GPA Award Ceremony

Jacob's school held a little ceremony for GPA excellence.  The room was packed with students and parents.  It started on time and lasted a whopping 20 minutes for his grade.  Despite this Jacob was annoyed that he had to go.  Semi-formal attire was encouraged for the students so I "made" Jacob where his suit jacket and a tie.  You can see how thrilled he was with this event.

Jacob received the Principal's Honor Roll for achieving a 4.0 GPA for the first semester.  And for once Jacob got to go first for his group, maybe they went in reverse alphabetical order.  The principal is on the right and vice principal on the left.  I love them both.

These were all the 4.0 GPA winners for first semester.  The tall gal with blond hair in the middle is from his elementary school.  It was nice to have 2 students from Coeur d'Alene be honored. Jacob has adapted very well to middle school and worked very hard.  We are so proud of him.

Vasquez Rocks

Jacob had an adventure this week and went to Vasquez Rocks with a friend.  These are the same friends that we went to Mount Pinos with.  Clearly they like outside adventure which I think is great and Dad remembers his camera and takes great pictures!

The last time we went to Vasquez Rocks was 2009, at least that is what my blog tells me.  Thank goodness for blogs or I wouldn't remember this stuff.  Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas from Las Vegas

Happy Holidays.  This was our first trip to sin city during the Christmas holiday season.  I made it my mission to take as many photos as possible in front of Christmas decorations.  Whenever possible I asked someone to take a picture of Michael and I.

The Rio Hotel.

Gingerbread Wynn and Encore Towers.  Crafted from 3,500 gingerbread titles, rolled fondant and sugar.  The confection weighs over 295 pounds and took 21 days to construct.

In front of the buffet at the Wynn Hotel where most of the sin took place, overeating.

New York, New York Hotel.

The Wynn Hotel.

I think this was the Palazzo Hotel.

Polished brass of Popeye at the Wynn Hotel.

The Wynn Hotel.

Downtown Las Vegas.

Downtown Las Vegas.

Our big night out included tickets to Penn and Teller at the Rio Hotel.  It was a great show and these two are uber nice.  Penn is 6 feet 7 inches.

Merry Christmas from Las Vegas!

Part 2 Mount Pinos

Our friends sent us some pictures of our hike, he used a GoPro with a wide angle lens.

Jacob smiles when other people take pictures:)

Nice clouds.

Nice 'smore.

Yum.

Picture taking of picture taking.

Mount Pinos Frazier National Park

We were invited by some friends to go hiking, so off we went to the mountains in Frazier National Park.

Getting started.

Reluctant Jacob stopped to pose for a picture.

Rock climbing.

The kids found the only patch of ice around.

Top of Mount Pinos.  Great view.

Rare family photo.  It was nice to have a friend to help with pictures.

'Smores sans fire.  We didn't notice the no fire signs coming in and all the fire pits were taped up.  Dry weather has banned camp fires.  The kids didn't seem to mind.

Pizza after the hike.  It was nice to get into a warm place as the temperature started dropping quickly as evening approached.  We really enjoyed the fall weather, hike and time with friends.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanks to Hank for being our camera man this year.

Thea won the award for dressing seasonally.  

The cooks.

The turkey.  We cooked it flat this year, seemed to work.

Jacob and Berta waiting for the fun to begin.

Jacob would not pose for a picture this year.  We ate, got full and had a good time.  I found this article on Thanksgiving that I thought you would all like, it is very funny. http://www.dinneralovestory.com/10-laws-of-thanksgiving-dinner/.  

Where's Waldo?

Can you find the dog?  She always blends in.  Jacob decided that he wanted a new blanket.  Hope had adopted his old one and started chewing on the corners.  You can see that the distinction between mine versus yours does not work with Hope.  I think she is cute when she sleeps so I take a lot of pictures of her sleeping.  Plus when she is awake she is quite the moving target.