Just another January afternoon in Northern California

Who is that cool dude????


It's me, Ian!


Emma tries out her new bike

A wonderful way to end a brisk, sunny day

Don't mess with my chips and salsa

As Emma goes in for the picture, Ian gets very protective of his chip and salsa!

A fun afternoon at the park

This past weekend, we introduced the Hills to one of our favorite parks. This park has it all; a train, and merry-go-round, huge playgrounds and even a real plane to climb on.

Emma and O climbed a tree

Can you guess what Ian liked the best???

The train!

He also enjoyed sliding

We ended the day with ice cream at one of our favorite ice cream shops. It is so fun to have friends to enjoy a nice afternoon with!

Ian's got a New Car

Ian is really enjoying the warm California weather and one of his Christmas Presents...

This is Ian in his Cozy Coupe

He likes to start at the top of the driveway,

and lift is feet,

to go down really fast

It is also fun to push down the sidewalk!

Saturday at the Exploratorium

With our Virginia friends moving to California for the year, we have spent a few Saturdays introducing them to some of our favorite kid friendly haunts. The first place we introduced them to was the Exploratorium. Everyone loved all the hands on exhibits and we will be going back to explore some more!

Ian loved rolling things on the turntable

He is Daddy's boy

Playing in magnet dust

Watching a train go round and round

Sand experiments

And fun with mirrors

Making a tornado with Mr. B

Learning about waves

The xylophones were a hit!

Emma loved them too!

Optical illusions
We got a year pass to this museum to explore some more since this was only about half the exhibits!

We blinked and January was gone!

Happy New Year Everyone! It seems like just yesterday that it was 2010. We have had a busy January. We started off the new year with Fondue and Smores on New Years Eve. Then Dan I and proceeded to watch a movie in which I fell asleep by about 9:30 pm. (Don't be jealous childless friends, not everyone can party like us :)

Emma really enjoyed her smore

Ian enjoyed the graham crackers
Ian rang in the New Year by running into a door and getting his first head boo boo.

He then proceeded throughout the month to get another goose egg and a black eye. He is definitely all boy!

We also celebrated the arrival of a new baby to our friends!

The cake I made for a girls night we had to celebrate baby girl's impending arrival
We really have had a busy month with the arrival of Virginia friends who are living here for a year. Stay tuned for more of our adventures.

We dreamed of a White Christmas

When we were planning our Christmas this year with Dan's family, Emma had just one wish...To go somewhere with snow. So even though she says Hawaii is still her favorite place, we heeded her wishes and ended up spending a week of snow-filled fun in Idaho and Wyoming.

Emma wanted snow and she got snow! This is Grand Tetons National Park
Everyone had a lot of fun in the snow skiing, snowmobiling, building snowmen, and sledding.
On Monday, we headed out for our first day of skiing.We went to Targhee Ski Resort for a day of fun. Emma took a half day ski class while Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma reacquainted themselves with the basics of skiing. (Okay, Mommy and Grandma stayed with the basics, while Daddy headed up to the big hills).
On Tuesday, Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Scott headed out for another adventure. Waking up very early in the morning, they ventured out for a day of snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park. In the winter, the park is only accessible by Snowmobile or Snow bus.

Driving through Jackson, Wyoming before the sun comes up

At the park entrance

The park was absolutely gorgeous

The first waterfall we encountered

Our first wildlife sighting, a fox

Then we saw this big guy. We encountered at least 100 bison throughout the day

Those black dots in the background are another herd of Bison

our rides for the day

Warming my toes at lunch. It was REALLY, REALLY COLD!

Gassing up for the trip home

We saw a few more waterfalls on the way back

Upper falls

Lower falls

We also saw the mud volcanoes

Last falls of the day

Dan "Slides" down the hill
On Wednesday, the family scattered for the day for various activities. Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Tricia headed out to Yellowstone for a Snow bus tour

This is what the snow buses look like
Daddy, Uncle Scott and Emma headed out for another day of Skiing in Jackson and Ian and mommy stayed warm at home because this is what it looked like out our window

Ian also enjoyed playing with forbidden Emma toys...

and pretending to be a little angel

Emma had an awesome day at ski school and now skis as well, if not better than Mommy!

Emma and her ski class catching a ride up the mountain with Santa


By the end of the day she was taking the lift with Daddy and Uncle Scott

Skiing to Daddy
On Thursday, we all headed into Jackson to do some last minute Christmas shopping

Daddy and Ian peruse the shops

Having fun with the "Wildlife"

One of the famous antler arches in the town square
On Friday, Daddy, Mommy, and Emma headed out for one more day of skiing in Jackson Hole

Emma ski class going down the hill

Emma and mommy ready to race

One of Emma's last runs of the day
Saturday was Christmas and it was probably the most low key of all the day. We opened our stockings....

Played with new toys

and relaxed after many days in the snow.
On Sunday, we all headed home after a very fun filled week