Spring skiing

We spent 4 days over spring break at Bear Valley. The skiing was perfect spring skiing; sunshine, no crowds; in fact, no people at all. It was like having a private resort.


We met up with several friends over the days and the boys had the fun of skiing all over the mountain with their friends.



They also hit the terrain park - perfecting their board slides and jumps. (Below is Fin)


We took the video and to the thrill of the boys posted the video on YouTube - it's apparently the epitome of cool to have a video on the web. (Below Adam attempting a grab).


We rented a cabin in Arnold, and the boys made a little sledding slope to make the most of the fresh snow when we arrived, but the fresh snow had melted after all that sunshine.



We bought our season tickets for Bear for the 11/12 season so hope for more lovely ski trips next season.

Yosemite in the snow

Over the school winter break we went to Yosemite National Park for a few days. Our visit coincided with heavy snow.



Adam was thrilled that his friend Casey and family were also there and the boys had some good snowball fights.



We did make it to the Badger Pass ski area one day which was fun - but very very cold. I was delighted that my new handspun and handknit earflap hat was admired by the lift attendant.

Both boys are on boards these days. The snow was deep and fluffy which is just perfect for boarding (so I'm told!). Badger is so small and contained that we were able to let Adam and Casey go off together - Adam was just thrilled by the freedom!


Great view here of Fin mid-turn - he was probably trying to spray me with snow.

December round-up: Skiing

School broke up on the Friday and we immediately headed up to NorthStar. We made it up just at the beginning of a large storm system moving through so our first two days were very snowy. The payoff came when the sky cleared and we were rewarded by feet of fresh snow.



We used to ski at NorthStar a lot (before we had to work around school holidays) and it was really nice to be back in the village, although it has changed a lot since we first came here 13 years ago. This is the view from the apartment - when we stayed here in 1998 this same block of apartments had a view of the ski slopes!


The resort has an excellent ski school and we enrolled both boys for a couple of full days lessons. Fin decided to make the switch to snowboarding and got off to a good start. After 2 days instruction he was able to go with Adam into 'The Stash': a snowboard terrain park in the trees.


This is Fin leading the way down one of the easy slopes. They were so keen that we even made it onto the slopes before the lifts had opened on the last day!

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year in our now-traditional manner: with a trip to Disneyland. We were really lucky with the weather as rain was forecast, and although it was cold, it did stay dry.



Here we are on the Columbia sailing ship - a perennial favourite. The park was busier this year than it has been in the past, maybe because we were there the day before Thanksgiving rather than on the day itself. Either way, we still go to go on a selection of rides - bearing in mind that only 2 of us (Adam and me, and Adam to a much greater extent than me) likes rides!

We stayed in the park to watch the fireworks for the first time and it was lovely. The boys were particularly impressed with the fake snow in Main St at the end of the display.

The following day we headed out to Long Beach to stay on the Queen Mary. It turned out to be a fabulous trip for us. We stayed in the Eisenhower Suite - previously occupied by the President, as well as Bob Hope. It was lovely in it's faded grandeur.



There are a lot of exhibits on the ship's history and the boys were really interested in it's wartime service as a hospital ship. It also carried GI brides to the USA after the war ended which I found interesting - overwhelmingly the comments from the British brides were on how good the food was on board - I guess after many years of strict rationing it was amazing.

I loved the Art Deco details of the ships public and private rooms and it was particularly nice to go on deck at night and look at the ship and the port of Long Beach lit up. The Queen Mary has had a chequered history and I hope that money remains to preserve this lovely ship. If you are in the area I encourage you to visit - and, even better, stay on board.

Ferretworld: Glad you were here

We had some visitors here at Ferretworld over the summer. Long-time reader (and sister) Gill, with family: Andy, Nancy, and Ned. We managed to fit rather a lot into the time. We started off getting some much-needed R&R at the nail shop after a long flight.


We managed a camping trip to Sunset State beach. The Americans introduced the Brits to s'mores (not surprisingly they were a hit)


We took a pony ride up in the hills above Saratoga with Flossie and Julie.


We hit the boardwalk - some preferred to enjoy the refreshments and the sights....


... while others made the most of the rides! Adam loved having some roller-coaster-loving companions and actually went on several of the rides with Gill and Andy. He persuaded me to go on the log-flume ride. Is that a smile or a grimace??


Definitely smiles here...

We went to the Aquarium where we ran into Julie and Flossie.


and ended up eating fish at the wharf in Monterey while we watched seals, and sea otters eat their fish in the water below us.


It wouldn't be a California vacation without a trip to the beach. We went to Rio Del Mar beach. Some of us just looked the part...


while others really did try to hang-ten..



it was something of a cultural exchange (here Fin and Ned pictured in a rare harmonious moment!). There was a strong Star Wars content, but the cultural activities included a talent show and a disco.


