Quick Snow Trip

Dear Logan,

We had a quick 3-day trip up the mountains to Reno.  I was hoping to get Aidan to take a ski lesson and introduce him to skiing, esp. since he's played it on the Wii and has watched the Winter Olympics.  I didn't make reservations for any lessons, because I didn't want to waste money in case we had to cancel our trip due to the winter storms we've been having.  And you know what, this turned out to be the most frustrating mistake I've made during this whole trip.

So, on the 27th, we drove to Reno and the weather was beautiful.  We left the house at around 9 a.m., stopped by Auburn for a quick Mc D lunch and then headed to our regular stop at Nyack.  Here, we did some sledding, just like last year.  As it turned out, this became our only snow playing experience.  Sledding was fun and Aidan was totally into it, and not scared at all.  He still enjoyed throwing snowballs at us and at the sled.  We tried to build a snowman, but without any tools, it proved to be extremely difficult.  We continued our trip to Reno and luckily, snow chains were not required.  We arrived at the Eldorado Hotel at around 4 p.m.

I guess because Mommy has been so addicted to Facebook (been checking-in along the way), Uncle Stanley called me and asked if we wanted to meet up for dinner.  The Neng family were also there the same days and staying at the same hotel.  So, we met up for dinner at The Buffet and played at Midway in Circus Circus.  Aidan and Matthew hit it off real well.  They were like long-lost best buddies.

Our plan for Tuesday was to have Aidan take a ski lesson at Mt. Rose.  As I mentioned, I didn't sign up for a lesson.  So by the time we got there at around 10 a.m., only the 2:00 p.m class was available.  It was a little too late for us, as it was snowing and we didn't have any snow chains.  Daddy was very worried about the driving condition.  So we decided to just rent the ski equipment and had Aidan played in the snow for a while.  We waited in line for TWO hours at the Rosebuds (kids ski camps) for ski rental and was turned away once we reached the counter.  The staff told us that they barely had enough equipment for the lessons and couldn't rent us the skiis.  I was PISSED!  I've talked to at least 4 different staff members, questioning whether I could rent the equipment from the Rosebuds line and none of them told me otherwise.  By that time, we were all starving and grouchy and pissed off.  I didn't have the energy to argue with anyone.  We just left, got lunch and headed downhill to Starbucks.  While at Starbucks, I went to Mt. Rose's website and filed a complaint about the situation.  I am usually not the type to file a complaint, but I was really angry.  After Mt. Rose, we just headed back to Eldorado, played at Circus Circus and had another buffet dinner.

All night long, Daddy was very worried about the driving condition.  We originally planned to leave early on Wednesday, then to stop by Boreal or Soda Springs for some tubing.  But because of the snow storms, we canceled all plans but left at 8 a.m. for home.  Driving condition was a little crazy and visibility was bad. Luckily, our car is a 4-wheel drive and we didn't need any chains.  We made it back to Milpitas for lunch at around 12:30 p.m and ended our trip without much snow play.



We will probably go back up the mountain some time next year.  This trip is just too disappointing.  Hopefully, next time we won't encounter any snow storm, and I will definitely make reservations for ski lessons.

Love,
Mommy

Spring has arrived!

Dear Logan,

Spring has finally arrived! No more dreary, cloudy, rainy weather. We've been blessed with beautiful blue skies and nice warm weather, even in Daly City. Where Mommy works, Daly City is usually foggy and cold, but this past week, we have temperature in the high 60s! Beautiful! Blue skies make me happy.

Down in Palo Alto where your brother goes to school, temperature is even higher. That means he gets to finally wear short sleeves to school. I didn't let him wear his shorts yet, worrying he might fall and scrape his knees again. He is so careless and active, he hurts himself all the time. But today, I finally let him wear shorts. It's amazing how something so small makes him so happy.

With Spring weather, comes beautiful flowers, nice green grass and trees. Well, it also means Mommy and your brother need to take allergy medication everyday. Even before this nice weather, whenever we go visit you, we all get the sniffles and runny eyes. It's going to get worse from now, but that won't stop us from visiting you. I just need to remember to give your brother and I some Claritin before we head out to see you later.

I am usually not a big fan of Daylight Savings Time. I hate changing my sleep schedule back and forth. But one good thing about it is that when we come home from work/school, even at 6:30 p.m., there's still daylight. The other day, your brother was able to play with his bubble gun and play with his bubbles. Another good thing is the extended visiting hours we have to come see you. The gates don't close at 5 p.m. anymore, and we could stop by at a later time and not rush.

We went up to Tahoe and Reno for some snow and carnival games fun last weekend. It was a short, tiring but very fun trip. We did sledding for the first time, and more snow tubing. Your brother loved tubing so much that he didn't want to go. We will definitely do it again, but not this season since the weather is getting warm. We stayed at Circus Circus again so that we are close to the carnival games that your brother has been so obsessed with. His favorite game is Alley Ball, aka Skee Ball. He loves playing it on the Wii, and also in real life.





I hope you're doing well. We miss you lots.


Love you,
Mommy