Tankah Bay

It has been a long gray winter here in Reno, so we took a little break from the snow and spent a week on Tankah Bay near Tulum, Mexico.  To make it even better, Peter's family went with us.  They managed the long plane ride beautifully.

The house was on Tankah Bay with a pool and a more or less private beach, so we weren't motivated to travel too far once we arrived.

The pool had a very shallow area that was just perfect for toddlers.

and the rest of us

One morning while Ingrid was taking her nap, the rest of the crew walked a block down the road to Cenote Manati. Calvin had dived here once before, but it was kind of murky then. This year it was clear blue and crowded. It has become a popular scuba diving location.

I love this picture of Sylvan's hand wrapped around Peter's thumb.

We visited another cenote. This is Peter dropping into the cenote through a hole. The underwater camera was on a bizarre setting here, so all the rest of the pictures look like slow motion splashes.

We had kayaks at the house to explore inside the reef.

We managed a few hours on Tulum beach, which is one of my favorite beaches in the world.

And on our last day we explored Puerto Morelos, which is the only place I managed a decent picture of the family.

They are all still smiling.  That is a good sign at the end of the vacation.

An afternoon with Nick

A little while ago Nick and I spent an afternoon at Virginia Lake while his siblings went skiing. 

We started out feeding the birds

Then we took a leisurely walk around the lake

Hiding behind each tree each tree

Eating a little snow

Finding a stick

Playing in the water

Climbing a rock

And making his signature silly face

What a great way to spend the afternoon.

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.