We closed out the year & greeted the new one with Sacramento, snowballs & sandcastles.....
Driving to celebrate the holidays is a new phenomenon for us.
We are clearly rookies - overly ambitious about how much we can squeeze in....
A 'travelling circus' of sorts (5 + 1 dog + 1 cat), luckily we went to a house that has an amazingly high threshold for chaos....
(We joined 5 kids, 3 cats + a dog - not to mention the skunks who invaded the crawlspace & construction crew remediating their flooded kitchen - thanks K & G!)
And while we add noise & mess for sure - we also bring an eager cleaner-upper...
(Lucky catching the juice before it even hit the floor)
McDougal family Christmas morning starts with a kid line up...
In attempt to avoid 'post present trauma', we prep the kids with a 'it's normal to feel let down after it's over' pep-talk. Turns out this year it wasn't even needed....
Zoe adored the abundant art supplies...
For the boys, mass Legos + and Xbox One = sheer glee...
It was short but sweet - with lots of family and tons of presents
After last year's nearly snow-free drought year, we were thrilled with an abundance of the white stuff....
But even more excited to report.....9 years of back-breaking schlepping and bribe-laden ski lessons PAY OFF!
All 3 kids have finally graduated to the point where we actually stay warm while skiing
Q and I even share the same favorite run
We were so excited, I found myself providing unsolicited pep-talks to exhausted looking families with toddlers & little kids - 'hang in there, I promise it's worth it'.
Comparing it to our 3 years of skiing in Europe, the only disappointment was the 'blah predictability' of the ski outfits. I had to look REALLY hard to find any that stood out...
This guy was an exception...
And, while more tame, how I wished I had this for International Night...
Post skiing, the hot tub was a fantastic way to warm up...
...or not for our "I'm warm blooded" Zoe
We came home & had mandatory togetherness New Year's Day at the beach....
While the kids required some coaxing, they had fun once we got there....
(I'm trying to numb myself to "But I don't WANT TO go" - else we'd get no where at all)
...and Lucky wouldn't have wanted it any other way
Here's to the fun of the season, having time to enjoy the extra togetherness - even if you have to make it required
Happy 2016!
