Week 3

Happy Tuesday and welcome back!  Last week was fun because we got to escape to the mountains towards the end and get some skiing in for my birthday.  It was a super short work/school week with a holiday on Monday and us leaving for our trip on Friday.  I could get used to a schedule like that.

Take a look at last week's pictures:

Day 17- Monday, 1/17/22

We were all home just relaxing on this Martin Luther King holiday.  It was my turn to walk the dog and I just so happened to catch the sunset perfectly at the local pond.  The evening skies have been extra colorful lately.

Day 18- Tuesday 1/18/22

. . . And our day skies have been extra bright with in a shade of brilliant blue.  It feels more like spring right now, but we really hope it doesn't stay that way because we still need much more rain.  Back at work we have a new mask mandate requiring us to switch to one of the N95 types of mask.  The KN95's seems to be the most popular as they are the most comfortable for all day use.  The tricky part is finding enough to last us through the need.  On another campus, Justin is super happy the remodeling of the HSU Library is FINALLY done and he can move back to his workplace there at the IT help desk.  

Day 19- Wednesday, 1/19/22

After-school vibes for Brandon and Bella where they reconnect for a bit before he heads off to tennis conditioning.  They just started that last week and now are also required to get weekly testing at the high school in order to participate in a sport.  Each sport has a different testing day and the tennis team tests on Wednesdays so Brandon got his 1st test done today.  For me, this afternoon, I'm working with our new vacuum robot to get the entire downstairs mapped so it can run on it's own while I'm at work.  I got this one for Christmas and it is sooo much quieter than the last plus has a lower profile so it can fit under some of our furniture to help further reduce the dog hair.  We still have the older one but only use it upstairs now where it need to run less.

Day 20- Thursday, 1/20/22

We're starting to gather items and pack for our upcoming ski trip.  We leave tomorrow and can't wait.  The pool table has always been our go-to spot to organize for trips. Later Bella and I headed out for another walk.  We just missed the sunset this time but she doesn't care and is ready to go.  Any walk is a good walk for her.

Day 21- Friday, 1/21/22

We made it to the mountains.  That is the backside of Northstar where you can see some of the ski runs we'll be tackling tomorrow.  Once we got to the condo in the village we decided to do cake tonight since we have more time now and are less tired than we'll be tomorrow.  We're missing Justin who is back at school now but had Tyler's girlfriend Lupe join us.  She's not a fan of pictures so instead helps take pictures of us.

Day 22- Saturday, 1/22/22

Happy Birthday to me and happy ski day!  We had great weather and nicely groomed runs to enjoy.  It was a bit crowded in the afternoon but we headed to that backside which helped us avoid those crowds.  Afterwards we enjoyed our traditional pizza dinner in the village.

Day 23- Sunday, 1/23/22

Time to say good-bye and head home.  It's a pretty drive with all the snow on the mountains.  Once we got back and unpacked we were able to settle in and start the new season of Ozark which dropped this week.  Back to reality tomorrow!

Wait!  One more:

January's Family Photo

This was taken by Lupe just before we left our weekend ski trip.

OK!  All done for now.  See you next week and we wrap up January--wow, that first month sure went fast.

Week 2

Hello and welcome back!  Last week was a pretty slow week just trying to get back into the groove of a routine again.  Of course having to continually deal with sets backs in the pandemic doesn't help when it causes routines to keep changing.  Hopefully someday soon we can have our real normal back.

Until then take a look at last week's pictures and how we mange to plug on:

Day 9- Monday, 1/9/22

Thankfully we have this kitty guy to help keep us happy and grounded.  As you can see from Justin's IG posts they have made the most out of spending time together over break.  These two have been inseparable and I know Justin is dreading leaving him behind when he returns to campus this weekend.

Day 10- Tuesday, 1/10/22

Today Justin helped me run a bunch of errands on my breaks from remote work and again there was no line at the new cookie place so we had to check out the new set of flavors.  We each picked one and then shared halves.  His was Neapolitan and mine was hot cocoa flavored.  Later I spied this beautiful, pink, newly opened rose out back.  It seems crazy that roses are starting to bloom already.  It's still very cold out and they look too delicate for that.

Day 11- Wednesday, 1/11/22

The best thing to come from the pandemic is the virtual back to school nights and also virtual check-in Dr. appointment.  I'm a huge fan of both of those.  Brandon just started his final semester of high and I got to meet his teachers tonight while in my pjs with my trusty girl by my side.  He's taking Government/Econ, Digital music production, and Science Fiction film and lit with a zero period 4th which will come in handy on tennis game days.

Day 12- Thursday 1/12/22

There was a nice wispy-cloud, winter sky on our evening walk tonight and then as we circled back to the house I spotted this one yellow rose in bloom out front.  It adds such a nice pop of spring color in an otherwise grey-winter world.  I guess this just so happens to be a good week for roses.

Day 13- Friday, 1/13/22

TGIF! Aside from yellow roses we also have a lot of yellow lemons ripe and ready to be used so lemon drops were the drink for a cheers to the start of a long holiday weekend.  Next up, the Friday night movie was the latest Ben Affleck film which was good watch with an even better soundtrack.

