Science and Scouts

Pack 1592 got the opportunity for another cool overnight trip, this time to the Chabot Observatory in Oakland.  All my years in the bay area and I never went, never even knew it was a place to go hang out and tour.  

They had this exhibit where you press a button, go stand on a pad and jump in the air,and they take a picture and email it to you.  This help explain what you'd look like in space with zero gravity.

Nate and I in front of one of the 3 large telescopes they have open for viewing.  All three were trained on Jupiter.  Each got more powerful and the last one you could not only see Jupiter, the four Galilean moons and a shadow of one of the moons onto the planet.

This space suit had an area in the back you could climb up and put your face in, so you could see what you'd look like as an astronaut.  Nate is a little small for it, but still neat to see, especially after touring NASA in December.

Here's Nate climbing in a model of the Gemini rocket. 

Mission control, do you copy?

They had an exhibit on the MIR space station.  This is a toilet they used.  Fun to see the kids reaction when you tell them about the water conservation being a big deal on the space station and that they astronauts have to drink their own pee, despite after filtration it comes out cleaner than our tap water.

The smallest telescope, Leah, built in 1883 has an 8" aperture.

"Rachel" has a 20" aperture and is approaching it's celebrating its 100 year birthday this year. Not pictured is the newest telescope, which was built in 2003, and has a 36" aperture.

The dome in the front is home to Leah and the one on the right is where Rachel is.

Our sleeping arrangements for the night.  After the viewings if Jupiter and the show in the planetarium we laid down and watched "The Never Ending Story"

Maria and Frances completing the next step on their journey to 13.1, they completed their first 5K.  Congratulations!

When Nate and I got up Sunday morning after Chabot, we had some time, so I decided to take him to the Oakland Zoo for a bit before we headed home.  It's been a long time since I've been there.

Nate brought along his phone to take some photos, including this selfie of us.

The big turtle exhibit, Nate trying on shells to find one that fit. 

Nate in front of the elephants.

Giraffes and Gazelles

I'm not sure what this was, but supposed to help you hear like a rabbit.  I thought it looked funny.

In early March, we have the Pinewood Derby, which means it's time to start making the car.  Here's Nate working the saw to get the front carved just right.

The two grooves are where he wanted to put the wings for his batrmobile car.  You'll see the final product in next months update.

The weather has been too good.  The kids had to get into the pool  Got to be a competition on who could stay in the longest.  Here's Wyatt, impressive since he gets cold so quick.

Nate seemed to have no real issues with the cold water, would have stayed in longer if Mom wasn't yelling about hypothermia.

For Valentine's day Barry and I made our second attempt at Beef Wellington.  The meat was cooked a little too much, closer to medium than medium rare, but otherwise it turned out beautifully.  

For dessert I made a 5 ingredient molten lava cake.  These are amazing.  Filled with melting chocolate and topped with raspberries, blackberries and powdered sugar.

Here's what we did for Nate's valentine's day card.  The suckers are actually through the picture, but with the photo it looks like he's holding the sucker.

The weather finally turned and we are seeing some snow in front of the Zephyr lodge.

Our Epic mix photo from the snow day.  Been a great season, lots of runs, more vertical feet than I've done in the last few years combined.

Where's the snow?

As we move into Jan, we start perhaps our grandest adventure with Nate.  For his Birthday he got a new Snowboard and now he'll be starting the Northstar Snowboard team.  That means we're committed to driving u to Northstar for 10 Sundays so he can practice his carving.

He's got the natural Snowboarder slouch, really comfortable on the board.  Although he seems to be starting off this year a bit more cautious.  I know we got a board that was a little big for him, with the hopes it will last a few extra seasons.  It's also a "pro" board, rather than a beginner, which makes the turns easier, but also a bit easier to fall.

After several trips up to the mountain, I have mixed feelings about the lack of snow.  Luckily they are making plenty to keep the place open, with about a third of the runs open.  With the "good" weather, which means no snow, no one is showing up, which means no lift lines.  I'm getting in more runs than I've ever done in a day before.

Nate was telling me he doesn't like to ski on the fresh groomed corduroy because the little grooves get caught on his snowboard and make him fall more.

With the record low rains, the old town of Mormon Island, which was flooded when they built the dam to make Folsom lake is now exposed.  We took a day trip out to see it and were a bit surprised at how many people were there.  'm pretty sure the Parks department is making more money charging for parking at the lake with no water than they would when the lake is full.

We brought Lilo with us.  She was in heaven.  Got lots of comments from the other park visitors.  We did manage to sneak away and find a place I could throw a ball to her out into the lake and she could swim and run a bit off leash.

