First Month of the New Year

We are already a month into 2019, and I honestly can't tell you how we got here. It just went by so quickly! It was a month packed full of family, friends, and fun! Our new year is definitely off to a great start, as you can see from the following highlight reel of January:

We spent the first week of the month in Houston,
making special memories with our Watts family

Ruth gave an Instagram tutorial to her aunt and Mimi.

Clay was glad to get back to school. He was excited to work on his reading,
discover a new love in Ken-Ken puzzles, and teach us all a money game.

Jeff spent two weeks in Mexico in an immersion Spanish class.
The vendors wouldn't approach him because they said he looked like Secret Service!
Nevertheless, he was able to track down all kinds of fun surprises to bring home.

We celebrated Max's 11th birthday with doughnuts, cake balls, and gifts.
And we spent the day at Corky's, playing arcade games,
throwing axes, and escaping from Alcatraz.

Weston and I got to attend Ruth's CAP banquet, where, among other things,
we saw her march in with the color guard, be recognized with her CyberPatriot team,
and receive an award for "Americanism" from the American Legion. We are so proud of her!

Max got a baseball pitching machine for his birthday,
and the boys have had a big time trying it out.

We somehow managed to survive WINTER STORM 2019. 

We made out like bandits at the library used book sale.

Clay adores his big sister and couldn't resist surprising her with flowers!

Mimi and Grandpa came to visit twice during the month,
and we had so much fun hanging out with them.

We attended the Minutemen Disaster Response open house and had a great time.
We were especially impressed with the 28-bed bunk trailer.

Ruth achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and
the title of First Sergeant at the CAP promotion ceremony.
She also gave a recruiting speech to encourage cadets
to attend Airman Leadership Training in the spring,
which is an event she will attend as medical staff. 

Clay started golf lessons and is absolutely the cutest little golfer ever!

The boys got new dressers, and I acquired
some new skills by putting them together.

Ruth brought me these beautiful tulips for no reason!

Weston spent hours climbing every tall tree in the woods.

Weston spent a ton of time working on Scout stuff this month.
He attended a Merit Badge College, where he worked on three
different merit badges. He hiked a total of 65 miles to complete
his hiking badge. And, he went on the monthly campout with his troop.
He also interviewed and was accepted to be on staff for one of the summer camps,
making him one of the youngest Scouts to receive such a position.
He has already attended one training session and begun practicing his speeches.
He loves Scouting so much, and we are so proud of his hard work and dedication!

One of my book clubs got together to throw axes, and we had so much fun!

Hot and Cold

We spent the morning hiking the Angel Rocks Trail with our new friends we met on the cruise. It was a beautiful hike, and we had so much fun hanging out with another family we seem to have a lot in common with! I have been very surprised at how warm it is in Alaska, and we did work up a sweat. I always just have Alaska pictured as frozen tundra, but in truth, it has been one of the warmest places we've visited this summer.

Ruth and the "bear" rock

On top of the world

Max the mountain man

Little man on a big rock

After the hike, we headed over to Chena Hot Springs Resort. We grabbed some lunch in the restaurant, took a tour of the greenhouses, animal pens, and geothermal power plant of the self-sustaining property, and then visited the Aurora Ice Museum, where we definitely had a chance to cool off. The building is kept at 25° F all year long and is a fascinating ice wonderland. We loved seeing all the ice sculptures and watching the sculptor work. Today, he was turning out ice martini glasses, which the ice bar serves Appletini's in. The whole experience was so delightful!

Donkey love

The resort is trying to build its reindeer herd,
so they can start serving the meat in the restaurant.

The lettuce room

Aurora Ice Museum

Jousting knights ice sculpture

A full size igloo

Weston jamming on the ice xylophone

My little Eskimos

Polar bear bed

Aurora Ice Bar

Cheers!

Just chillin'

Mesmerized by the sculptor at work

Sonoma and Napa

We left San Francisco yesterday morning and made the short drive to Sonoma County. Our first stop was the Boon Fly Cafe for a late breakfast, which lived up to the many glowing reviews we had read online. Weston was pretty pleased with himself for managing to order off both the breakfast and lunch menus, because he was still hungry when he finished his breakfast, but by then, the restaurant had stopped serving breakfast items and had switched to lunch. From there, we drove to the Benziger Winery for our first sample of the famous wine country. This winery wasn't as flashy as some, but the wines turned out to be our favorites of all the wineries in the area that we visited. After that, we made our way to the petrified forest for a shirt hike and a brief education in geology. We really loved the park and were fascinated with the process of petrification.  After that stop, we got back on the wine trail and visited two more family-friendly wineries. The first was Castello di Amorosa, which is built to look like a real medieval castle. The next was Sterling Vineyards, where the kids were given their own goodie  bags and we got to ride a gondola up to the winery. When the tastings were complete, we stopped to check in to our yurt at the Bothe-Napa State Park, before heading into Calistoga for dinner at Pacifico Mexican Restaurant. After dinner, we had a nice little stroll around the main street area of the town, stopping for ice cream along the way.

Boon Fly Cafe

Boon Fly's famous bucket of donuts

Benziger Estate

Mt. St. Helena

Ash flow from Mt. St. Helena's
eruption 3.4 million years agi.

New tree, old tree

Petrified giants

Castello di Amorosa

Waiting for the gondola
with goodie bags

Gondola ride at Sterling

We lost Clay, but this nice young
 man did the tour with us.

Barrel room at Sterling

Our first time to stay in a yurt

Before we set up the cots

Meditation path in Calistoga

Some of us started our day with a challenging run through our hilly campground. Then, we collected the rest of the group to go hiking in the beautiful state park. Around lunch time we headed in to St. Helena to grab sone burgers and soak up some of the gorgeous weather at Gott's Roadside. After lunch, we visited V. Sattui Winery and spent much of the afternoon lounging in their lovely picnic area. Eventually, the troops got hungry again, so we walked down the road to Pizzeria Tra Vigne.

Hiking in Bothe-Napa State Park

The road less traveled

Trailblazers

Lunch at Gott's Roadside

V. Sattui Winery

Pizzeria Tra Vigne