Cold Blast

What a weekend!  For the first time since living in Minnesota I felt the bitter cold - the cold that's so biting it freezes your nostrils closed as you breathe.  And that was just so I could cross the parking lot at the hotel for a cup of coffee.

Just look at how much snow we woke up to Saturday morning!

OK so that was the mound left behind by the plow just inside our motel parking lot.  But it gives you an idea of just how much snow the South Lake Tahoe area received in the past 3 weeks - since we were there last.

Then we made the gorgeous drive up to our snow sledding location.

Some of the roads in Nevada hadn't seen a plow in a while - good thing we had the chains on all weekend!

Here's a comparison shot of just how much snow our little sledding hill picked up in a couple of weeks.  The picture on the left was Drew earlier this month - the right that same fence post - perhaps 12 inches above the snow level.  That railing in the background... completely buried.

In fact there were several areas that were so deep as we tried making our way up the sledding hill - Drew was completely buried!

Sledding itself was pretty rough on Saturday.  Really powdery and there weren't any sled runs already made - we had to make our own.  That lead to a cranky child because he wasn't getting anywhere.  So we decided to just play in the snow for a while.

Here's a little video of Drew playing with his "big ones" as he practiced those Rocky moves.

I tried to take one more family shot at the end, but Drew was DONE!  So we piled back into the car and enjoyed the view on the slow drive back to the hotel for naps.

OK well Mommy and Daddy managed a catnap, but Drew had nothing.  So we ventured out around Heavenly Village for some hot chocolate and  a look around an art museum that was showing some of Dr. Seuss' artwork.

It was a gorgeous sunset!

We stopped for some pizza and enjoyed the rest of the evening in our warm and cozy motel room!  The big fun came on Sunday.

Ready for the Ring

Yesterday Drew got a package from Tata and Abuela. In it was a special Rocky embroidered poncho.


He thinks it's the robe Rocky wears before boxing in the ring. Gee thanks Tata and Abuela for encouraging Drew's Rocky addiction ;)

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Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Oh as I sit here in my nice cozy house seeing the news reports and reading the Facebook updates about the Minneapolis/St. Paul being covered with a blizzard - I figured it was appropriate to share the "snow" pictures I took from my phone this weekend from our neck of the woods.

I know that's just what my Minnesota family and friends want to see - more snow!

This first picture was from the city south of us as we were driving to the Santa Clara Valley (Gilroy/Morgan Hill) to do some wine tasting at a "new" group of wineries.

Then on Sunday this was a shot of Mt. Diablo - on Mom & Dad's side (facing Concord).  For those that aren't familiar, Mt. Diablo is our closest "Mountain".  It's roughly 3,800' high.

See, we know how to do snow.... contain it to the mountaintops. 

Rocky Vs. Clubber Lang

If you haven't figured out yet, Drew is all Rocky.  All the time.  You have to check out this video of Drew boxing with Daddy as he's trying to get his PJ's on for the night.  Wait for the surprise ending...

Italian Stallion Wannabe

My 3 year old has a problem.  Perhaps we should find a support group for him (or maybe us) to learn how to help him overcome his Rocky addiction.

Symptoms: Waking up 2 hours later than normal, refusal to go to school without wearing "Rocky Clothes and shoes", nonstop Rocky Movie watching, humming "Eye of the Tiger" during bedtime stories, doing a spin and run up the "Rocky" stairs at preschool everyday and then air-punching the car, naming the part of the movie he wishes to watch and knowing whether it's on Rocky II, III or IV, hearing the soundtrack and knowing which scene from the movie (and which movie it's from), etc.

Yes, some of these signs leading to a Rocky addiction were spotted yesterday morning by Dave.  Drew woke up at nearly 8am (he has been waking up at 5:30 the past several days) and he immediately announced he wouldn't go to school without wearing Rocky clothes.  So Dave improvised - since we don't exactly have the 80's sweats that the real Italian Stallion wore in Rocky.

Here's Rocky's Sweats:

Here's Dave's Improvisation:

See the gray shirt, sorta gray/black sweat pants and what you can't see from the Rocky photo, is that he's running in converse shoes.  Drew was handed down a pair and now it's IMPOSSIBLE to get him to wear anything else.

