snowboarding

Liesl tried out snowboarding on Monday, for the first time! She loved it. She went up to Mt Hood Meadows with Ella's family -- Ella and her sister Lotta both ski, but neither had snowboarded before so they were all beginners together. The girls had a lesson in the morning and then got to play in the afternoon on the bunny slope. By the end of the day, Liesl could string together a whole run, with multiple turns. Pretty cool.

 

basketball season

Liesl is playing basketball again for her middle school team -- the season started in December with practices, and now she has one-two games per week along with two practices. She's grown a lot taller since last bball season! Still super scrappy and fierce on defense, though. It's been fun to watch them.

 

The team played in a tournament this MLK day weekend; four games over three days. Unfortunately, of their 9 rostered players, they lost two to injury, one to a volleyball tournament, and two to other basketball teams (club teams play at the same time as school teams, and some girls play on both). So they had to play with just four players for the first game; they forfeited the second game; four players again for the third game, and then finally with five for the final matchup. That's a lot of minutes constantly running up and down the court without any breaks. Liesl was pretty tired. They lost all of the games but kept their composure, kept scoring baskets and getting back on defense.

Sacramento continued

 More food and fun in Sacramento.

We made sushi at home with salmon, tuna, and eel.

We played minigolf at an underground indoor course that was Oregon trail/wild West-themed.

On Saturday, we enjoyed wandering the streets and grazing the Sacramento farmers market.

Sacramento trip

We flew south to Sacramento on Tuesday afternoon to spend a few days with Carl and Kim's family -- we haven't seen them since last Christmas and it's been really good to catch up. No grand plans -- we have done a lot of hanging out and talking, and eating terrific food. We played poker and Presidents; spent an evening bouldering at Touchstone; played sports (volleyball, frisbee, basketball) and enjoyed the sunshine at Land Park.

Arrival dinner at Obo Italian on NY Eve.

Celebratory bubbly!

 

Watching the Rose Bowl - U of O against Ohio State - on New Year's Day.

Danica's giant purple cauliflower and multicolored carrots! Her garden plot is wonderful.

 

Card games: President's and poker.

Sports at Land Park: basketball, volleyball, football, and frisbee.

Climbing at Pipeworks.

Splashing in the hotel pool.