As advertised, we put the whole fam damily in the new car and headed up to Susanville (80 miles northwest of Reno) for the holidays. We went to visit my parents (aka Nana and the Grampster) and to see Auntie Karin. We left on December 22nd and had a one night stay in Bishop and some wonderful treats at Erick Schat's Bakery, which we highly recommend every time you are in Bishop (extremely often, we're sure).
We arrived at the Roseberry House (the bed and breakfast that my parents own with Karin's godparents, Richard and Judith Ernst) on the afternoon of the 23rd. The house was all decked out in holiday cheer and the rooms were all available for us. We spread out and everyone got their own room, which was very very nice. We were there for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the first night of Chanukah.We had a very special time with my family. Andrew got to hold Grampster's keys almost all of the time. Noah was crawling and cruising around and pulling up on everything and giving Nana sweet kisses (see one of my favorite photos below). The boys only broke a snow globe and an ornament (okay, maybe a few other things too). As usual, the pictures tell the story better than I can. So here they are: 
Andrew and Noah in front of the Roseberry House Tree on Christmas Eve
The whole family (including Sadie) on Christmas Eve
Noah eating Chanukah gelt in his Christmas outfit on Christmas morning (I love this one)
The Grampster and Nana - Truly enjoying Christmas!
Tug O' War - Andrew and Noah already fighting over a toy (much more to come!)
Daddy and his boys (this is my new "Bank of Dad Crazy Shirt")
Nana and her Noah Slade (this is the cute kiss I wrote of above)
Bottoms Up - Karin lost her contact - Nana found it!
Christmas Dinner (left to right - Andrew, Robin, Nana, Rich Free, Grampster and Karin (Noah was sleeping) (Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale omitted))
Mommy, Andrew and Noah lighting Chanukah candles (on our Winnie the Pooh Menorah)
Andrew and Noah watching the Chanukah candles; Mommy watching Andrew
The day after Christmas and the day after the first night of Chanukah, we all packed up and drove up to Incline Village, Nevada on Lake Tahoe. We rented a beautiful (and I mean beautiful - thank you Mom and Dad for arranging) condo there for 3 nights to do a little skiing and to have some more time to hang out together. The skiing was not good. Some snow, but more rain. We learned how to put our tire chains on (thank you Mr. Caltrans Worker (he deserves a Budweiser)). We got in one good day of skiing and Andrew had his first chance on skis and seemed to have a very good time. Noah also got his first feel of snow and let's just say that I think he prefers warm milk. The pictures below show the fun!
Andrew dressed in his ski clothes
Noah's not too sure about the snow
Actually, I think he's pretty sure now - He doesn't like snow (at least not yet)!
On the 29th, we started our drive back to the southland. We made it all the way to lovely Ridgecrest, stayed overnight and made it down to LA the next day. We stopped by to see Robin's childhood friend Marissa Alwag and her new baby Maxie. A few pictures of our visit are below.
Noah and Andrew concerned about Baby Maxie
Marissa, Baby Maxie, Andrew, Robin and Noah (aren't the little girls with the little boys cute!)
We then got to spend an afternoon with Robin's grandmother, Yetta (aka Grandma). Grandma is a perfect old Jewish grandmother. If you have an old Jewish grandmother, you know what I mean. I did not have one growing up, but I've sure got one now. For Chanukah, we gave her a book titled, Born to Kvetch.
Spend a minute checking out this link and reading the story about the old Jewish man on the Chicago bound train out of Grand Central Station. It's perfect. Grandma is getting older and her body is not working as well as it used to. I think that only serves to increase her kvetching. But, she is Grandma and she is beautiful.
That evening, we stopped by Robin's Dad's (aka Papa) place in West LA to play with his keys and ride in his elevator for a while. We also let Noah have some of that warm milk before finishing off the drive home. We made it back to the comforts of our home the night of the 30th.
We had a very special night of Chanukah with Papa on New Years' Eve. Andrew got a brand new bike and Noah got all kinds of goodies. We spent New Years' Eve exhausted on our couch and watching Dick Clark struggle through counting down the ball drop. We've spent the last week or so cleaning up, doing laundry and enjoying the boys.
As for the trip, there was snow (and rain), there was loving family (there were usual family squabbles), there was good food (and fast food), there was some skiing (and some hot cocoa drinking), there was some good game playing (and a little bit of spite), there were tons of great gifts (and a few that need returning), there were candles burning brightly (and Andrew trying to blow them out like birthday candles), there was a long long drive (and a new DVD player to keep Andrew shouting "To Infinity...and Beyond").
We're looking forward to a very busy and enjoyable 2006. Happy New Year to all.