Cocktails in the garden...
We had a lovely time.

Ferretworld: wish you were here

We had a summer vacation in the USA this year and took the boys to Washington DC.

We had a fabulous time, even though our visit coincided with a heatwave - we did manage to cool off somehow. Here we are in front of the National Archive after we went to see the Declaration of Independence, among other things.

The boys assumed a very "them and us" attitude towards the former colonial power! We spent several days on the Mall hitting the museums. The Air and Space Museum was a favourite - here we are touching a moon rock!


We also took the time to visit the other monuments and memorials along the Mall. This was a favourite...


The Einstein memorial is hidden away to the side of the Mall and was deserted. One day we rented a car to get out of the city and visited Manassas - also known as Bull Run. It's the site of the first major battle of the civil war as well as a second battle on almost the same ground. It was a fascinating park with an excellent Junior Ranger program. Here the boys are brandishing their certificates from the program in front of the statue of Stonewall Jackson. Manassas was where he acquired his nickname: "There stands Jackson, like a stone wall" is inscribed on the plinth.



The same day we also visited the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum at Dulles which was excellent. Fin was thrilled to discover that they have a space shuttle.


We had a super time in the nation's capital. DC is very family-friendly with excellent public transport. We stayed at the Kimpton Topaz and the Marriot Wardman Park which both worked out well for us. I think we only hit a fraction of the things that there were to see and do - but that just leaves us an option to go back again!

Visitors

We had visitors over the last few weeks: my parents came out at the beginning and end of thier fabulous Alaska Cruise. Their stay seemed brief, and because of school and cub events we didn't seem to do too much.

But not too much was sometimes rather nice: like my Dad playing cards with the boys after school:



We did manage a trip to the beach with a wonderful warm day at Rio Del Mar although we didn't get Farve onto the Boogie Board (without a wet suit you would not get me in the water either!)



and of course we went out to eat - here at Aldo's:



It was a lovely visit which passed far too quickly.

Ski weekend

We spent last weekend in Bear Valley. It poured all the way there on Friday - which was not fun to drive in - but meant we had about 1' of new snow on Saturday. It was surprisingly cold but clear and sunny.



Adam had a lesson in the terrain park and learned the do a 'grab' (when you make a jump and hold onto the edge of the board while airborne). Here it is in progress:


Adam was delighted that Nigel also brought out his board instead of skiing this time. While they were boarding Fin and I went off to ski together.

Fin decided that he had watched enough olympic skiing now to attempt moguls so we headed off to the backside slopes to try to find some. The moguls were not really too big - but enough to slow me down. I could not keep up with him:


He managed surprisingly well and insisted that when he gets to the winter olympics moguls might be his sport (!).

A great time was had by all.

Thanksgiving in the sun

We made our now-becoming- traditional Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland this year. We spent one day in the park - but as the boys are becoming older it was a longer day this year. As usual the crowds were light early on (8am when the park opened), getting busier through the day.




By lunchtime we had been on all the rides we wanted, including, at Adam's request a mother-son ride on Splash Mountain which resulted in my getting soaked to the skin. However the 85 degree temperature helped dry me out.


Of course Disney is in full Christmas mode and we got to see Santa and his herd of sweating reindeer. The boys got a chance to meet Santa and explain their comprehensive lists of things that they want.



We attended the parade of course - I love the juxtaposition of fake snow and sleighs against the beautiful blue of a SoCal November sky!



Finally - this photo for Ned at the request of Adam:

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.

Zion

Last week we took the boys out of school for a short mid-term break. (It was conference week so we missed only about 6 hours of school). We flew to Las Vegas thanks to Southwest Airlines cheap flights, rented a car, and drove to Zion National Park.



We arrived late in the evening, and when we awoke were greeted by the fabulous red rocks of Zion.



We had no plans except to relax and spend time outside. The weather cooperated with 80 degree temperatures and beautiful blue skies. We hiked up to the Emerald Pools on the first day, amazingly without a word of complaint from the boys, maybe because there was plenty of opportunity for climbing and messing about.


Finlay tested whether the red rocks really did make red mud....they do!


In the afternoon we visited Grafton, a ghost town close to the park. The town was the setting for some of the scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and comes complete with an old cemetary. The boys were particularly interested to see how many children died young. The town was abandoned at the turn of the century but not until they had built a nice school house. The boys remarked how similar the school house was to the one we visited in Columbia.



Our second day we spent on the valley floor, walking along the riverside trail, and messing about in the water.


We also found some big rocks to climb...

It was a beautiful time to visit the park, not only did we get the lovely effect of late sunshine on the rocks, but we also got to see the colours of the 'quaking' aspens in the valley floor.

We had a lovely rejuvenating break which felt like a much longer vacation.