Claudia & Juliet's blog: What happened to 2013?

Other than me not blogging. Maybe because I upload pix to facebook and didn't want to upload twice... I'm trying get back into the swing of updating the blog. Here's a look back at some highlights of 2013.

Conquer the mountain, dude!

After coming back from the midwest for Christmas, we started our 2013 at Squaw Valley, getting some relaxing and skiing in. This time, Juliet was old enough to take lessons so she did a half day, while Claudia did another full day lesson. That meant that Peter and I got to go for a few runs together. I hadn't skied in at least 10 years. I had some good wipe outs but by the end of our 2ish hours, I was doing pretty good. Next time we'll be able to go longer since Juliet will do full day lessons too.

Family photoshoot

I can't pass up a good groupon, so off we went to a park in Sunnyvale to have some pix taken. This was a fun one. I've always liked the look of other people's photos when the family is holding hands and walking. Our photographer had us do it too, and boy is it weird while you're doing it. :-) But still fun.

And then of course there were some intentionally silly photos:

Juliet turns the big 4!

Juliet wanted to have both a Wow Wow Wubzy and a Caterpillar party, so we split the difference and for her actual birthday, we had the traditional Chiffon cake (made my Mom) and I decorated it with Wubzy on the top.

Wow! Wow! Juliet turns 4!

We threw a caterpillar/bug party with her friends. I always have fun decorating the cake and throwing the parties. I'm lucky that the girls (and Peter) just let me run with the themes.

And this year I thought it would be easy to make a shirt for the party, so I whipped that up the night before. Perhaps took me longer than it should have, but it turned out well.

The kids caught butterflies with elefun, decorated their "bug jars", and then went on a bug hunt.

And then it was time to sing and have cake.

Showing off their qipaos

Gralu and Grandpa sent qipaos for the girls; they did a quick pose in front of the 4 seasons.

What else would you do with laundry baskets, goggles (swim and ski), straws, and scarves?

Hiking with Mom & Dad

We try to take Mom & Dad for at least one hike during their winter visit. We headed to Henry Coe on a foggy morning. And Don Edwards where the poppies were in bloom.