Christmas Day

Christmas we slept in after our busy day. We decided to go snowboarding at Alpine since we hadn't had much time on the hill this year. The weather was great and it wasn't packed so we got a lot of runs in. After riding we went out to Dinner with Danielle's parents her Grandma and My Aunt Ginger and Janet, we had a great dinner and none of the mess to clean up. Hope you all had a happy holidays.

Christmas Eve

Monday was packed we started off at Danielle's parents. After a quick breakfast we headed off to Oakdale to see Danielle's Aunt Luise and cousin Karen and her husband Karl with there kids Kyle and Katie. We spent a few hours there then off to my Grandpa John and Grandma Irene's. All of my dad's family that I don't get to see as often as I should was there, my Grandparents, my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ron and there daughter Cassie with her boy friend Ruben and there two kids Ruben Jr and the newborn Isaiah. My grandma's sister Cory and boyfriend Vincent and her son Lenny. And last but not least My Dad his girlfriend Stephine and my brother and sister were all there. We had a great dinner that my Grandma made you can never leave her house with out feeling stuffed. We had our gift exchange then headed back home to Reno, we didn't get home till about one AM but it was nice to be home. I need to make more time to get to Turlock to see my Grandparents I am a bad Grandson.

Day Three

Day three was a lot of fun. We started off the day at my Grandma Margaret's were we met my Dad and little sis Ginger. We spent a few hours just chilling with Grandma and Brad. Then off to Discovery Kingdom or Marine World whatever it is called now of days. We went with Danielle's parents, my brother and sis and one of my best friends Danny. We went on the roller coasters and saw the shows. It was fun but it was cold.

Pilgrimage Day 2

Saturday we awoke early to have breakfast with Danielle's parents Dave and Diane and some family friends Gail and Treacy and there two Labs Mattie and Emmie. Diane cooked a wonderful breakfast and we had a good time hanging out and talking. Then at one off to my Grandpa Don and Grandma Thelma's for an early Christmas with the family. I got to see a lot for family I don't see to often which was great Terrie and Rhonda my Aunt and Uncle are great I wish I got to see them and there kids Kyle, Justin, Cody and Shelly more often, I used to spend a lot of time at there house when I was young. After linner we were off to the San Jose Sharks game, me and Danielle love Hockey the game was fun but they got there buts kicked. Two days down two to go.

Start of the busy holidays

Friday we started our pilgrimage west to see the family for the holidays. We started Friday with a full day of shipping boxes in Porters warehouse, then off to see some old friends the Waibel's. We drove two hours to Cameron Park to Rudy and Diane's house, there two sons Dustin and Nate were in town. Nate is one of my best friends from the days back on Tobin drive. It was great seeing everyone there all like family. Nate's in the middle of medical school and him and his wife Susan just had there first kid Natalie seven months ago. Congratulations and good luck to them.

Teaching Scuba In The Snow

This weekend I taught a scuba class in Lake Tahoe. Adventure scuba had a big class from Carson High there were six instructors and we each had 4 students. They were taking a oceanography class and getting certified through school, I wish I had a class like that. The first day didn't start off very good the water was 45 degrees and the air temp was lower that that, the kids were in 7mm wetsuits and freezing there buts off and what didn't help is it was really windy with 2 ft waves. We ended up limping through the day with no major issues. The second day was great it was still cold, but no wind and the water was calm. My group had a ton of fun and all the students passed the open water class. I am proud of them they learned how to dive while walking through six inches of snow they were excited for it to be done. A lot of the kids want to take an advance class to further there skills. Any one interested in diving I am always open.

Dive Club Christmas Party

Saturday night was or annual dive club Christmas party. It was graciously hosted by Marcus and Julie while he cooked the main dishes and we all brought over sides and deserts. There were about 25 people that attended a few less than last year. We had a white elephant gift exchange that is always fun, Danielle and I got good gifts in the past we have got skunked. The best was we held a drawing for the dive club yearly prize. How it works is any dive club event you attended you are entered into a raffle for the prize at the end of the year. A long story short is I won the $550 underwater camera set. I was really excited it's a nice set not sure what I am going to do with it since I have an underwater camera, I could use the flash since I don't have that?

Climbing

With the weather getting cold we thought it would be fun to try Rock climbing. We took a class at our local climbing gym Rock sport. It was a ton of fun, we had never climbed before so we took the intro class, it taught us how to belay and use all the gear then they sent us on our way. The class wasn't very informative but we had a lot of fun on our own after the class. We are going to go again sometime soon.

Christmas Cookies

Once again we made Christmas cookies at my Aunt Ginger and Janet's house. Some might laugh, but we have done this every year since I was 10. It's always fun and I look forward to it every year. Thanks Ginger for making all the cookies!

Finally a Good Dump

We all started to think it was never going to snow. It was worth the wait. We finally got a good dump of about 12in at my office and 2+ft above 8000 ft. Hopefully this will give the ski resorts enough snow to open some more terrain.

Another Update on Rich

Unfortunately their is no update. Rich is still in coma and they have no date on when he might awake. His wife Mavy and father Don are meting with the doctors on Saturday to further discus this condition. Lets all keep him in our thoughts and hope he awakes with little permanent damage.