Had a fabulous brunch with all my master swim friends.
Birthday dinner for me.
Unfortunately the kids didn't catch the Leprechaun this year, but they had a blast making the trap.
We had a fantastic visit with Grandma and Grandpa. They got to watch Madden play football, did lots of crafts, took a nice hike and watched lots of March Madness games.
Paul and Jake even went to some of the regional games at SDSU.
We attended the Bressi Easter Event. Kids raced for eggs and ran the obstacle course the whole time.
We couldn't be more proud of Skylar for receiving the Academic Award for the month of February. She works hard everyday at school and at home and it's really paying off.
There is nothing better than being able to get a little sneak peek into the kids at their dance classes.
Skylar was a big goof ball in Jazz class and she seems to have a lot of fun doing it.
Tap, which he says is her favorite was really fun to watch. She did very well and I can see areas where she improved and areas where she could use a little improvement. I love watching her in her dance element.
Be still my heart! Watching my sweet Bubba's doing hip-hop is everything I had dreamed of. He was place front row for the recital routine, which probably means nothing, but for me it means everything..haha! He has a big smile on his face during the whole class and really seems to like it. I can only hope he will want to continue doing it.
Skylar is very shy in ballet for some reason. She never wants to answer a question that the teacher asks and rarely speaks to any of the girls in her class. Ms. Alex even asked "Does Skylar even like ballet?" Which I sometimes wonder myself but she tells me she does and wants to continue doing it. Which I'm proud of her because she is definitely improving in it.
March has been a fun month at school for Skylar with back to back field trips. The kids took their first field trip to the San Diego Symphony. They all got to dress up in fancy clothes and rode a bus all the way to downtown. I didn't get to attend this field trip but from what Skylar said some of the kids didn't "love" the symphony. She said that her friend Immy fell asleep on her....haha! Skylar said she enjoyed it, but since she was the smallest she got stuck in the middle seat on the bus which wasn't so much fun.
Immy, Skylar, Stevie, and Gabby.
Liam and Skylar.
Immy, Skylar, Olivia, Lucy, Liam and Maxon.
The next field trip was to the San Diego Botanical Gardens. Since there was no bus ride for this field trip I got to volunteer.
Doing color tallying on the plants.
It was a beautiful day to be outside and cruise the gardens. The kids did experiments with the garden guides and then got some free play time to explore the grounds.
Temperature experiment.
Mrs. Aubertin's 2nd Grade Class. Such a great group of kids.
After last year trip to Mammoth and seeing how well Skylar did, I knew this trip was really going to be her break out year when it came to skiing. Knowing that, I wanted to make sure the mountain was empty so instead of being there over a weekend, we planned our trip for the first part of the week. It was something my Mom said she did with us all through elementary school and it was always the best, and she was right.
Not only did we get to ski with a completely empty mountain we had a ton of fresh snow. We had been checking the weather for weeks hoping and praying for some sort of storm to blow in and just like most of our trips, they were hit with a HUGE storm the week/days leading up to our arrival. That got so much snow that the day before we arrived there was a mini avalanche right after the mountain opened. Thankfully no one was injured.
We had the usually suspects for this trip, my parents, and Jeremy joined us as they do every year. The kids did fabulous on the drive up, not one complaint all thanks to the 3 hour Tom & Jerry Season One DVD they watched. Kids arrived and we rented their skis and got them pumped for the next morning for when we would be hitting the slopes.
Day one had to start off with a couple licks of an icicles before we headed to the lodge. Against my wishes, Jake and Jeremy decided to forgo ski lessons for Madden and they were going to work with him, like they did with Skylar two years ago. So Skylar and I hit the slopes while they took Madden to a small hill to teach him how to ski. Well....as you can see from the rest of the pictures and the video there is nothing of Madden because after 20 minutes he fell (which was bound to happen of course, since its only his second time on skis), and he quit.
Skylar on the other hand was amazing! She blew all of us away. She took that first run and never looked back the rest of the trip. She skied the entire first day all day and practically shut down the mountain. I hadn't skied a full day probably since I was in elementary school.
My friend Rosie from Masters Swim was also up there so we got to ski with her a couple days.
Riding the gondola back with cousin Jeremy after shutting down the mountain.
Surprisingly Madden was willing to give it another try on day two. He was going to work with Jeremy and Jake again and I was hoping this was going to be the day he really got it. Well, that didn't happen. Jeremy was pulling him on his skis over to the small hill where he tipped over and landed on the side of the ski and got a bruise and that was the end of him on the slopes for the week. Not going to lie, I was really disappointed because I wanted this to be the year he got it, and next year he would be skiing with us, but it looks like we are going to have to wait another year.
Day two we took Skylar all over the mountain. She was riding blues and blue/blacks all morning long. We had to get in at least 15-20 runs with her before we call it quits at lunch time to take a trip to the tube park.
Yes, even my Mom joined in on the tube park fun. The kids had a blast and it was nice being able to see Madden have a little fun with us, since it wasn't happening on the ski slopes. The kids went up and down non-stop for an hour straight, loving each ride more and more.
By day three I figured Skylar would be over it, but no way. She wanted to keep riding. Jake said he has never snowboarded three days in a row but of course we couldn't let our girl down. We hit the mountain first thing in the morning and went as long as Skylar wanted to go.
Not only was my friend Rosie up in Mammoth, but so were our next door neighbors Max and Ando. So we got to hang at the lodge with them for a bit and Skylar and Ando even did a couple runs together.
Madden spent the morning at the lodge schooling Nana and Papa in several games of UNO.
We spent the morning skiing all of the mountain with Rosie and her Husband. Skylar was bonzing it down each and every run. She never once had any fear and even when she did fall, which wasn't very often, it was always with a laugh and a smile. By day three I would look behind me and she would be right there keeping up with all of us.
After probably close to 40-50 runs over three days Skylar called it quits. She wanted to spend some time with Madden and build their annual Mammoth Snowman.
Making a snow angel.
I can't even describe the joy this trip bought me. Being able to ski all over the mountain as a family (well, minus one person), bought back so many wonderful memories for me. We couldn't stop giving our girl so much praise on how well she did. I can't wait to see what next years trip brings her. I'm hoping she will attempt a black diamond.
The below video gives you all the highlights of Skylars' time on the mountain.
