Plans were to give Tahoe another try as our first trip was a bit of a letdown… And then drive to SAC to see our dear neighbors who moved away last summer and hang with Archer, whom Elias misses on the daily!

This was also going to be our last long-ish trip for a little while as Daddy accepted an offer with Apple last month! After weeks and weeks of intense interviews (live coding in a 7-hour Zoom call, anyone???) and negotiation, we’re grateful that he was able to get in and hey, we’re an all Apple family anyway so why not get a chance to work for a really cool organization? Also, Mommy has been doing some freelance design for Amazon so we’ve got the A’s down in FAANG. :)

Taiwanese food (breakfast!) on the drive up!

Fan Tuan in the hotel room. We stayed the night in Big Pine to break up the long 9-ish hour drive.

Got on the road we usually take to Mammoth the next day and stopped by Mono Lake. It had dumped quite a bit days before…

The sr. snow angel.

First day on the slopes was perfection: fresh snow, clear skies, no wind.

Could see all the way to the lake…

The morning before the storm was about to roll in…

And here cometh the storm…

The jr. snow angel.

Apres-boarding sledding. :)

How deep the Father’s snow for us! :))

More sledding!

Walked into the little square to pick up a few things as weather was forecasted to get worse next few days.

A group gave us like 2 dozen eggs when we arrived (and they were leaving) so it was lots of omelettes back at the lodge…

A lot of the lifts, including the gondola, closed the next day due to winds and visibility… We rode what we could.

Some areas we couldn’t see a darn thing!

Ghost town out on the patio where everyone usually chills.

Just inches and inches and inches of snow…

Little blue house next to our condo.

Few folks braved it out, given the conditions.

We had no idea if we’d be able to leave as we heard the roads were being shut down… but we checked out, grabbed coffee/tea and started our drive…

Not long after, they shut down the highway and we were re-routed around the entire lake.

And THEN, came to a standstill… for HOURS. Don’t ask us how many. ;-) Turns out there was a crazy who knows how many car pile-up that pretty much screwed it for everyone. But it was Christmas Day, many people weren’t prepared for getting stranded so we were happy to give out food/snacks and share what we had. Definitely a Christmas for the books!

Our ETA to get to our friends’ place in SAC was originally in the afternoon. After midnight, we finally arrived. A was still up waiting for E!

Played just like old times… Then ooomph, drove to our next hotel and arrived at 5am. :((( Slept for like a couple of hours and took much needed showers.

Our hotel was next to one of the largest superchargers in the U.S. so even though we didn’t drive our Tesla, we had to check it out.

There was even a cafe and lounge inside.

Lattes were pretty good and the branding was on point!

We slept past breakfast at the hotel so the boys grabbed McD’s (Elias’ FIRST time to eat there, we kid you not) and then explored the very touristy Bravo Farms.

It kinda reminded us of TX for some reason.

Lots of antiques and knickknacks on the second floor. Made us think of Magnolia!

Then we hightailed it home… Stopped for Asian desserts in Irvine.

Bought takeout for dinner.

Daddy couldn’t resist durian crepes. ;-P

Boy, was it good to turn into our driveway and finally be home after being on the road for so long. Elias was excited to start opening presents which happened over the course of the week.

’21 Christmas Card:

And remember we were scoping out the secret swings for our fall family photos? It happened! A few of our fave takes:

Bring it, 2022! With lovely truffles. :))

This semester of in-person school since lockdown has just FLOWN by!

Though their campus is still closed, the teachers have been continually amazing with communication and sending us photos.

Their school participated in the PB holiday parade on a weekend.

Owning the shut down street…

Still golfing… Daddy’s never been into it but now obliged to accompany son.

Cheers to the end of the semester!

Drinks before heading to Legoland on the last day of school for the year (before spring semester). We didn’t renew our memberships this year so will need to go lots before it expires. :-P

Mommy traded shoes w/ J. Pretty much the same size now… E still has some catching up to do. :P

Their presence are presents, haha!

There were little holiday theme stations throughout.

Bunny & Banana. :)

These two… friends since the 2nd day of kindergarten.

And there will always be game play… always.

Lock them up!

And Mommy sent these two on their merry way on the Technic. :)) They were able to squeeze in a few rounds before the park closed. Love coming as locals with zilch lines!

Neighborhood Christmas party outdoors with our volunteer Santa (and photog).

Oh and we’re spending the holidays in Tahoe this year!

These two monkeys!

Back @ Annie’s Canyon! We did this loop several times. :)

Sunset vibes after our family photo session.

Then it was off to Mammoth for Thanksgiving week. Must make up for lost time last season! But first, pick up all the Chinese food in LA. We stayed the night in Bishop as we had before prior to heading up the mountain the next morning.

Trying to recreate a similar frame from 2 years ago?

Since it was early season, there wasn’t a whole lot of snow and only Main Lodge was open. We had a ski in/out @ Eagle Lodge which we didn’t get to take advantage of at all and had to drive to Main everyday. :( But still good enough for him to practice.

Or recall how to snowboard. ;-P

Woolly, it’s been a hot (errrr, cold?) minute!

Reminiscing on the year that the snow was all the way to the top of that wooden sign… IN MAY!

We took a morning break from riding to explore some other areas of Mammoth we’ve never been to. First stop: Obsidian Dome. It’s essentially piles and piles of volcanic glass and obsidian rocks.

Rocks AND climbing? A couple of someone’s fave things!

We walked along one of the trails but soon realized that it was easy to get lost since there were just rocks every corner we turned!

Then we went to see some of the Inyo Craters formed from a volcanic explosion. This one was frozen over with ice.

This was another that was only semi-frozen.

E by the rim.

It was a short hike up to the craters so it was nice meandering through the forest.

More boarding…

Since only Main Lodge and several trails were open, the lifts got pretty congested so we did many loops via gondola.

On another morning, we tried to hike to Crystal Lake but the parking area was closed off for the winter so we did the best we could.

Then back on the mountain after lunch. We found E can’t do full days of riding just yet so it kinda worked out.

Sometimes he’ll just get up and…

Take off!

Parking was an issue so sometimes we waited around the lodge while Daddy went to go get the car.

Ate simple meals back at our rental…

Daddy was so proud of his Thanksgiving ramen — attempting to mimic the photo on the box!

Thanksgiving Day we also walked around the Village. The tree was up!

We’ll be back, our beloved Mammoth…