmon with me, the pescatarian, in mind. I would have been fine with the baked mac and cheese and all the side dishes. Anyway, that night Hansel's mom came into town for a few days on her way to Hong Kong. So, I think with going out and have a fun guest in town, Mathis' bedtime got back out of whack. While Hansel's mom was here, I tried to put him down after the kids went to sleep, but he would wake after an hour or so or wouldn't settle down to sleep. So Mathis again had a random bedtime for another month until toward the end of April. But, we'll save that for another post.  

March Tahoe Trip Phone Photos

I found some photos from the March Tahoe trip on my phone. The first one is of the kids playing Trouble at their usual table. The second is of Zoe, Cameron, and Beck playing Candyland although I think at this point they're playing with it versus playing it. In the last photo, I just thought Avery looked so cute eating her apple.

3/12 March Trip to Tahoe

As a bonus for becoming a fractional owner with Hyatt Northstar, Hyatt offered us the equivalent of a 2-bedroom unit for one week for free. We used it to book a 3-bdrm and a 2-bdrm for three nights the weekend we planned to go to Tahoe with Vicki/Stew, Caroline/Rich, and Leilani/Al and their respective kiddies.

All of us except for Vicki/Stew drove up Thursday. Rich and Caroline made great time even with a stop to have their car checked. Vicki and Stew drove up Friday evening. It was snowing, and they got stuck around Donner. There was an accident and maybe a bear on the loose according to a traffic website. Cameron was a trooper through it all.

Zoe took a parent-and-me class with Rich Friday afternoon and took a full-day lesson the next day. She said she liked skiing and wanted to come back to Tahoe.

Maile and Hannah went skiing with Al on Friday. They did greens and a couple of blues. Maile did fine and didn't have any big spills. But the rest of the weekend she didn't want to ski. She said she didn't want to go fast. We told her she could just go on the greens, but she still didn't want to go. We didn't want to pressure her to ski if she really didn't want to, but at the same time I didn't want her leaving disliking or fearing skiing, especially after we just became fractional owners. Thankfully, she got back up on skis the next trip we took in April.

The agent we worked with to become fractional owners left us a welcome package. One of them was a $100 gift card for Schaffer's Camp (http://www.faulknerarchitects.com/schaffers-camp.html -- I included this link because of the photos). It's a beautiful lodge at the top of the mountain. So we decided that we'd all have lunch there on Saturday. It's not the easiest place to get to, especially walking with kids. Ask Vicki. At one point she was carrying Cameron and a sled. Only to be told at the gondola that we couldn't take the sled up the mountain. But in the end it was worth it.

We also enjoyed the spa, smores, and sledding that weekend.

Other photos from that weekend.

The kitchen sink was the perfect size to bathe Mathis.

Speaking of Mathis, that weekend was the start of a love/hate relationship between Mathis and Avery. I think she wanted to play with him, but a toddler playing with a baby doesn't really work. One time she tried to lift him up by his hair. Oops.

Early in the season Hansel bought these snowball sticks online.You can make and throw snowballs really far with them. You can see one in Maile's hand in the below photo. I'd never seen them before.

Family photo of the Yaus.

Each time we'd go down to the lounge/eating area the kids would sit at the same table and play boggle.