California Style Snow Day

I've been reading about all the snow on the east coast and being snowed in and yada yada. It seems pretty hard to deal with and a lot of trouble.
I'd like to show what a California snow day looks like.
First, you plan to leave the house at 8am, but because you can't find mittens or snow boot for everyone, and then there is the need for coffee, you really leave at like 9.
(Not one of us actually had mittens, snowboots AND a hat, at best each had two out of three. I ended up wearing gardening galoshes, BZ was wearing gardening gloves instead of mittens. M was the best prepared. )
Anyways, you drive a little bit under blue skies and then get to the snow park. No, east-coasters, we can't just go into our backyards, we have special places for snow. This is California.
Then you walk a few minutes and ta-da! You are ready for snow type activities. M had never seen snow before, and I think only one of our dogs had, so it was pretty thrilling for most of our group.

Our snow type activities included:
1)Throwing Snow balls.

 

2) "Dog Skiing"

3) Sliding down the snow on our jackets, because, YES, it was so warm that we had to take our jackets off, and NO, we don't own a sled,  this is California. We own gardening galoshes, not sleds. Uhum.. this activity was not recorded. Let me distract you with:

After a good hour of icy fun, we decided to head home. We stopped for lunch on the way, and made it back for nap time. 

Snow Day in California Recap: Coffee, Drive, Fun, Mild Sunburn, Lunch, Drive, Nap. The end.

The Three Mustketeers... or Chickens. Whatever.

We're happy to announce that Mo has moved up in the world... she is now allowed outside by the other Chix and can roam without fear. She is still bald on the top, but at least she seems part of the flock.

 

She's also started pulling her weight! 

. 

(From left to right: Wyandotte, Leghorn, Polish)

Her eggs are a very pale tan and a little smaller than the others. Three chickens, three different colors and sizes; it's funny how that works out.  The Chix have been a lot of fun lately, especially for Miss M who loves to give them treats. It's a good thing they're laying well because someone..I'm not naming any names (MO AND DOTTY!) have gotten into the garden in the last couple of days and partially decimated the lettuce and onions. I threatened with yells of "You're just fattening yourselves up to be dinner!", but they just kicked dirt in my general direction. Until I turned the hose on them. That taught them....for like 10 minutes. Whatever. EGGS.

Going down with me.

Mom. I know I asked for the madelein pan for my birthday, and that you just joined a new gym. Those things don't matter right now.

If I'm going to pack on the pounds, you're going down with me. See you tomorrow morning, cookies in hand.

Lunar New Year Already?!

So it's the lunar new year this weekend and it's my inspiration to actually post something about our New Year's weekend at the cabin.
I'll start by saying there was no gas running at the cabin so we were sans hot water. That did not stop us from having a killer time. We brought our big outdoor stove to boil water for baths and food and overall it worked pretty well. Everyone got a warm bath each day, which, thinking about it.... is cleaner that we get when we have running hot water at the cabin. Interesting.

B&A were gracious enough to make two dinners, abalone and nabe, which are both among my favorites. Only Brad can look pirate-y while cooking nabe.


















We bundled up M every morning and took her to Armstrong Grove.

Alicia and I were able to get a little video of M walking on the trail. We had just taught her how to put her hands in her pockets and she was walking in a funny, very determined way, hamming it up like usual.


After a long day of general rambunctiousness, M was ready to snuggle and be entertained.

It was another great New Year's weekend at the cabin, a tradition we always look forward to!