Pictures from Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Goodbye, Sunshine :(

We're on our way back from three wonderful days in Santa Barbara. I was sad to have to leave, but I'm looking forward to seeing the boys; this is the longest Stuart and I have been away from them, ever!

Santa Barbara is a beautiful town with spectacular views of the mountains and the sea, gorgeous spanish architecture, and, of course, stunning weather! Temps were in the 70s during the day, which was perfect for strolling along the beach and wandering around the foothills of the mountains. We tried to maximize the short time we had while also making sure we relaxed and didn't rush around too much. We visited wineries, ate outside - Santa Barbarians (is that right?!) obviously don't like the cold as they have patio heaters everywhere, even during the day! - ran in the mornings down to the beach and up to the foothills of the mountains, and did a little shopping and sightseeing. We took lots of pictures but none of them can capture the real beauty of the area. You will have to visit and see for yourself!

Santa Barbara here we come!

Stuart and I are on our way to Santa Barbara for 4 days of R&R to celebrate 10 - TEN! - years of marriage! We're particularly looking forward to some warm weather - while most of the country is experiencing record lows, snow, and wind chills (including Florida and Texas!), Southern California has higher than normal temps. We're flying to LA, which is going to hit 76 degrees today, and then driving to Santa Barbara, which is predicted to have a high of 70. We'll take it!

Ski Monsters!

We planned a trip to Timberline Ski Resort in West Virginia over the winter break, with the hope that the kids might take to skiing and that we might be able to get in a little skiing ourselves... We had low expectations and booked this resort because it also offers tubing, ice skating, and swimming, which would be good alternatives should the boys hate skiing. We also invited their Auntie Barbie, Uncle Jim, and cousins Zach, Kayla, Brooke, and Leah, to come along and join the fun!




We arrived at Timberline on the Tuesday before Christmas, just in time for the 1:30pm kids' lesson. (Thank goodness for school closure due to snow, which allowed us to leave home in the morning, rather than waiting until the end of the school day!) Both boys got private 1 hr lessons - Joshua was required to take a private lesson because he's under 6 and Daniel got a group lesson in which he was the only participant! They both did exceedingly well, and were raring to go down the slopes with us. I was terrified that they would ski off the slope, or into a tree, but they pizza'd very well!

On Wednesday we signed them up for the 10am lesson - same deal and, luckily, the same instructors! Joshua's instructor was Ed and Daniel's was Jennifer. They were both great instructors, and the boys really liked them. After their lesson we took them on the bunny hill but Daniel soon tired of that and went all the way to the top of the mountain with Stuart to go on the 2 mile green run. Joshua was a little scared when we went higher, so I stayed on the bunny run with him, which we did over and over until he had perfected the skiing and the lift!

They took one more lesson on Thursday, learning how to do turns. Joshua was ready to ski the long green run, so we took both of them up to the top of the mountain. They had a great time skiing down the run several times. On the last run Joshua decided to make it a little more interesting by skiing up the banked sides of the slope where people had created some jumps! Daniel was more interested in bombing down the hill at breakneck speed...

So much for the tubing, ice skating, and swimming, none of which we did! The boys loved skiing so much, we're heading back for a long weekend at the end of January!

Snow Again!

The snow started Friday evening and, 24 hrs later, hasn't stopped! I think we have about 2 feet at this point, but stopped measuring at 12 inches! The last two days of school (Mon and Tues) before winter break have already been cancelled! Yes! Now we can leave earlier on Tues for our ski trip...kinda ironic, with all this snow around us. Not enough hills here, though!

Trail Running Series Final

Yesterday was the 4th and final Backyard Burn race of the fall series. Having been postponed from last week when there was snow and ice, this race no longer counted towards series points...making me the series winner for 30-39 females! Even with the points from the 4th race I still would have won!

It was a very wet and cold day at Hemlock park. This is the hilliest course with almost no letup between hills. The downhills are usually very manageable, but with all the rain they were mudslides. I will post some pics that I'm sure the photographer took of all the mud. It was unbelievable. I could not get a good footing most of the time. I was either sliding backwards going up the hills, forwards (most scary) going down, or sideways on the flat parts. At one point I slid sideways almost into a ravine and grabbed hold of a thorn bush to save myself...ouch!

'Tis the Season...

Snowmen by the fireplace...luckily not melting!

Banister adornment.... More snowmen "playing" in snow...

Pinecone lights and snowpeople fire... Dining room decked out in "ski lodge"

Joshua's gingerbread train...decorated it himself! Snowman and penguin in appropriate weather!