Christmas 2012

We really enjoyed our Christmas this year.  We did some of the traditional activities, just not on the traditional days.  We usually decorate gingerbread men over Thanksgiving, but this year we decorated when Peter, Roque,Rosie, Jay, Kelly and Brack were in town.

Roque and Brack really raised the artistic bar on the cookies,

but we still managed a few "creative" cookies.  

We spent a lot of time gathered around the fire watching the snow fall.

Despite a great effort the puzzle did not get completed, so it is back in the box waiting for the next Smith gathering.

We had our tradition music night, with a twist.  Katie and Jason volunteered to start

and stole the show!

We had a real white Christmas.  We went skiing on Christmas Day, but it was so snowy we didn't take any pictures.  Calvin loved skiing in the snow and dragged Jay, Brack , Jason, Katie and Kelly all over the mountain.

The birds at the feeders entertained us,

but the highlight was my Christmas cactus

 putting on a glorious show as usual.

Christmas Tree 2012

In answer to the question "can we chop a Christmas tree and load it on the car without any kids to chop and carry the tree" the answer is yes.  But we did look for a skinny tree, on the uphill side close to the road.  We went with the Gabbarts and after all these years of tree chopping it was just the four of us this year.  We are a few weeks after our traditional chop date, but it was a beautiful day, and the roads, although deeply rutted, were still frozen so we could get in to our favorite chopping spot.

This is Calvin's first selection. But we decided to look a little more.

We found a tree that is actually legal according to the rules, small diameter trunk, back from the road, and so close to another tree that it is pretty much flat on the back. I will admit that it is not our best tree, but it is big and green which is basically what we look for in a tree. I hoped to put it flat against the wall, but that didn't work as well as I hoped.  We took all of the traditional pictures.  

Chopping the tree

 Loading the cars

Family pictures

(Actually Fay and Vance were just waiting while Calvin set up the group shot.  They got a couple picture on their camera.)

And the group shot.

It is great to have friends who share "empty nester" adventures.

Thanksgiving in Sayulita

This year we decided to do a little something different for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving dinner has never been one of my favorite meals and I have managed to avoid cooking it for decades.  (I owe years of gratitude to all of those marvelous cooks who actually know what to do with a turkey.) So this year we went to Sayulita, Mexico and had tacos on the beach for Thanksgiving.  A fish taco is my kind of turkey.

 

 

Rosie, Jay, Roque and Peter joined us in our celebration to make it even more fun.

 

 

The breakfast view.

 

 

We rented a house perched up on a hill with nice touches of Mexican art throughout and a marvelous open air veranda with all kinds of lounging spots and we took advantage of them.

 

 

 

On Saturday we took a sailboat ride out to the Marietas Islands.  The crew really worked hard to show us a good time.  Peter and Jay did a little deep sea fishing.

 

 

Jay took the first shift bringing it in and Peter took the second.

 

Here are the proud fishermen with their catch.  There is more to the story, but you'll have to ask the fishermen.

 

The islands were cool with caves to swim through and a blue footed boobie population, but the best part of the trip was on the ride home when they let us get dragged behind the boat on the cargo net.

 

 

We also had a couple of beach days.  We went to the main beach and rented surfboards and boogie boards one day.

 

 

Roque surfed like a pro her first time out.

 

After an exhausting day on the beach we had dinner in town every night.  Sometimes in a traditional restaurant and sometimes street food. 

 

 

Our favorite beach was about a mile out of town.  We went in the late afternoon one day and besides having the beach to ourselves the light made great pictures.

 

 

Not a big crowd at the beach.

 

 

The large beach connected through this cave to a smaller pocket beach.

 

 

Calvin loves a hidden beach.

 

 

The cave from the other direction.

 

 

Rosie and Jay looking good.

 

 

Lots a brown pelicans to entertain us.

 

 

Bobbing in the waves.

 

A great way to celebrate Thanksgiving!

 

 



It is raining in Reno

It is a rainy weekend here in Reno. I opened the garage door to run some errands yesterday and saw this gorgeous rainbow.  It didn't last long but it was beautiful.  One of the downsides of almost never getting rain is that rainbows are a rare sight here.

To celebrate the rain Calvin decided to go shooting.  He has taken an interest in the Winchester 22 rifle that I inherited from my grandfather through my father.  Calvin had taken it out Friday to hills behind our house, but shooting tends to be discouraged there, so we went Saturday to an established shooting range near Boca.

There was just a little drizzle when we got out of the car, but it rapidly turned into real rain, so we didn't stay long.  It appears that we might need to practice a little more. Neither of us is a great shot, but Calvin at least hit the target board, and hit one of the smaller targets.  I missed the board entirely, and it was not a small board. And it wasn't very far away.  I was playing with my phone and took a video instead of a picture, so you can see how far the target is.

My suggestion to anyone who might come shooting with us is to stay well out of range.

Fall Harvest 2012

We have had the most beautiful fall.  The season lingered long enough for us to harvest a bumper crop from our sporadically attended garden.  We have eaten tomatoes and more tomatoes, but there is nothing like the flavor of a vine ripened tomato.

Our sweet 100s were especially good this year.

Our apples were big and juicy and just a little wormy.

The garden surprise was a 2+ pound potato.  I didn't know that we planted potatoes until I was digging the onions and discovered potatoes instead.  We ate this beauty and it would have fed a family of 6 easily.

Our leaves have finally turned and the birch in the backyard is gorgeous.  What a great place to live.

Denver October 2012

We had a three day lay-over in Denver on our trip back from Washington DC.  We visited with a lot of people and did a lot of fun things, but I only managed to take pictures Zach and Austin.  Bicycling with the grandsons was a highlight for Calvin.  Zach and Austin are really proficient on their bikes, and there are plenty of great places to ride around Butch's house.

Austin happily splashed through all the puddles in the gutter.

Peter and Roque met us every night for some new adventure, so we got a picture of all the Smith boys one night.

We got to spend more time with Austin while Zach was in Kindergarten.  It changes the dynamic at home.  Zach was thrilled when he got to ride his bike to school one day with Grandad and home with his mom.  Life doesn't get much better than that.

I'm not exactly sure what Calvin is saying here.

We went to the zoo on Saturday with Peter and Roque.  Peter took some of these pictures, which is why they are in focus.

Calvin loves the zoo.  He could have stayed all day.

Butch got a break from chasing boys while they rode the carousel.  We talked Roque into riding with boys, since she was the youngest adult.  She is a good sport.

I'm not a big zoo fan, but I like hanging out with the family.

It was a beautiful fall day.

Zach is looking forward to Halloween.  He has a great Knight in Shining Armour costume.  I'm glad we got to see it.  We're so lucky to have such great grandchildren, and lucky to get to see them so often.