Spring Break '08 baby

Spring break isn't complete without a trip to the beach. How spoiled is Olivia? With her week off school we spend 2 days on the Tahoe slopes, another day riding rides at a theme park, and the last day at the beach. I don't think I can top this one next year. Except maybe if Disneyland and grandma are involved...

In any case, we had a good day at the beach. Although we were only there 2 hours tops. It was colder today than yesterday which means we were too hot in Gilroy and too cold in Santa Cruz. The microclimates take some time to figure out.

But it was still a lot of fun and I'm impressed how much Noah has changed since last time we went, he wasn't deathly afraid of touching the water like he used to be. But he still spent most the time digging in the dirt.



Olivia had fun as usual running from the waves.



And they had fun playing in the standing water that a nice neighborhood lady told me they called "polio pool" since it's probably so contaminated from whatever comes from their neighborhood. Thanks.



Back to school next week. Luckily monday is "Night during Day" day where they get to wear their jammies again, brush their teeth in school, and have a Midnight Snack. (They are studying M and N.) I'm SO glad her teacher planned a fun day or I might never get Olivia back in school.

The stinkiest theme park in America

Yesterday we went to Gilroy Gardens. Gilroy is the garlic capital of the world. Fortunately, it isn't harvest season.

But the rides do make you hungry. Such as Artichoke Dip, Banana Split, Garlic Twirl, and Mushroom Swing. We had a blast and got our season passes to make many more trips this summer.

The fun thing about the day was they were having a Scavenger Hunt with prizes. It was even more fun now that Olivia can read all the clues and we had fun with her friend from school and his family finding the prizes. The first one were leis for the kids.



Noah riding the merry-go-round



And Olivia on the Artichoke Dip



And my favorite part was the beautiful gardens, I'm impressed I can identify a lot more of the flowers and trees than I could a few years ago. One of the side benefits of home ownership and being responsible for your own landscaping. But I'm not exactly found of the weirdly grafted trees throughout the park...



To each their own.

Catching air in Tahoe

This year Olivia stated she wanted to try skiing and she was going to go down the hill really fast and do a double flip in the air. Yeah right. Here are the pictures of us sledding down a hill off the side of the road.

Firstly, Noah, who didn't have quite as brave ambitions. He said he would go with us to watch. He started out helping me with a "snow head."



After watching Olivia a bit he decided to go down the hill on his bottom.



Then, on the 3rd sledding outing, he agreed to brave the sled with daddy. Go Noah!



But this year Olivia was our little dare devil on the sleds. She wanted to try everything. Even after a few spills that resulted in tears, she still wanted more. Maybe she is ready for skis next year...

Here is her jumping the little jump we found on the hill.



She loved every minute.



And had only smiles at the bottom, mostly.



Even mommy and daddy tried to see how high they could get.






It turns out that Tahoe snow is still fun, yet dirty, in April. It's funny leaving the snow and a few hours later getting home where it is in the 80s!