Snowbird

I've been meaning to post about our Snowbird trip for some time. We
spent a week at our Snowbird Condo during January. David was able to
spend more time with us this year than he has in the past, so that was
nice. It is a bit weird going on vacation only 8 miles from home, but
I don't have any problem leaving for the week.
I am usually a light packer, but I take a ton for this trip. There is
all the ski equipment for 5 people, then lots of games and movies and
swimming stuff for when we aren't skiing. Plus food for a week. Since
we are close to home, we like to invite friend up to stay with us, so
I can end up feeding 10+ people 3 times a day. There is a lot less
stuff to bring home at least! It's a lot of fun and I think it is my
kids favorite trip. They are getting to be quite good skiiers, so I
no longer have an excuse to stay on the bunny hill!

TJed Forum & Family Ball

Our family just had a fun & educational weekend. We had our favorite
monthly activity on Friday, book group! We met at the Young's for some
delicious Enxhilada's and then we enacted Shakespeare's "Much Ado
about Nothing" on their stage. It was a lot of fun, and most of the
children participated too.
We went straight from there to the Hilton for the weekend. Saturday
was the 6th annual Thomas Jefferson Education Forum. Nathan attended
the youth forum this year for the first time. The classes I attended
we very good and inspirational.
David & I attended the President's Banquet. The speaker was Michael
Ballam. His topic was fostering creativity in children, but it really
was about helping everyone find their true mission in life.
After the banquet was the family ball. This has become a fun
tradition for us. This picture is of Raven dancing at the ball. I
don't know who the boy is, but she spent most of the evening dancing
with him. She did manage to dance with other boys as well. My cell
phone camera doesn't take action shots in a dim room very well, but
this photo does depict the whirlwind weekend we had.

Congratulations London!

London had his testing for his Black Belt in Taekwondo on December
19th. He had to do two forms, weapons, sparring and two board breaks.
He did a back elbow strike and a running jump side kick. It was
exciting and he did a great job and is now a 1st degree black belt!

Busy Day!

On saturday December 15th we had a busy day. The kids were in a
Taekwondo tournament. Raven placed 3rd in sparring, Nathan placed 2nd
in sparring and London placed 3rd in weapons, 2nd in forms and 1st in
sparring. The final sparring match was Nathan and London and they
came down to a one point match.

That afternoon Raven had her Christmas dance show. She had two
performances. This picture is of her after her shows. She did a great
job!

We went straight from there to our Christmas party with our book
group, which was lots of fun!

Fisherman's Wharf

Today is Saturday, so David was able to join us today, at least in
body. We rode the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for the day. We
had lunch at Boudin's and then walked around the wharf. Raven helped
out a juggler doing a show on Pier 39. She arm wrestled the same
scary machine that Julie Andrews did in "The Princess Diaries". We
saw the sea lions and rode the street cars back. We walked through a
really nice arts & crafts fair and managed to get out without buying
anything. I think Raven had enjoyed being an only child this week,
but she has been thinking of her brothers and has used her own money
to buy them gifts.
We met friends for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. We had a great
time. We have a long drive tomorrow.

Exploratorium

Raven and I spent most of the day at the Exploratorium today. It is a
big hands on science museum in the Presidio. There were some people
in there filming something, a documentary I think, and Raven got to be
in it. She was in a background shot playing in the black sand exhibit,
which is still our favorite exhibit.
This picture is of Raven by the Palace of Fine Arts which is right
next to the exploratorium.
We had a relaxing evening of room service and movies!

Lake Tahoe

We spent two more days in the Reno area. Wednesday we drove up to
Lake Tahoe. It was gorgeous and sunny. There was no snow yet. It
was very cloudy and gloomy in Reno. We played at a playground right
by the lake. Raven made at least 3 friends while we were there. This
picture was taken near the lake. We had lunch at Rosie's Cafe and
then drove around the lake. We met up with Jon and David for dinner
after we got back and then spent some time playing games and watching
the shows at Circus Circus. Raven won lots of games and came home
with several stuffed animals.
Friday was pretty boring. After we checked out of our hotel we went to
a laundromat to do laundry. We had lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then it
was time to drop Erin and Izzy off with Jon so they could head home.
David got done about an hour and a half later and then we started
driving. Even as we were heading to I-80 we weren't sure if we were
heading east or west, but at the last minute we decided to head west,
so that David could be to a meeting in San Franciso tomorrow.