We had our traditional Christmas Eve with my mom and lots of seafood for dinner. Tom branched out and made calamari. I missed the calamari course because I was on the phone with my cousin Dillon, but that's okay because I don't eat fish or squid. I didn't take any pictures while my mom was here, but after she went home, we made our annual butter cookies for Santa.
Serafina doing some decorating.
Leo decorating.
Here's the end result.
I found a picture from the first time we made these cookies in 2012. Look at those little goobers! So small and cute.
I didn't take any pictures of the kids opening presents on Christmas morning, only Mousse with his Baby Yoda toy from Tracy and Maya. Ha! I guess that's the new era we live in.
He was so happy.
I made them pose for a picture after dinner though. Serafina has on her new Christmas pajama pants and new slippers.
I told Leo to give me a good smile and this is what I got.
New ornaments! Beautiful Santa Mermaid from Sheila.
See's Candies centennial ornament from Santa.
There were renters at our house that were supposed to leave on Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve, there was a power outage that impacted the entire Donner Lake neighborhood. The power came back on around 5pm and the renters were gone. I guess they didn't want to be stuck there in the dark, even though the heat is gas. It turned out that they were smart to leave when they did because the highway closed early Christmas morning and it still hasn't re-opened. We were supposed to get a new group of renters today, but they probably can't get there with the highway closed. So much snow fell that when we checked the cameras this afternoon (after another outage), the snow pile in front of the house was almost to the roof!
We headed up to our little lake place for the weekend and it had transformed in to a winter wonderland.
The view from the driveway.
Lots of snow on our place.
On Saturday, Tom and the kids headed out for their first ski day since February 2020.
They were excited. Serafina was a bit nervous and Tom was feeling cautious since he had his knee repaired (again) this past September.
While they were away, I got busy on a long to-do list to get the house "guest ready". I took time out for a long walk with the dog.
Here's a beautiful view of snowy Maple Street from the end of our driveway.
I made Mousse put on his little sweater. Full disclosure, he's not a fan and I could only get him to put one leg through.
Handsome boy in the snow.
He absolutely loves the snow.
He jumped up on the snow berms and jumped all around in the deep snow.
A view of Donner Lake from the bridge down the street from our house.
Serafina took some selfies during their ski day.
They skied on Sunday too. I took the dog for a walk and then I had to go to town to run errands. Mousse was home alone at the lake house for the first time and he did great. I picked up the tired skiers in the afternoon and we came home to a planned power outage. The most recent storm caused a lot of damage, and crews were working hard to repair damaged power lines. The outage wrapped up earlier than planned and we were happy about that.
Monday Tom had to work and we still had lots to do at the house, so they didn't ski. We packed up our personal items and cleaned most of the day, but we had time to walk the dog. It was glorious out so I made the kids come with me.
Here's silly goose Mousse having a blast with snowballs on our walk.
We drove home Monday night, and our first renters are due to arrive Wednesday! We hope they like the place.
Both kids did a lot of gift exchanging at school. They picked out presents for their friends, Leo's friend group and Serafina's mentor class both did a Secret Santa, and Leo's class did a White Elephant.
For Serafina's class, the kids filled out preference sheets talking about their hobbies and favorite things. On Friday when they exchanged gifts, Serafina discovered that her friend Arya had her name, and Arya followed Serafina's preferences to the letter. Apparently, Serafina wrote that her favorite thing to eat is cake and all she wanted was a whole cake for herself. Arya came through, and honestly, I don't think Serafina could be more thrilled. Here's a picture a friend snapped of her walking around school with her whole cake.
At home with her cake. She had used a candy cane to take have a sample while still at school.
Arya's mom cleverly had the cake delivered to Serafina on the Halloween cookie tray I had brought to her house on October 31st. She kept meaning to return it and this was the perfect opportunity. The tray was just the right size.
On Tuesday, Leo started practicing with his friend Johnny and Johnny's dad to play in the school talent show. Johnny's dad, Rob, works at the school and plays multiple instruments. He also gives lessons in the small music studio in his house. Johnny plays bass, and Leo befriended him almost immediately at the beginning of the school year, bonding over music. Leo went to Rob and Johnny's place on Wednesday too. On Thursday, their friend Tyler (the gingerbread house eater) joined them to do the vocals on the song. Also on Thursday, a school administrator called me to say I couldn't be at school for the performance. I had emailed her asking if I could slip in to see them play; I even attached my vaccine card to the email. But I knew they weren't letting volunteers on campus for a different event that day, so it was unlikely I could be there. She was so apologetic and promised to send me a video. I was disappointed, but I understood. They have to prioritize safety. Plus, it may have made Leo more nervous to have me there.
Friday he went to school with his guitar and three days of preparation. I got the video Friday afternoon, and I'm not sure there is a word beyond "proud", but that's what I felt. I couldn't believe how brave and awesome he was during that performance. There was a little hiccup, but they got back on track and he rocked it!
