Ski Day 4: Homewood

March 9, 2011

Happy Birthday Big Daddy!!!

Today was skiing at Homewood, CA!  Yay!  This is my favorite place to ski at Lake Tahoe, well, anywhere!  As you will be able to quickly see in the pictures . . . the view is the best from Homewood.  No matter which trail you choose, you are always skiing toward the lake and beautiful views.  The weather was perfect and actually a tidge on the warm side.  Several of us shed a layer or something at lunch time.  Max successfully skied the entire mountain with us.  He flies down the greens without a worry and with a quite a bit of hot dogging.  He is constantly looking for jumps and side wood trails to buzz.  Now he has also conquered the blues with nice looking S's and a great wedge to stop with the group. You cannot tell that this is his first week on the slopes. By the end of the day, he had his own little fan club of snowboarders at the terrain park where he was attempting the jumps.  They cheered for him every time he came through the area.  Max was so excited.  Uncle Jon was very impressed by Max's skiing today.  It was Jon's first day with us because he arrived yesterday due to finals in his EMT class.  So, another super day at Tahoe, and now we are getting ready to do cake and games for Big Daddy's birthday . . .  see you later!

Ski Day 3: Mt. Rose

March 8, 2011

Today was an incredible day of skiing with everyone.  Max woke up refreshed and ready to go again.  After the day with us yesterday; I figured he would be with us today.  We went to "Mt. Rose, where the wind always blows."  Due to the elevation of 9700', the peak is always a very windy area.  I believe it is the highest peak on the north end of the Lake  By lunch time the wind had slowed down and the sun was shining bright.  We all have bright red cheeks tonight to vouch for the wind and sun.  Max had a fantastic day and now skis with the whole group.  He reminds me a lot of his Unk P and his skiing style.  Tips straight down and fast to the bottom.  I tried coaching him on his turns and big wide s's and he told me that it made him go too slow.  Ha ha ha, but it wore my Mommy nerves out today.  He did great and I was a nervous wreck for him most of the day.  He loves skiing and tells me that he is now better than I am.  Too funny.  By the afternoon, he was cutting through the woods on boarder trails and looking for jumps to hop over on the edges of the trails.  He looks great and Big Daddy is SO PROUD. 

View from road up to Mt. Rose

Big Daddy and Aunt Josie

Max and Jay

Max and Big Daddy

The 2011 Gang

Ski Day 2: Alpine Meadows

March 7, 2011

Wowzers, am I tired!  Today we skied Alpine Meadows on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe.  It was a total body work out today.  We got a late start out to the slopes due to the snow that accumulated last night.  We got another foot or so of snow at the house and required snow chains to get out. Putting the chains on the van slowed us down leaving and traveling to the mountain.  We arrived too late (hahaha the Parsons were late?) for Max to go the Ski School so he got to ski with us all day.  Whew!  Alpine Meadows is a great place to ski, but it is NOT for beginners.  Max had to be "baptized by fire" today.  We put his Ski Bum backpack with a handle and harness on him, purchased him a device for his ski tips that helps with wedging (slowing), and we went to it.  He did fantastic!  We were all totally worn out by the end of the day.  It is a full body workout to steer him with the harness and make sure he doesn't get carried away.  My legs are always sore from skiing, but tonight I hurt from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.  You see, for those of you who don't know my Jay, he refused to stand in line before he left heaven for the gift of patience.  He has never had patience and after almost 10 yrs of married life together I have learned to live around his absence of the great gift.  Max on the other hand has not.  Jay and Max don't get along too well when it comes to missions like today.  So, that is why I am so worn out.  Max wanted me all day!  That's okay, we had a good day and he advanced a lot today.  Let me clarify, Jay did  help tremendously today, he just sometimes had to ski on when he had enough.  He always stepped in when I couldn't move to lift and pull him anymore. So I think he is pretty worn out too.   I am tired, did I say that already?  oh, and sore! Max is so tired from keeping up with the gang that he says he is resting at the house with Bebe tomorrow.  :-) Anyways, we will just wait and see how that really pans out in the morning.  We had lots of snow and wind all over the mountain while we were there.  I literally could see the powder piling up on the trails as the day wore on.  So cool!  I just love the powder stuff!  It makes it a little more difficult to ski, but it is so pretty and fluffy.  Well, my family is in bed so I guess I need to head there too.  I am positive I am going to have to snuggle a little four year old out of my spot!  Big smiles!!

On the lift to the TOP!

Chance & Amanda

Ryan, taking a quick break

Jess and Max

Our Skier

We stopped on the side of the road on the way home today for a great photo opportunity.  The lake and mountains were so pretty today and the sun was starting to set....just a perfect way to end a tremendous day.

