Winter Vacation and FINALLY HOME!

(12/21/07 - 1/06/08). So after the surgery rotation, my away rotations were over. That means that even though I'll be very busy, I'll at least be home every night that I don't have overnight call at the hospital for the rest of 3rd year. What a relief. I'm glad that I front loaded everything, though, because it is over now. It was a tough six months for me and Seth.

So the day I arrived, so too did the three girls. I got home from my 5.5 hour drive from the East side of Washington about an hour before Seth arrived with Bex, Rach, and Mel.

The first few days we just relaxed, and did some fun pottery down at Art and Clay Cafe in Gig Harbor.



We all made noodle bowls and plates. Here is what Seth and I made.



I also made an incense burner and two little sake cups for me and Seth that are actually used as sipping glasses for things like vanilla vodka or other spirits.

We loved it, and everything came out so cool looking. We have decided to slowly replace our flatware with what we create ourselves. It will be much more fun that way. It is a nice, relaxing, and creative outlet.

The Menu was made by Seth a few years ago, and the Penguin serving plate was made by me.

We had forgotten how much fun this stuff is!

We enjoyed Christmas dinner with Trudy, Frank, and the Girls. :)The main Christmas present for the girls was skiing or snowboarding lessons.
Unfortunately, we could only convince Bex that skiers are much higher life forms, so the younger girls stuck to snowboarding. They got three days of lift tickets and rentals, one full-day lesson, and two half-day lessons. They were totally blessed with some of the best snow I've ever seen in Washington. It was like Utah powder: deep, light, and fluffy. The first day it was there, it dumped a foot in the afternoon alone. The next day was wonderful, too.

We enjoyed apres ski snacks and beers (well, no beer for the kiddos) at the lodge. That is always a fun way to end the days.















Thank goodness we had the mornings to ourselves, because we got tons of fresh tracks, especially in the new area of the mountain that was recently opened.





It used to be the North Backcountry, but they put in a new lift. It is all black or double black, and we found some wicked trees with waist deep powder. It was AMAZING.
A-Basin also opened up some of their backcountry this season with lift service, and we are looking forward to enjoying that over spring break. We will spend ten wonderful days up in Summit County with my dad. I cannot wait to see him, and I cannot wait to be at the Basin again. It is my home away from home.
It is always sad to say goodbye to the girls, especially for me, because with my schedule, sometimes it is a YEAR before I see them again. It seems crazy, but it's almost impossible to match up schedules. Plus, I have so little vacation time myself, that I need some time for just me and Seth, so it's tough to balance it all. So the girls went back to Georgia, and we went on to Part II of our vacation...

Part II: Surfing with family in Northern California. We had a blast visiting with Seth's parents in Moraga, and we got to surf with Mike and Chuck. We surfed Bolinas ( one of the sharkiest beaches in the world, being the closest land to the Faralon Islands where Great Whites breed)
and Pleasure Point (Santa Cruz) with Mike,
and Pacifica with Chuck.
The cool thing is that we spent Seth's birthday at home with his family for the first time in decades. Chip, Chuck, Pam, Anna, Adolf, Mike, Becky, Sophie, Ellery, and Georgia were all able to enjoy a birthday dinner with us. We ate at a vegan restaurant that was FABULOUS, and Chip brought some good wines to enjoy with the meal. We finished off with a vegan chocolate mouse cake that was to die for.

It was a little bit of a bummer, because we had five days to surf, and two of them were way too stormy. When I say stormy, I mean one of the biggest storms to hit the coast in 50 years. But it gave us time to spend with family, to check out Santa Cruz, and to see something very unusual. There were TWENTY FOOT SWELLS at Fort Point just under the Golden Gate Bridge. That is unheard of. The place was packed with people watching some crazy and talented guys get out in the outrageously big waves and ripping currents. This isn't a picture of that day, but it is a good picture of the break. Imagine this wave four times bigger, and you'll get an idea of how crazy it was. It was very cool to see, and I doubt I'll ever see it again, so I'm glad I was there. :)

It made for an interesting last day, and Mike, Becky, and the girls were able to join us, as they only live about 10 minutes away from there. We also had fun checking out Fort Point, and looking at the old pictures of the bay before the Golden Gate Bridge was built. It's a very interesting museum if you ever get the chance to check it out. It's also fun to drive through the old Presidio on the way there. There is a lot of history in this place, but somehow the waves seem to transform time and space and blend it all into one, in their never ending magnificence and power.