Here they are... Johnny on bass, Rob (the dad) on drums, Tyler on vocals and Leo on guitar, playing Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This was an incredible experience for Leo. He's only done guitar lessons virtually and hasn't played with other musicians before. He will continue to work with Rob and Johnny in the new year. I'm very excited about this next chapter in Leo's musical journey.
Sometimes I have an idea and I think it's a great idea, and no one talks me out of it. I had the idea of having Serafina's school friends over to decorate gingerbread houses. I thought they would sweetly sit at the table and have so much fun decorating. Then they would sit sweetly on the couch, maybe sipping some hot cocoa, while watching a Christmas movie. Well, it didn't exactly go like I envisioned, but it was still fun. Messy, festive fun.
When I was planning for gingerbread building, I bought three identical kits. But Leo decided he wanted to do one and picked out a Sour Patch Kids ski chalet. He wanted to make it with his girlfriend Janeth, but she was unavailable to come over. He decided to invite Tyler instead. Oh boy.
Here's everyone at the table with their houses and candies. Going around the table from left to right: Mia, Serafina, Purple, Leo and Tyler.
Tyler and Leo shared the ski chalet and Tyler definitely took the lead on construction and decorating. Leo didn't mind; he was busy eating the candy.
There was a lot of smack talk across the table. Lots of boasting about who's house was superior. A couple of times I had to intervene with a "hey now" because they got a little mean.
Leo and Tyler were done first. I think they were motivated to finish so they could play video games.
Here's their chalet.
Purple struggled with the house construction. I had Tom help out because he's pretty good at that kind of thing. Once the house was assembled, Purple did great with the decorating.
Here's Serafina's final product.
Mia was very methodical and patient with her house. It was impressive.
Now my kids have been decorating gingerbread houses for a long time, both at home and at school. Never in the history of our gingerbread houses have I let them eat the houses. We always viewed it as a craft project and these are art supplies. Sure, they are technically edible, but gross. Well, Tyler proved what I've always said to my kids, "different families have different rules". He popped the roof off that house and munched away.
It was hilarious and a bit appalling. I ended up throwing the whole thing away when he got distracted by a movie. He also sucked down at least one and a half bags of icing, but we got those away from him too. Ewww.
My kids had their very first middle school dance on Friday night. Serafina said "thanks, but no thanks". I think she would have fun hanging out with her friends, but this isn't the hill I'm going to die on and there will be another chance for her to go. You know, as long as we don't get hit by another global pandemic.
Leo was willing to go because his girlfriend was going. Yes, you read that right...a girlfriend. Her name is Janeth. I don't know much about her, and honestly, I don't know if Leo knows much about her. She seems very sweet and shy. I got a chance to talk to her at the dance and she just giggled.
Signed up to help set up the dance, but I received a panic phone call the night before from the gal in charge of the parent organization. Long story short, I spent the whole time at the dance and managed all the parent volunteers. I hope I don't have to do it again. It's a lot of awkwardness to witness.
I didn't embarrass Leo with pictures, but he took this selfie with Janeth.
Saturday I took Leo, Serafina and Serafina's friend Purple to our local amusement park, Great America. They have a "Winterfest" every season, but this was our first time. I immediately knew we made a questionable choice based on how far away I had to park. And then we had to join a river of humans streaming into the park. So yeah, it was really crowded which impacted the fun.
I made Serafina and Purple pose for a picture before they wandered off.
Leo was very excited to meet Janeth there for their first official date. I made them pose for a picture.
Leo and Janeth disappeared into the crowd immediately and were looking to meet up with more friends.
That left me to wander around all by myself while listening to a podcast.
I did run into Serafina and Purple a couple of times and made them take pictures.
They also took some selfies.
Leo was cold so he asked me to meet him so I could give him a hat. There was a crew of them, and they were on their way to get a funnel cake. A huge part of Leo's plan for the date was sharing a funnel cake. Apparently, it was disappointing. Not the same quality he's been treated to at the county fair.
Here's the group: Janeth, Tyler, Alberto, Alessandro and Leo. Alberto and Alessandro are cousins and standing next to Leo, they look like they could be triplets.
There was a lot of complaining on the drive home about long lines for rides and food. It sounds like no one got to do more than one ride or so. Oh well. It was still very festive.
Let me start by saying that Tom and I are so incredibly lucky to be in the position to buy a vacation home. We feel very fortunate and appreciate every minute of this exciting new chapter. When it was clear that buying a place was going to be a reality, the question then became...where? I wanted to be at the coast. The ocean has always been part of my life and I love a day at the beach. Tom wanted to be in the mountains. He loves skiing and snow, and so do the kids. But a main criteria was that it needed to be a rental property when we aren't using it. More and more, popular vacation destinations are putting restrictions on short term rentals.
