Another year of 28!

 I am grateful for so many things, especially my family! 

Is this print?

Norah started learning cursive this year. On her homework sheet, we were seeing only prints since she is so good! Her teacher told her that her cursive is the best she have ever seen! 

Pinewood Derby 2024

 Jackson and Norah entered this year's Pinewood Derby contest. Jackson worked diligently to improve his car and won the third place in his age group!

Ski Northstar

 Joining the Randolph family the first time, we skied NorthStar over the kids' winter break. Last Tahoe trip was still fresh in our memory as the dreamy water, warm friendship and board game nights brought smiles to our faces. This was the first winter trip kids took to Lake Tahoe. They couldn't hide their excitement, as did us!

 We flew to Sacramento for more flight choices. Our flight left at 6pm and we settled in the rental house around 1am Dallas time. Considering we started to leave the house at 3pm to pick up the kids, It was a long day. Note to self: Next time take a half day for the kids and fly into Reno next time. It's a 2 hour drive compared to 45 minutes from Reno.

We managed to get to the mountain the next day on time. Norah complained about stomach pain. It's most likely from her altitude sickness. I took her to have hot cocoa at Incline burger near the gondola. We ended up relaxing there for the morning and had our lunch there. I was so amazed with the friendliness of the staff. He offered Norah free cocoa! We encountered so many friendly people in Northstar in the following days. 

We reunited with the rest of the group in the afternoon. The mountain immediately got the kids' approval because of its expansive terrain park. It got Will's approval because the fresh powder 5 days after a snowfall. I loved the seemingly unending mogul runs. And most of the resorts are below the tree line. 8 of us loved to explore in the groves. Norah also did her first rope toll. She loved it so much that she requested to take laps on it. This rope toll was the way to get to a part of hard runs so it was never busy. And it passed between trees. It was a beautiful ride.

This was the first time that our family skied with friends. It was so fun and satisfying to have a big group going anywhere together. Oliver, Jackson would always head out first, the girls would be following right behind. Oliver found a big rock to jump down. The rest of us set up under the rock and see him flying through. Will found the grove with fresh powder and led us in the powder to go down to base. Zephyr lodge's food was great for ski lodge standards. 

We played board games the second night. We laughed and giggled.

The Randolph family left early on the third day to get ready. We skied till the mountain closed and everyone left to watch the super bowl. 

Books in 2023

1. Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult  
2. The problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis
3. When I'm gone, look for me in the east by Quan Barry 💓
4. Yinka, Where is your husband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
5. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
6. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
7. Cutting for stone by Abraham Verghese 💓
8. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
9. His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
10. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari 💓
11. People of the book by Geraldine Brooks 💓
12. What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo  💓💓
13. Thriller by Jon Scieszka
14. Horse by Geraldine Brooks 💓
15. Verity by Colleen Hoover 👎
16. Bill Bryson's African Diary
17. Icons of England by Bill Bryson 👎
18. All the Broken Places by John Boyne
19. Boomerang by Michael Lewis 💓
20. The Measure by Nikki Erlick
21. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese 💓
22. Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson 👎
23. Permission to come home by Jenny Wang
24. Killer of the Flower Moon by David Grann
25. Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari 💓
26. The bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
27. Loving What is by Bryon Katie
28. The gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey 💓
29. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 💓💓
30. Going Infinite by Michael Lewis 💓
31. Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 
32. Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer 💓💓
33. Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda 💓💓

2023 Ski Crested Butte

 This year we were going to CB to ski the first time! After a couple of cancellations in the past years, we made it to CB on Sunday afternoon Dec17. We took two days to drive for altitude acclimation and stopped at Trinidad. Norah had to skip 2.5 days of school because of her later school end dates. 

We left Dallas around 9am and arrived at La Quinta around 6pm. Our dinner at Tequila's Family Mexican nearby was a lovely change from the fast food on our long drives. We had a decent night's sleep and a free breakfast at the hotel. When we left Trinidad around 9am, I already planned a lunch stop at my favorite Salida restaurant Boathouse Cantina. The setting is beautiful as usual and we enjoyed our lunch. After a grocery run at Gunnison's City Market, we went to pick up the kids' ski boots at Christy Sports. Both kids got new skis for Christmas. We arrived at our condo Three Seasons right around check-in time 4pm.

Three Seasons was built in 1979 and doesn't have an elevator. It has a cargo elevator at the opposite side of the building. It took us a few trips to get our groceries and luggage to our room on the third floor. Our condo is around 800 sq. ft. and was well equipped. It is a 2-3 mins bus ride away from the Mountaineer Square. We thoroughly enjoyed the bus system to take mid-day ski breaks in the next few days. 

CB has about 1/3 of trails open because of the snow condition. It also staged its trail opening during the week we were there. It added a surprise factor to our trip since it felt everyday there is something new open and worth exploring. We enjoyed the first two days of skiing by just exploring a new mountain. Both kids gravitate towards the terrain park. Tuesday dinner we checked out Secret Stash that Jeffery recommended. Town of Crested Butte was festive. 

Wednesday we took a break from skiing. We got two sleds from Ace Hardware in town and headed to the CB Nordic center. They have a covered ice skating rink and a small sledding hill. Kids liked the sledding but the ice skating rink was closed. It opened later on the weekends. In the afternoon, we sent Will to ski while I took the kids to the hill outside of our condo to sledding. I can't believe they sled for more than two hours on the small hill. 

We skied the next two days and found our favorite run Poverty Gulch. It's in between the green runs and has the defined twists and turns of mountain biking. We all loved it. 

Saturday was supposed to be our break day again. But we woke up to a few inches of new snow and the resort opened East River Lift. I urged Will to go ski the East River Lift while the three of us played games at the condo. In the afternoon, we took the sleds to Snodgrass Trail. We walked past the aspen trees and evergreen trees. The view is breathtakingly beautiful. Topped with constant complaints from Jackson. :-) On our way back, both kids loved the sledding down experience and learned to steer their sleds. They requested more hiking up. 

Sunday both Prospect and Gold Link Lift opened. We went around the mountain to enjoy the freshly opened terrain. Also the terrain park opened at the top of Painter Boy Lift. We spend a good amount of time there. Monday the Christmas day was our last ski day. We've grown to like the mountain after 6 days of skiing. The hard section won't open till the end of January. The 27 year CB instructor I met on the lift told me that her favorite run is Morning Glory. We want to come back in the later season to check it out. 

We woke up at 5:45am on Tuesday and headed out at 7:08am. We made a stop at Raton's JR burrito inside a liquor store. All of us liked the burrito and it was so big that we ate it for lunch and dinner. Each burrito was only $6! We would definitely consider stopping by JR again. They open till 2pm. We arrived home at 9:30pm. Our drive time is just below 13 hours. 

Jackson:  Dec. 2023, 22-22.5 ski boots (265)

Norah: Dec. 2023, 36” poles, 20 ski boots (240)

Baseball!

 We've had a great baseball season this year with Jackson's team and with Texas Rangers. Our October was filled with baseball watching. 

Jackson's teammate mom is a professional photographer. She took photos for the players. Jackson looks so handsome that I have to share. 

- Proud baseball mom and dad.