My ski buddy, My Daddy

Ski Day 1: Diamond Peak

March 6, 2011

Today we started our ski adventure for the year with a new resort.  We visited Diamond Peak, NV or the first time.  We have skied lots of places here at the Lake, but never at Diamond Peak. It is on the northwest shore in a Incline Village.  Wow, it was a great decision.  We had some foggy snowy conditions this morning, but by afternoon most of it had risen.  This gave us gorgeous new views of the lake and surrounding area.  I took lots of pictures, but they just don't do God's beauty any justice.  Max loved his first day of ski school and we got good reports from his teachers.  Apparently after the morning session he was the only one in his class of three ready to move up to the next level.  So, he got a private lesson the rest of the day with another instructor.  He was totally pumped when we passed him at one point during the afternoon.  He says he is ready to ski with all of us.  I totally doubt that, so we have convinced him to finish his planned second day of class.  Then tomorrow afternoon he can ski with us. I can't wait.  I missed my little buddy today.  Little Sissy spent the day with Bebe and Logan at the house.  Bebe said she had lots of fun, but shows that she is jealous of Logan's time in Bebe's arms.  Whoops!  Anyways, what a great start to the week!

Ready to be "Too School for Cool!"

Big Daddy's classic stance

Jess and Amanda

Max practicing his pizza wedge

The Girls

Be-a-u-ti-ful!

My Bestie

Travel Days

March 4 and 5, 2011

Ok, as you will notice this blog entry has LOTS of pictures.  I recently started converting my blog years into printed books like scrapbooks of our memories.  I like the idea having the tangible book to look at in future years.  As I started the adventure of converting the blogs to books I quickly realized two things:  videos don't print (duh) and Smilebox picture shows don't print.  To remedy this problem I am in the process of adding pictures back to my Smilebox entries so that some pictures will be printed with that entry.  Thus, as I go forward with blogging I plan to either just do lots of  pictures or do a combination of Smilebox and pictures.  Now that I have covered that . . . on to the week.

Friday we left out on our Big Family Trip to Lake Tahoe.  We arrived at the airport at 1:30 on Friday for our flight and finally arrived at our house in Tahoe at 5ish pm on Saturday.  Yes, over 24hrs of traveling with a party of 13, lots of fun.  Seriously . . . everyone did great.  We range in age from Logan at 2mo to Bebe (guess we shouldn't state Mom's age, no brownie points there).  Our total flight time was 8 hrs and the kids did great.  Logan and mKate were passed around and slept for a good portion of the flights.  Max and Jay played DSi and watched movies.  So, like I said the kids did good for such a long trip.  We spent the night in Reno, NV at Circus Circus before we headed over the mountains on Saturday.  We crashed as soon as we arrived to the hotel, but awoke refreshed and ready to finish the traveling.   

mKate slept the first leg of the flight on Big Daddy

Max talked non-stop (no surprise) on the way to the airport.

They both loved taking off and looking out the window

mKate hitched a ride on Daddy's suitcase

We were in no hurry on Saturday, so we spent the morning at the Circus portion of the hotel.  Max, Mary Kate, and Logan loved watching the performers and playing the games. Max spent all his "dollars" that he had been saving from chores.  He won lots of great stuffed animals to carry around with us this week.  :-) 

Circus Games

Max won 486 tickets

After several errands on our way out of Reno, we finally arrived at the house.  It had been a long two days and we were ready to be here.  The snow in the mountains is unbelievable as it always is here.  The drifts are taller than cars and houses and the scenery is gorgeous.  I just love coming over the top of the mountain and seeing the Lake surrounded by all the snow.  It is truly one of my favorite places on earth.  We are all looking forward to a great week of skiing and fun family moments.  Max is talking non-stop about ski school and all the snow.  Can't wait!!

This is the snow drift on the side of the road at the house.  Whoa!!

While shopping down by the lake, we found this cool  dragon snow sculpture

Darby turns TWO!

Darby blowing out her candles



Mary Kate and Kerrigan playing in the Police car

I am a little late on the post, (actually I am in Tahoe and pulling pictures off the camera and realized I hadn't posted these) but I wanted to share this anyways.  A few weeks ago, we got to go to little Miss Darby's second birthday party.  We spent the afternoon at Peek a Boo Playtown with lots of friends and little ones.  The kids had lots of fun running crazy around the town and sliding down the big green slide.  Darby loved opening all her presents and eating her cake.  She had some very tasty Elmo cupcakes.  (Thanks to Amy!!)  It is always a joy to watch everyone's babes celebrate their special days, thanks for including us Jill!!

Weekend with the Cuzs

February 25, 2011

Friday the kids got a huge surprise when they found out that their cousins were coming to town.  They were even more thrilled to find out they were coming to our house.   Tristan and Kayla got to the house about dinner time and stayed with us until dinner on Saturday.  We all had so much fun.  Friday night they got to stay up "all night" (as Max calls it) watching movies.  Saturday Jay and I ventured out with all four kids . . . crazy?  Actually no, it went quite smoothly.  It was funny to hear each person's comments in different stores.  "oh wow, we talked about having a big family"  Hahaha. The kids ate a good breakfast before we left and then we all got ready.  Whoa, it takes a good while to get four kids ready to hit the town.  Jay did a fabulous job while I did the girls hair.  Mary Kate's hair went up real easy and then Kayla let me pull hers up too.  She did pigtails with bows for the day.  She volunteered for hair bows like Mary Kate.  (Very out of the norm for Kayla, who hates to just brush her hair.)  While shopping, we surprised the kids with lunch at Mickey D's, toys at Target, and then a trip to the Popcorn Store.  They each picked out a flavor and took home their own bag.  It was great to get to spend the day spoiling them and actually getting our errands done too. They even all took naps once we got home. Thanks for sharing them Ty and Shannon!  It was great! !