We looked at a cute place on the beach in Watsonville, but it was too little. We looked at some places in the Tahoe area, but they were too run-down or too close to the highway. We weren't trying to be picky; we just knew that if we were going to do this, it had to be the right place. Also, we needed something that satisfied my need for a beach with Tom's desire to be in the mountains. The solution...Donner Lake. Donner Lake is like the tiny, little brother to Lake Tahoe. Our very first ski season, when our kids were wee tots, we rented a house near Donner Lake. A house at Donner Lake meant skiing in the winter, and beach time in the summer. And the town of Truckee, where Donner Lake is located, didn't have restrictions on short term rentals. Our realtor wanted us to see a little remodeled cabin just a block from the lake. He took us on a virtual tour over a video call as we peppered him with questions, and made him walk all over the house and yard multiple times. The sellers were already taking offers and if we wanted to be considered, we had to put in an offer that same day. Even though we didn't see the house in person, it felt right, so Tom scrambled and got everything together so we could put in an offer. When we found out our offer was accepted, it was an equal mix of excitement and panic for me. What if we hated it? What if I didn't want to go up there as much as everyone else but felt I had to because we have this place? Little did I know that was just the beginning of the roller coaster. Between having our offer accepted in late August and closing escrow in late September, we were thrown two major curveballs. First was the reality of fire insurance in an area that is at high risk during California's wildfire season. Once we figured out that we could manage it if the house was generating income from renters, the Town of Truckee called an emergency meeting to put a halt on issuing short term rental permits. Eek! We needed that permit to rent out the house and also use it ourselves during the winter. Thankfully, our escrow closed and our application was submitted in the days before the meeting when the town council voted to freeze permits. They honored all the applications submitted before that date and we were granted our permit. Shew!
All this drama happened before we had even seen the place! We finally got a chance to go up in mid-October, right after Leo's birthday for Columbus Day weekend.
Here it is! Our little house by the lake. It was a one room cabin built in the early 1950s. In 2017, it was remodeled and two second-story bedrooms were added.
It still looks like a cute little cabin from the front.
This was the first time we saw it.
It came with a canoe! There are also a couple of kayaks.
But most exciting is the little cart we negotiated.
The cart is a popular mode of transportation in the summertime for people to bring their toys down to the lake. The lake is a stone's throw from the house, but we can best access it from the private beach club down the street a bit. We aren't official members quite yet (they are slow to process our application), but we found a way to access it anyway.
It's a really pretty spot.
But let's be honest, the kids' favorite part is the cart. It's been nicknamed the "Cool Rider" and the "GoGo Cart".
Here's Leo illegally driving it in the neighborhood.
Our last day during that first visit, it snowed a bit. Mousse was a bit unsure about it.
During that first trip, we learned that the GoGo Cart could not be left outside through the winter. Since the house doesn't have a garage, we needed to bring it home or put it in storage. We opted to bring it home. A big storm was expected to hit the area in October, so we scrambled to rent a trailer and get up there before the snow started falling. We drove up Friday night with the empty trailer, loaded up the cart Saturday morning, and we were back on the road by mid-day Saturday right as the snow was starting to fall.
It's not too fun to drive my car while towing this cargo, so we will try to figure out a different option in the future. But for now, it is safely parked in our Sunnyvale garage.
Tom and I were eager to get back up there. We had a long to-do list to get the place ready for renters, but we also just wanted to enjoy the peace and beauty of the place. The kids had the whole week off from school for Thanksgiving, so we headed up (with a very full car) on Sunday.
I went down to the lake every day with the dog. Monday and Tuesday it was just the two of us. Tuesday afternoon, my dear friend from grad school came by with her family. They were in the area for the holiday week too, and we felt so fortunate that it worked out that we could see each other.
On Wednesday, I made the kids come with me to try to capture the perfect Christmas card picture. Here's an outtake.
Serafina is a dancer anywhere and everywhere.
Pre-Thanksgiving dinner lake visit.
Mousse doesn't like getting in the ocean water, and he really hated the pool, but he's a fan of the lake. Its calm water and gradual entry embolden him to explore it further than any other body of water.
Yep, he's definitely a lake dog.
The house came fully furnished with lots of throw pillows and wall art with corny sayings. It also has a well-stocked kitchen, which came in handy for our Thanksgiving meal. Serafina set the table and she did a lovely job.
Here's part of our gorgeous spread.
Friday was the best weather. Unfortunately, Serafina was under the weather. Leo and I headed into downtown Truckee for some shopping at the boutiques. Of course, we had to have another wonderful lake visit with the dog.
We drove home Saturday, and there was a bit of traffic. Overall, it was a really nice visit. The kids were a bit bored, but that's to be expected during the off-season before the ski resorts open. This house is closest to Sugarbowl Resort, which is where my kids learned to ski all those years ago. We still have some work to do before renters will use the house, so we'll go back up in December. Our ski trips this winter will be planned around Serafina's dance schedule, but we'll get up there when we can. A rental management company will handle the renting, cleaning and maintenance of the property when we aren't there. Hopefully it all goes smoothly. I'll be looking forward to the summer months and hanging at the beach.
