Sylvan Renard Smith November 25, 2015

Our newest grandson is nearly a month old and I have yet to post a picture of him. I suppose that is because he lives in town and I get to see him often and not just look at his picture, so I am less inclined to grab a camera every time I see him.  Still we are so delighted that has arrived safely into the loving arms of Peter and Roque.  He was born in a great hurry on November 25, 2015, but even from day one he seemed like a pretty mellow little guy to me.

Here are three generations of Smith men

I think that Sylvan looks like Peter, but newborn babies do tend to look alike. The top picture is Peter on day one and the bottom is Sylvan at about two weeks.

 He does look like he will have blue eyes like Peter.

We jumped right in getting him started with Smith family traditions.  Here he is helping Granddad Cal decorate gingerbread men.

And here he playing baby Jesus in the Christmas nativity. 

I do miss the days when the kids played all the parts and we just got to watch.

Sylvan was blessed last Sunday night in a very touching family blessing at Peter and Roque's home. Butch came in person and the Wrights came on FaceTime

He was well loved by the Smith family and the Stutz family.

Nicolas Calvin Bordelon

I got to spend last week in Virginia hanging out with the Bordelons, playing with Clare and Garrett, and meeting our new grandson Nicolas. Sarah and Toby managed to have a new baby and still keep the rest of the family routine flowing perfectly smoothly. They make a great team. And I didn't have very much to do but play with grandkids.  What a treat. And just so you know, I adore my grandkids, so I took a lot of pictures.

The day before  Nicolas was born we made a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Some traditions are not to be missed, even if you are having a baby the next day.

Nicolas Calvin was born October 26, 2015 sometime after 8:00 in the morning. Weighing in at 7lbs 12 oz and about 19 inches long.

 These are day 1 pictures.

Both Clare and Garrett were fascinated with him. Clare recognized him as a little brother, but I think Garrett viewed him more as an interesting bug.

Day 2 found Nicolas hanging out in the tanning bed

 Day 3

Both Nick and Sarah are looking pretty good and getting a little bored at the hospital.

Day 4

This cute little pumpkin came home

While all the fuss with the baby was going on, Garrett and I took a few walks around the neighborhood.  People take holiday decorating seriously in Sarah's neighborhood.  A house just down the street had a Ghostbusters theme. and Garrett loved that marshmallow man.

 He also loved the spider webs that decorated many fences. But he didn't like the plastic spiders stuck in the webs.

Clare has own own busy schedule.  While I was there she had three soccer practices and a game, a pre-school field trip, ballet and Spanish class.  The best part was that she got to wear her Elsa costume to Spanish and Ballet. Here she is dressed up for Halloween.

As soon as she had her costume on she went outside to create her ice palace. I love her imagination.

Which takes us up to day six of Nick's life, when he got up for Clare's 9:00 soccer game, went out to brunch with the family and then dressed up for Halloween. He didn't get to trick or treat this year.

The new  and improved Bordelon family

Day 3 in Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River

Day 3 on the river started slowly.  We had camped on a sand bar the night before, deep in Labyrinth Canyon of the Green River.  The dew was heavy and the sun is slow to rise above the canyon wall in mid October, but we had all day to paddle about 15 miles, so a late start didn't matter.  We passed two groups of river travelers within the first mile or so, still in camp, and those were the last people we saw until the pull out the next day.

I just love the view down river. Every time you turn a corner you look straight down to another giant red wall.

The view behind is pretty good too.

We didn't see anymore people, but we did see a beaver.  You'll just have to trust me that this little blip in the water is really a fairly large beaver.

There had been some pretty heavy rains the week before our trip, so some of the landing spots were awash in red mud, but about lunch time, we saw what appeared to be a few step in the river terrace and found this delightful picnic spot under some oak trees.  You will notice our very neatly loaded canoe tied up below.

The rains had washed out our intended camping spots, but we found another beautiful sandbar that we could call our own for the night.

It came with a room with a view

and a great blue heron to keep us company during dinner.

After dinner Calvin built a driftwood fire and we saw stars the way they should be seen without city light.

Life with Calvin continues to be one grand adventure!

Moab 2015

Nothing is quite as fun as a long weekend in Moab with kids and grandkids.  We visited the general area when Calvin was in medical school.  I enjoyed our visits then, but I didn't love the area.  Butch re-introduced us when he was in UC Boulder.  I really started to love the red rocks then.  There are all kinds of things to do in Moab. You can bike and hike and hunt petroglyphs and most fun of all for me, spend time with family.  

Mountain biking is a big attraction, followed closely by road biking for a segment of our group.  Morning biking was followed up with afternoon hiking.  We managed to get the whole group heading one direction up Mill Creek Canyon to an impressive swimming hole.  Only Calvin and Zach made the daring leap off the waterfall.  We watched a few jumpers before they made the leap and most of them came up a little startled by the cold water, but Zach surfaced with a smile on his face and calmly swam to shore. Not the best focus.

Proud jumpers

Some of us just dabbled in the water. It was kind of cold.

Another afternoon we all met up at Sand Dune Arch in Arches National Park. We brought Sarah here when she was a baby and it is still a great place to bring the kids. Butch came prepared with buckets and shovels which were put to good use.

and a little really deep excavation.

A great place for lunch

The red rock also makes a great background for photos

So I took a few.  I love this family.

Day Hikes -part 2

Last week I went to the OCTA convention in South Lake Tahoe.  On Thursday Calvin rode his bike to South Tahoe from Reno to meet me after classes were over. After he had recovered from his ride a bit and I had finished my last class we did a little exploring around the South Shore.  We have been to Lake Tahoe many times in the past 30 years, but we hardly ever get as far as the south shore.  We checked out Taylor Creek to see if the salmon were spawning, but we were too early in the season. Then we headed toward Emerald Bay looking for a short hike.  We found a trail to Cascade Falls, which in September in a drought year is not a very impressive display of falling water.  The interesting thing is that Cascade Falls falls into Cascade Lake, a lake just across the highway from Lake Tahoe.  It has been privately held in the past, and might still be because the only thing I found about it was an article from an owner written in 1973. Anyway here we are admiring ourselves and you can see the two lakes just behind us.

We spent the night at South Tahoe and then Friday we took a drive looking for fall colors. Fall colors are a little disappointing this year. Most of the aspens seem to be so drought stressed that the leaves have dried up and fallen off long before they changed color.  We wandered a seemingly random road until it became clear that we were checking it for suitability as a bike road, beware Jay, Calvin is planning ahead for next summer.  

Eventually we made our way to the top of Ebbetts Pass where we found a trail head  for the Pacific Crest Trail or the PCT.  And here is clear evidence that I have hiked the PCT.

In my mind we hiked south along the Pacific Crest trail for a short way, but Calvin assures me that we were hiking north. In case there is any doubt, I do not have the best sense of direction, but we were on the trail and it was lovely.

And just in case you can't see the marker behind Calvin

It was a beautiful fall day, we had the trail mostly to ourselves, through wonderful pine forests and Calvin had treats in his pockets.  All hiking should be like this. Here is my favorite shot of Calvin standing on top of the world.