And while I was trying to snap the photo on my phone Drew kept wanting to do his "Yo Adrian I did it" impersonation.  So I had him do a few things for you - the ending of this video makes me CRACK UP!



So if anyone has a cure for the Rocky disease, let me know.  It's not normal that a 3 1/2 year old be this infatuated with everything Rocky!

Here Comes the Sun

With the rainstorms on the horizon I bribed Drew that if he were good at church and Sunday School we would hit up the park.

He loved it and was surprised we went to a "new" one.



He loved all the climbing equipment and thought he was quite the big boy whizzing around with the 7&8 year olds.

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Happy Valentine's Day

For anyone who knows me, they know I despise Valentine's Day and don't celebrate. Well you can read that: Dave is off the hook. But I don't want Drew to grow up feeling that way. After all he will have girlfriends and a wife someday and I know it's an important holiday for many ladies.

So on Saturday Drew made this for us




So to start his day off right I made him a special PB&J.




That's major progress for me.

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Snow Photoshoot

Rather than bore you with photo overload in yesterday's post - I figure I'd bore you over two whole days!  I know you're saying under your breath "lucky me", but well since I'm here and you're there - too bad I didn't hear a thing.

While Stephanie and Ms. Jonelle left with the other kids, Drew and I stayed behind a few extra minutes to take a few family shots and pose in the snow.  OK we had one last sled run down the hill then posed for the pictures.  here are some of the best:

Escape TO the Snow

While many of you - family and friends - were happy to get a break from all the snow and storms that hit you last week, Dave, Drew and I wanted to go to the snow.  (Note that we go to the snow - we can leave when we're done - unlike you bwahaha.)  So on Friday we drove to Lake Tahoe with our friends - Ms. Stephanie and her family (Drew's old day care provider) and Ms. Jonelle and her family (Drew's current preschool teacher).  Translation: 6 Adults and 5 kids went to Lake Tahoe, sharing a 3 bedroom timeshare.

While you would think that many people in a room would be a little crazy, I have to say I thought it was rather smooth and easy.  Of course it helps that the timeshare is larger than my house, but I digress.

Friday night we got there around 10pm and the kids were wired and ready to play - which they did until probably 1am.  Dave and I finally went to sleep around 3AM and Drew was up at 7.  Lovely.  But he was really excited - we told him on Saturday we were going sledding.

Here's the group as we were trying to get them out the door.

L-R: Drew, Mason, Troy, Zionna, Charlise

L-R: Charlise, Drew, Mason (behind Drew), Troy, Zionna

Finally we made it out there for the last picture together before they all went their merry ways.

 L-R: Drew, Charlise, Zionna, Mason, Troy

And then they were off!  Dave did a few runs with Drew before letting him go on his own.

Here's Ms. Stephanie and Charlise

Here are a couple of videos of the sledding action:





Drew decided at one point he wanted to roll down the hill rather than sled (it was intentional).

After about 30 minutes of sledding, most of the kids were getting tired of sledding (the other two families were also in Tahoe last weekend), so they decided to have a snowball fight and everyone ganged up on Dave.  Ms. Jonelle and I played photographer.

After the snow, we all went back to the room and took naps.  Drew just woke up from his 3 1/2 hour nap when I snapped this shot of all the kids watching TV.

L-R: Charlise, Drew, Mason, Troy (poking his head from behind the table) and Zionna.

It was a great weekend, but man was it exhausting!  I was in bed Sunday night by 7:30pm!

Yo Adrian, I Did It

Dave has created a monster. A Rocky monster. For more than a year Drew has recognized several songs from the movie - Getting Strong Now and Eye of the Tiger.

Then Dave made the mistake if showing him clips from 3 of the 6 movies.

Move over "Johnny" someone bigger beat you out. This is all he watches anymore. Never thought I'd beg to see the Wiggles again.




And watch for the Sly lip in this video.

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Separation Anxiety - Repeat

For whatever reason dropping Drew off at preschool this week has been, shall we say, emotional for Drew. On Monday he cried as I walked out the door like he did when he first started school.

So to make him feel better his teachers had him make me cards.





Now if only we can figure out why he's anti-school... (which he admits he likes!)