Sacramento, snowballs & sandcastles

Happy New Year!!!!
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

Post Christmas, we were no less squished on the drive to Tahoe...

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!

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve 2015!

It has been a fast & festive end of the year.  Highlights from the past few weeks..... 


Embracing seasonal flair....
We tended toward the 'slightly over doing it' approach...

We turned to the Lego Advent calendar to spark our often hard-to-get-rolling kids. 
It helped for sure (but was no match for our 12 year old)

Making so many cookies, we're all on a serious sugar high...
Of course, gingerbread houses...

Mass quantities of pretzel candies...

And an old classic - Corn Flake wreaths...

...with the addition of SF flair - multi-color

We've eaten so many, we're beyond ready for those New Years resolutions


Attending a range of festive shows....
We saw a friend's daughter star in Velveteen Rabbit (Q quote: "this show is NOT for my age or gender")

We pushed more culture with a SF Symphony version of Charlie Brown Christmas.
The kids were open to the concept since it was described as a 'live action show'....

The first half, however, was all symphony & the voice of Ariel singing.....

(you can see Q's level of enthusiasm to that)

Once the Charlie Brown people came on stage, the mood recovered -despite the nose bleed seats!

We saw a HILARIOUS Harry Potter parody - Potted Potter...

AND, Of course, we had to attend the long anticipated Star Wars...

Costumes weren't the norm - but it's always good to be extra festive

(thanks EJAM for the flair!)

Trying to remember the point....
During the busy fun, we're trying to remember to take time for the 'big rocks'.

Sharing: We made no-sew blankets for a shelter with Xavier's class....

Simple joy:  
Celebrating the return of the Billy Goat Hill swing!

The kids are SO good at reminding us to enjoy the moment

And in case we all forget, our city (not surprisingly) is also pretty good at reminding us....

Merry Christmas - here's to simple joys, festive flair & of course - cookies!

Halloween & High Schools - The Price of Festive

Halloween might just be the most festive holiday in this city.  
After observing this last year, the kids insisted we up our decor game....

As if on cue, fog rolled in right in time for trick or treating...

Lucky came along as our 'pooping peacock'...

The enthusiasm for the occasion is contagious - kids here get way into it....

And given our kids' school is an art school, the tendency is to homemade & wacky...

A scary clown...

A duct tape tree...

And a flat apple...

(here's what happens when you make a costume without a pattern)

OK, maybe not ALL the kids got into it....Q walking among some less-festive 7th graders in the school Halloween parade 

Staff enthusiasm offset any 'too cool' middle schoolers...

(Zoe's 2nd grade teacher as Captain Underpants)

Out in the evening, it was fun to also see so many adults get way into it

Logan even ran into his Ninja Turtle family

We were excited that the 'come get your candy if you dare' lady was back at it this year

(lowered candy in a cauldron - but also spontaneously dropped a big spider and bloody head down onto candy takers)

And found a new, cool candy delivery system - a Plinko game

(candy dropped into the ~8' tall game from above & bumped its way down, making it a surprise where it would fall out)

Given the housing density, it took no time to collect some serious loot...

That said - one price of SF festivity is navigating SF schools....

The public schools are 'lottery based' - meaning you have very little control over which school they'll get into.  The schools vary wildly in size, academic performance & personality. 

Thus, in addition to figuring out which public schools to include on our lottery list, we need to explore other options too.  

• The good news - there are a lot of options 
• The bad news - there are a lot of options!

Quincy & I have already started the intense & time consuming high school search.  
On Halloween morning, he attended a 2-hour open house...

A day later, we toured a school with a massive campus I didn't know was possible in the city...

As well as one with amazing architecture...

Luckily, we have some time to figure it all out & plenty of sugar to fuel the journey.

Here's to finding our way & keeping it festive along the way