Getting Ready for CHRISTMAS!!!!!

In anticipation of Santa Claus' visit on Christmas Eve, the girls did a little skiing on a bluebird day.

The girls at High Camp, Sabrina was visualizing her gold medal run...

Feel "The Force" Luke... (that's Lake Tahoe in the background)

Watch out ski bunnies, here comes the new school!

And a little preview of Christmas morning, to be continued...

A special sledding day...

We got to go sledding yesterday with the Mikulaks who are up in Soda Springs for Christmas. We shoveled some tracks right out front of their place...

...ultimately took a little rest to recharge the batteries...

...ate a big lunch while Andy dried maybe 5 loads of snow clothes, then ventured out to another (apparently very popular) hill in Truckee before dinner.
 

The always determined Jilli decided it was time to make a snowman...

...she and Amy rolled the bottom from about 100 yards away, but by the end I think everyone (but me) contributed to the completion of the masterpiece!

Andy, Melis, Hannah and Nick.

Good times with great friends!

Trimming the Christmas Tree

As promised, here are a couple of shots of decorating the tree. As you can imagine, for the most part the ornaments are concentrated between 5-8 feet high as this was the sweet spot for the girls on the ladder...high enough to feel accomplished/pushing the limit, but not so high as to be too scary!

Hello El Nino!

Well, just as we were wondering what kind of ski season it would be with the light/moderate el nino conditions expected (though effects not necessarily strong in this part of the Sierras)...we woke up this morning to about a foot of fresh, light, powdery snow! The girl's school was closed so we went outside to play (and shovel the drive as we are expecting snow for the next week). Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and we can take advantage of a stellar ski season.
Sabrina was hysterical, she just kept repeating, "It's so deep." I guess it is more apparent when you're inseam is 15 inches.

 

Looking forward to more fun in the snow with the family!

...and near perfect execution of the classic snow angel!

Amy is coming home early so we can decorate the Christmas tree tonight (hint: I had to begin stringing the lights while standing on the second floor at the top of the stairs because the ladder wasn't tall enough!)...also, here's our new visitor, Eye Nicholas, watching and reporting to Santa whether the girls are behaving naughty or nice.

 

Circa 1984

Amazingly enough, my Bridgestone MB-1 is still up and running. This bike has seen some of the best mountain biking trails from coast to coast. It is certainly a classic (to me) from early in the mountain biking technological and style development and fairly unique compared to some of the S-company productions. It was a departure from the state of the art at the time because it was one of the first to recognize (incorrectly for the most part) that the new mountain biking craze had something to contribute to the then even more obscure cyclocross sector...and hence this bike originally came with drops. The picture barely resembles the original bike as everything except the frame and rims have been changed to aftermarket parts throughout the years; including a Ritchey ultralight Force stem back when they made them as long as 169mm (to accommodate my height) which results in massive deflection at the end of the bars, Cooks Bros cranks (after spinning one during a race in Canaan) and BB, Tange fork (not a choice for replacement after an unfortunate run in with a tree), cantilever brakes (probably 3 full sets of upgrades installed through the years) with rear brace to replace center pulls, flat bars with 90s style bar ends (which I still ride on my "new" '04 Fisher Mt. Tam hard tail), flight seat, several sets of clipless pedals, many times over all of the "disposable" parts like chains/chainrings/clusters/cables/derailleurs/etc and the most recent (perhaps 5 years ago) addition of 1.25" slicks for my commuter/road bike conversion. This bike is truly part of me, as are all of my riding partners over the years. Most memorable is how this bike provided the only solace for me following a startling move back east that put me off balance and completely out of my element with no friends. And of Bob, the best riding partner, rock and roll show companion and most generous friend a person could ever ask for. I may just own this bike forever...but hopefully will upgrade someday to full suspension for my primary mount for off-road adventures. For those of you that have spent significant time in the saddle on acoustic motorbikes, you know how I feel about this bike after more than 25 years of service.

End of Fall

Took these a couple of weeks ago and figured I better get 'em posted before more snow flies...forecast of 4 feet in the mountains tomorrow. We are hoping for a big snow year as both girls did the maiden voyage on planks last year and had a ball. This year I expect both will be off the harness and skiing independently by the end of the season. I'd even wager that if Jilli likes skiing as much as she did last year that she'll be skiing "blues" by her birthday. So, look forward to some action shots of the girls in the snow soon!

The Tooth Fairy!!!

Well, yesterday that pesky tooth that has been wiggling in Jilli's mouth for weeks finally came out..."I was eating my chili, and all of a sudden I bit something that felt like a rock, and it was my tooth, so I took it out!"

And, of course, when Jilli put her tooth in the tooth fairy box and placed it carefully under her pillow...the tooth fairy left a little something for her very first tooth (yes, I know, seems excessive, but the standard was set by one of the girl's schoolmates and how could we possibly explain that Marco's tooth was more valuable than Jilli's...furthermore, we decided this was not the ideal time for a lesson in modest reward doesn't mean that the tooth fairly doesn't appreciate your tooth as much as your friend's...). Jilli asked many times how the tooth fairy 1) knew Jilli lost a tooth, 2) got into the house and 3)  would get the box without waking Jilli up. Now I'm pretty sure everyone reading this is a parent, so you know how detailed the questions were and how convincing the required responses need to be...thanks for the heads up!

Meanwhile, Sabrina was checking out the new Beats Antique!

Fall Leaves!

Today the girls spent the whole day cleaning up the yard...

...with a little help from us!

It was only Round 1 of the leaf collection, but we almost lost the girls in the pile!

Of course it wasn't all work...here are the girls practicing a long standing tradition!

They each earned a dollar, pizza lunch, and some hot chocolate for their impressive efforts!

November in the Sierras?

Feels more like early September. Mountain bike trails in perfect condition and snow free...gotta love it!

Halloween 2009

a switch seemed to flip this year while trick-or-treating...now about total domination, the girls fleeced even the most savvy neighbor of gobs of candy!