Presidents Day weekend in Reno

The Wrights braved a snow storm in the Sierras to spend Presidents day weekend with us in Reno.  They belong to that group of people who have to "go to the snow" because the snow never comes to them. I am a little weary of the snow coming to us this winter, but they spent a morning rolling around in the white stuff and having a great time.

Rosie and Alice made snow angels

 and I think Jay lost at snow angels

While the big people went skiing we had Grandma time making cookies

and enjoying a healthy snack of Lucky Charms

We had some cousin time in the hot tub

the second day there was more snow and Clare and Alice jumped out of the hot tub to make snow angels. Brave girls.

Their snow angels.  Look closely and you can see a bare footprint

Leah didn't get much snow play, but she was the object of many photos.  These are my favorites.

Sitting in the high chair that Rosie used

 And playing on the floor in the sunshine.

The Bordelons came over to enjoy cousins and Sarah got a little baby holding time.

Clare and Alice had a sleepover and Clare had her own bowl of Lucky Charms.

Jimmy found all of the "light up" balls in the toy drawer

And we enjoyed some lovely quiet time by the fire

 and a little silly time

I tried to take a family picture with a snow background, by it was another monumental fail.

 I guess we'll have to keep the beach picture up for a while longer.  It probably suits their family better.

A quick trip to Napa

Things were looking a little gray in Reno, so we decided to take a quick trip "over the hill" and visit springtime. We took a lovely walk around a landfill on the Wetlands Napa River Bay Trail.

 The landfill was no longer in use, and is completely covered and planted, but they are still harvesting methane.

It was foggy/overcast, but still a beautiful mid morning walk

We saw lots of birds, most were too far away to photograph well.  We watched a pair of swans take flight.  It was amazing, they are such large birds, we could hear their wings flapping as they struggled to get in the air. I enjoyed watching the spectacle so much I forgot to take a picture, but here they are before they launched.

As we were walking we stumbled upon this bench. Does that name look familiar?

 It is nice to see blooms in winter

And green grass

We walked down to "Glass Beach" which I suppose might be a remnant from the landfill.  Not a beach you would want to play on, but pretty.

Hiding in the reeds near Glass Beach we spotted an egret that obligingly took flight just as I was taking pictures.

We drove to Calistoga for lunch and then Calvin rode his bike back to the hotel while I stopped for a few more pictures of blooming mustard in the vineyards.

In the evening we took a stroll along the Napa River.  

Napa really is a beautiful place.  It is even nicer on a Monday when all the crowds have gone home.