Snowboarding Day 2

JASPER SAYS: I have improved since yesterday when I did the other blog. I can now go almost as fast as my dad and do really hard turns. I learned that I shouldn't fling my back foot into my frontside turns. I should instead just lean on my toes. I went on the intermediate lift called Eagle Rock 3, 4, or 5 times. I really like snowboarding.

Noah Day 3

Boarding at Squaw

SILAS SAYS: It was like the funnest time we have been in the snow. I actually learned how to ski I did not just play with my skis. There this really big where the wind was blowing up the hill and I was going down it and there was lots of snow in the wind and I was going down and it was hard.

JASPER SAYS: I had a very fun time going to Tahoe and snowboarding. We George at the lodge and Noah even skied and he did not ski last time. I was doing backside and frontside turns. I really like snowboarding. Another fun part was going on the Gondola that took us up to the second mountain. I really liked the Gondola ride. I snowboarded and rode the lift by myself.

O - O - Obama

JASPER SAYS: I can't believe that Obama is president. We had a very fun time watching the inauguration. My favorite part was when everybody was coming out and last of all was Obama. Obama has a really nice car. Right after we finished watching the inauguration, we did origami while my dad was on a conference call and we are playing Lego right now.

SILAS SAYS: Obama is president!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a really fun time watching Obama coming out last 'cuz all the other people came first and Obama and George Bush came out last. He has an awesome limo. Sasha and Malia are Obama's kids and they were walking out too. I'm glad my dad's not president because we would have to do about a billion trillion gazillion papers everyday.

Good Karma in Santa Cruz

Came to SC for a couple days. Escaping triple overhead surf in San Francisco. Great big long waves at my favorite spot in SC, 26th Avenue. This morning went to check the surf and found a stray iPhone. Called around a bit and found the owner. Later I went surfing and a photographer got several shots of me on my last wave. He lives in the neighborhood and stopped by so I could download the pictures directly. Fun to have the shots. Give a little and the world returns the favor.

Rockets Baby

JASPER SAYS: I had a fun time doing rockets with Ben. We blasted the rockets maybe 900 to 1100 feet high. I launched one and then the same one I launched I caught it. A rocket is sort of like a real rocket but mini and you shoot it off this sort of platform and it has a gunpowder engine. When the engine is done it shoots one little blast of gunpowder out the top and makes the parachute come out and the rocket floats down. You can try to catch it if you want to. You have to build the rocket before you launch it.



SILAS SAYS: It's AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two Best Friends and Their Stunts

SILAS SAYS: This was a really fun sport that my Dada invented. The sport you can see in the video. I will tell you a little about the sport. It is about you go on a boogie board and you hold on, then my dad pulls me straight and then really quick he spins us around. The videos were on the day we did this. I did this sport with one of my best friends named Lukie.

SILAS:

LUCAS:

Holidays 2008

The first half of my 16 days off I spent mostly on the road. I went to Santa Cruz for a night to see my best friends and pick up my new snowboard. Then I headed north and surfed a beautiful granite cove just south of the City. After a quick stop at home I drove to Sacramento and spent the night with some friends. I then went up to the mountains and snowboarded with my brother and his girlfriend for a couple days. They left the second night and I stayed in the mountains for one more night. It snowed hard that night, so I got up early and floated through fresh powder until I could hardly stand. Sore legs and I had not slept well for several nights due to decompressing from a very busy year and the Southern Pacific tooting right outside my window.

Darth Vader is a snowboarder.

I left the mountains a day early and went to my favorite hot springs. Drove the back roads from Sacramento through the Capay valley. I made it in time for dinner and one "basic" room was available; thank god, because it was cold and raining hard. My first visit to the pools revealed good friends. Later I went to the the Tuesday night dance, where I got to spin around the room with other familiar faces. Finally I collapsed in my room and slept 10 hours, beginning to make up for the sleep I missed the days earlier. I woke to snow dusting the tops. I made it to my friends yoga class and cracked more of my body open.

It took almost a week for me to really start letting go the stress and drive of the last year. I was beginning to feel very grounded as my family all started to show up at the house. First, I picked up the Grammas from the airport. Next day Jasper and Silas came home and we ate the beginnings of a big pot of Dada's pinto bean soup. Late that evening Andy, Beth, Mia, and Hayden arrived.

My goal had been to complete my little kitchen remodel before the family holidays. We were able to get it done and I spent most of the Holiday in the kitchen cooking for the family. Pots of beans, roasted chickens, homemade soups, enchiladas, jams, and cookies. I was in domestic bliss. And the new dishwasher was running twice a day!

A little excitement.

We had a wonderful belated Christmas gift exchange and a lot of slow times in the house, on the beach, or wandering our neighborhood. We were blessed with epic winter surf, so I got plenty of exercise, which always mellows me out. It was a great seven days of family, time shared as a group and between individuals. Everyone was so gracious and loving and full of gratitude.

Some CrockerBoys in Golden Gate Park.

See more photos in our Holiday Album.