Another halloween has come and gone. Again, the family was very excited about it. Sam was TinTin, Margaret was a princess of some kind, and Katy was some form of Mini Mouse. We had lots of people by and Elizabeth set her ‘witch’s den” up in the front yard. A fun time was had by all.
The last few weeks, the kids have started racing at the local velodrome (Hellyer Park). They have a great junior program there. They teach the kids how to ride on the track and gradually get them to start doing some races. Our kids think it is great. Margaret doesn’t like racing with other people, but she seems to win all of her races. Today was the ‘end of the year bar-b-que’. There were medals awarded. Sam got a medal for being happy we think. I get to ride with the kids. It is a lot of fun.
It has been a long while since I have posted anything. It doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening, it just means that I have been too lazy to do anything. Of course, the kids all started back to school (Katy is a junior now). Margaret has been doing cross country again. The season is almost over, just the invitational meet yet. Margaret did well enough so she will be going. First Lego League has started up again. Katy managed to wreck the minivan. She didn’t see a traffic island, so she hit it at 20+ mph, broke most of the front end and sideswiped a car that was sitting there waiting for the light. I am still not exactly sure what happened, but I write it off to a 16 year old driver (I can’t really talk, my driving record isn’t the best).
We had a good hike through a small part of Desolation Wilderness. Pretty nice hike. A LOT of up and down. You can see it here.
Another Independence day in Tahoe. The difference with this one is we got to ski. Loads of fun. We were able to ski 2 days in 70 degree weather. It was loads of fun. It was more like a party on skis than really skiing. On the fourth, the family and dog also went swimming, Elizabeth and I went on a hike and we saw the traditional (for us) Tahoe City fireworks.
Another trip to the Napili Surf. The kids again had a great time. They spent most of their time in the water (paddle boarding, boogie boarding, body surfing, snorkeling). I spent most of the time working. However, we did all get out some. We made it to the Nakalele blowhole and the ovaline (ovaltine) pools. I did my 30 minutes of snorkeling for the next 3 years or so, Elizabeth got to see dolphins again. We had a bunch of turtles hanging out really close to the shore in our little bay for a couple of days.
I have not been posting much to the blog lately, so I figured I would do a little catch up. The big events recently have been Katy getting her driver’s license. This has been really great for us. We now have someone to run errands for us and we don’t have to take her to Palo Alto for diving 3 times a week. School is now out and everyone did well, we are getting ready for the trip to Hawaii that we have missed the last few years.
Another spring break of skiing and having fun in Tahoe. The Bommaritos were up for most of the time. My mother was even there for a few days. The kids skied most every day. I did as much as I could while still trying to work as well. Katy took most of these pictures. This is one of the best, but it is not one of my kids, so it didn’t rate the top billing.
A while back, Katy noticed the last regular season game for the Sharks would be on her birthday. She thought that we all should go. Our neighbor was nice enough to arrange tickets for us and we went. Our whole family and all of Katy’s grandparents. All in all an nice way to celebrate Katy’s birthday. Next we have to figure out what playoff games we are going to try to see. Katy is a hockey fan for some reason.
About 10 years ago, Katy started using hotwheelsskier as her AIM name. This was because she found the black run at Alpine Meadows that all the kids love and all the adults hate. It is a narrow twisty run that the kids can do relatively easy and the adults with longer skis have a harder time with it.
Well, today everyone in the family did it for the first time. Both Sam and Margaret loved it. This was a big day for the family, they are all skiing (Margaret boards) much better. Unfortunately, the second time down, I had a little mishap and tore my calf muscle. Pictures here. So for some members of the family it was the first time down Hot Wheels Gully, for others, maybe the last.
I am pretty proud of my kids that they are so much better than me at something so that I hurt myself trying to keep up with them (and not succeeding very well).