Day 14- Saturday, 1/14/22

We had a grey and foggy start to our morning, but then once the fog cleared and the sun came out it turned into a really nice day.  Thankfully that happened just in time for Justin's drop off at the train station.  He's headed back to Humboldt for the start of another semester.

Day 15- Sunday, 1/15/22

It's game day!  Tyler and John were happy for a Niners win in this wildcard battle.  Later we had burgers for dinner and blackberry cobbler for dessert.  Yum!

That's it!  Hope to see you back next week.

Week 1

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  This post will be starting off the first week in 2022 which was a pretty mellow week as we gently eased back into school and work for a new year after the much needed winter break.

Take a look at how we kicked off another year:

Day 1- Saturday, 1/1/22

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2022!! After a late night ringing in the this year we had a nice slow day relaxing at home.  The best part was ending the day with a surf and turf holiday feast surrounded by family.  Look as the size of the lobster tails John picked up at Costco!  They did not disappoint and all were impressed.

Day 2- Sunday, 1/2/22

It's a frosty start to the new year as we had freezing temperatures overnight.   My new snowflake necklace seemed very fitting for today and wearing a nice warm winter sweater was a must.  John and I enjoyed brunch with Tyler and Lupe plus her parents so we could meet for the first time.  It was nice to put faces to the names we have been hearing about over the past year and they are a super nice family that have welcomed our son with open arms.

Day 3- Monday, 1/3/22

After I spent the day back at work Justin and I had some errands to run and just so happened upon the new cookie place near us at a time when there was no line.  It opened a couple weeks ago and the lines have been crazy so we haven't had a chance to give it a try.  Today was our chance so we jumped at the opportunity and picked up a 4pk of delicious cookies at Crumbl.  They're so big and so good but a bit pricey.  Each day they have different flavors available too that they rotate through.

Day 4- Tuesday, 1/4/22

His and her's new toys.  John got a new motorcycle stand for Christmas that has wheels so it is easy to move his bike around when working on it and he just got it recently since it was shipped from Australia and came a bit late for the big day.  Mine's a bit on the smaller side and is a new mini printer that can be taken anywhere.  It doesn't require any ink just this special photo paper and can print small pictures right off my phone.  It's perfect for journaling or sharing, and I can easily take it traveling plus you can get the paper with a sticky back to make it even easier journal on the go.  Fun, fun fun! and super cute ;0)

Day 5- Wednesday, 1/5/22

I'm still busy working through California Sea Lion samples for an epi study at work but only 300 more samples to go.  Tyler is doing an externship here at an urgent care in Davis this week so we got together to have lunch today.  He's practicing his blood draws to complete his phlebotomy training there and also learning about how the whole urgent care system works.  The staff has been great showing him the ropes and I can tell he's enjoying his time spent there and learning a lot.  This will be the year when he can finally apply to medical school so he's prepping for that by building his resume as much as he can.

Day 6- Thursday, 1/6/22

Brandon started back at school yesterday for his final semester as a high school student and it's a slow week so he had time to build the Lego kit he got for Christmas.  You can't really see it in the first picture but look in the second one at that tiny baby Yoda that came with the kit on the right.  LOL!  When we was working on the set he came to me and said he was done so I said let's see and he held out his hand to show me that very tiny figure.  Haha! Such a funny guy.

Day 7- Friday, 1/7/22

TGIF!  Tonight to unwind from a week back to reality it was pizza rolls, refreshing drinks, and a family movie streaming from Disney+.  Jungle Cruise was better than I expected and a fun watch for all with some good Indian Jones vibes.  I think it's cool how creative they get about making movies related to the Disney rides.

Day 8- Saturday, 1/8/22

Bella hung out with me at home while John and the older boys went to sushi.  It's their tradition to do this before one of them heads back to college and this is their last chance because of work schedules to get them all 3 together before Justin heads back late next week. Brandon is not a fan of sushi so when he goes off to school they'll need to pick a different type of food place to hit up.

Day 9- Sunday, 1/9/22

It's such a nice, sunny, blue-sky type of day so we went outside to take a picture of Justin in his new sweatshirt he loves from Humboldt State.  He's a huge fan of all things octopus plus loves the color orange and will soon be taking a few classes at the marine lab so this is truly the perfect fit for him.  Later, for Sunday dinner, I made enchiladas which is another dish I haven't made in years.  We had a full house with 6 of us so I needed to make 2 batches which was twice the work but well worth it.  They were a big hit and we only ended up with few leftover, so yeah, 1 batch would not have been enough.  Gotta love growing boys and how much they can put away.

That's it for a good, full, first week!  

One more thing that I forgot to mention last week was the untimely passing of Betty White on New Year's Eve.  She was such a great person--so funny, so giving, and so full of life.  She truly made the most of it and it's sad she was just a few weeks short of her 100th birthday celebration.  I especially loved her dedication to and love of animals.  She was one of theri biggest advocates.  She even helped fund some of our research dedicated to improving the health of marine mammals back in my early days at the university.  She would be proud of our current CSL project.  Such a wonderful person that will be missed.

Photo credit: The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA

OK all done!  Thanks for checking in and see you next week.