I brought the 30 foot leash to allow her lots of room to run.

The mud near the water could really stick to your feet or suck you in.  Nate and Lilo didn't seem to mind.  We met up with the Thompson family who also came out to look around.  Line of the day has to be from Taryn, who commented on the mud all caked around Nate's feet as he was getting into the car and she stated "Nate you have Ogre Feet"

Here's a view of the lake, or what's left of it.  Not long after our visit, MSNBC was posting photos comparing the lake today at 17% capacity compared to a few years ago when it was at 93% capacity.  Quite a difference.

In early Jan, Maria did a girls trip to Temecula to celebrate Martha's 50th birthday.  During the trip, Kelly convinced Maria to join her in running a half Marathon in July in Marin.  Kelly offered to help train her remotely, but that meant committing to a new fitness plan.  Maria and her new running partner Frances have jumped on board and are now committed to making the 13.1 mile trek.  Here they are after their first run together on the long path forward.

The village stepped away from Casa Verde to help the Roseville Envy soccer team, that Emily Slater is on raise money at a crab feed.  We had a great night out with friends and helped our fellow neighbors.

To help satisfy Nate's craving for sushi and my craving to have money left in my wallet, we're taking him to non-Mikuni sushi locations.  The nearest palace is Crazy Sushi, which has 50% off the house rolls.  Nate likes it and it's actually a reasonable price for us.  Too bad they don't have Bon Bons.

Maria and I getting another Epic Mix photo taken.

Nate and his board on the first day of the snow team.

Casey invite Nate to his birthday party.  They rented this party bus for the kids.  It has several TV's inside and out, where the kids can hop onto any game console and most games and play with or against each other.  The back drops down and they can even do the full rock band game with big speakers.

Inside the party machine, the boys are all locked and loaded.

At Northstar, they had these really cool snow sculptures.  We got up close to these two Sumo wrestlers, but didn't make time to see the rest of the exhibit later in the day.  We did see several as we drove out, but didn't get any photos.  Pretty impressive what they were carving.

December Part 2

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Our decorations are up, but feeling more rushed than ever.  It seems the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas gets shorter each year.  Of course we didn't help that by doing our Disneyland trip with Nate AFTER Thanksgiving this year.

Maria playing with her 50MM lens, getting a shot of Nate hanging ornaments on the tree.

the Monte Carlo sandwich.  Heaven to eat.  First had this a few years ago with the Harris family when we dined at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean.  You can also get it in New Orleans square, which is where we sat down to eat and watch the Fantasmic, the boat and light show that goes on in the water around Tom Sawyer Island.

Got a chance to watch the Pixar parade down Main Street at California Adventure.  Lots of Nate's favorite characters, I think he's watched much more Pixar movies than the traditional Disney films.

I still think California Screaming is Nate's second favorite ride.  Tower of Terror is his first choice, then a close second between Space Mountain and California Screaming.

Nate and I on the boat ride over to Tom Sawyer's Island.  Nate's first time to the Island, usually when we've gone it's been closed, too wet.  Had fun exploring the pirate's lair.  Maria still teases me, because before I went with her, it was one of the areas I didn't know, or didn't remember existed.  The other was Mr. Toad's wild ride.  I don't think that was a popular one when I went with my cousin's and dad back in the late 70's or early 80's.  

The weather was warm enough that Nate and I hopped on Splash Mountain.  We got soaked, but had enough time to dry off before night came.

Only in Disneyland does the snow smell like cinnamon.  After the fireworks show, they cover main street in artificial snow to make it a wintery delight.

The "It's a Small World Ride" all lit up for Christmas.  Of course they also change the lyrics and decorations in side, so you get to hear Merry Christmas from around the world.

Lilia offered to buy Nate a birthday present at Disneyland.  He chose the Indiana Jones package, with the Fedora and cap gun.

Natalie and Nate in the front, with Maria and I in the back.  Natalie trying to teach Nate about keeping your hands up through the entire ride.

Here we are on the new Cars ride at Disneyland CA Adventure.  While the ride was fun, the 2 hour wait in line was a bit much.  Might have to wait for this popular ride to die down before we go at it again.

After two days at Disneyland, we took Nate to his first full theater performance.  We felt the Lion King would be a blast, so Maria and I returned to the same stage where we saw it years ago, but brought Nate and Natalie.  Nate was mesmerized for most of the show, although at three hours it got to be a little long for him.  

And Christmas has arrived, the calm before the storm.  Nate got his new bike from Santa and we had a wonderful Christmas morning.