skiing and singing

A video of Ryan on skis (he's the little nugget in the middle of the screen, Eddy is in front of him)...

And here is Miss Kaitlyn -- in all her singing (and stuttering -- hoping this is not a permanent trait, but Ry did the same thing at this age and his went away, so for now we just laugh at her) glory...

And one more song…

MLK weekend away

The snow in Tahoe is nonexistent.  Sadly.  I don't think they've gotten any snowfall at all since we went before Christmas.  But MLK weekend came, and Ry had 2 days off school, so we decided to make the most of it anyway.  Because hey, who doesn't mind a weekend in Tahoe -- snow or no snow -- right?  We went up Friday after school, my parents went up as well, and our dear friend Cristen and her new boy friend (not yet a boyfriend according to her) came along as well.  We definitely made the most of a snow-less weekend away.

Saturday, my parents were once again the best, and watched the kiddos while us 4 other adults hit the slopes anyway.  We were actually surprised by how much man made snow there was, so we got a great ski day in despite the lack of powder.

sunrise over the lake -- still gorgeous, even without snow

ski day at the tip top of Squaw 

who invited the yoga/snowboarding master?  Oh yea, we did.  That's Cristen.  

The next day, Nanny & Dzia Dzia took a hike, and we took the kids in hunt of some snow for a few sledding runs.  We found a little bit, that was mostly ice, but 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 sleds, and one snowball maker can make it fun anywhere.

Ry and Cristen, at the top of the luge run -- Eddy was at the bottom to catch him 

Brandon giving Kaitlyn a push 

ice dancing with K

more shenanigans back at the cabin...

dog pile on Cristen

playing Timberrrrrrrr with Dzia Dzia

a nice quiet moment between the Bayer cubs

wheelbarrow walking on the deck

Cristen and Brandon

 We said farewell to these two, as they had to head home a day earlier than us to return to work.

And then we headed to our favorite nature walk at South Lake -- normally covered in snow at this point in the year, but dry as a bone this time for us to walk to the lake and enjoy the scenery.

love this view 

after lunch and nap time, we took another nature walk out the cabin door that afternoon, just to enjoy the fresh mountain air one more time.

this girl and her pink and her tutus.  it's all her choice I tell ya.  

On the last day of our trip, we managed to hit the slopes one last time.  This time, it was for Ryan.  Eddy and Ry got a lift ticket, we rented some skis for the little man, and we hit the bunny slopes.  First I went up with him with my boots on and sorta walked him down the run.  Then Eddy got him going a bit faster on skis.  Kaitlyn was SUCH a trooper, and just played in the snow at the bottom of the hill for the entire day.

waiting for the boys to come down the hill on skis 

heading up the Magic Carpet in the beginning 

a quick pit stop, while Eddy skied a run by himself to make the lift ticket worth our money 

 Ry fell a lot on those skis, but Eddy said he was nothing but laughs every single time.  After a quick lunch stop, Ryan wanted to head back out, and at this point he was riding up the real chair lift with Eddy and skiing the entire run down almost all by himself.   They skied about 5 more runs after lunch before it was quitting time.  So proud of this little man!

heading back out after lunch -- Kaitlyn SO badly wanted to join them!

killing time at the lodge 

the Bayer Boys -- happy skiers 

New Year's Day

I think we started a new tradition this year.  A hike on New Year's Day.  We hiked at Briones Regional Park this year -- beautiful, green hills, the kids were super adventurers and hiked more than 3 1/2 miles on their little legs.   It was a great start to 2015.  Plus, we made it home in time to watch the Rose Bowl game.  What more does one need on day 1?  

Nanny and Kaitlyn

blurry, but running with daddy

silly faces

nice faces

tired little legs at the end, got a free ride

Happy New Year!!

a city day

The one thing that I had wanted to do with the kids this holiday, but we hadn't gotten a chance to do yet, was get into San Francisco to see the decorations.  On Friday, we ventured in with Andrea, Dana, Alexandra, and Lucas.  4 kids, 4 adults, no strollers.  Bring it on San Francisco!

BART always makes the trip more fun

a quick stop at Uniqlo -- the kids didn't want to leave

we made it to Union Square

watching the ice skaters

still a few animals still waiting to be adopted at Macy's

window decorations 

waiting for lunch at the top of Macy's.  the kids were amazed at how little the people seemed!