goodbye tahoe (for now)

it's official. we are no longer renters of a ski house. our lease ended yesterday and we had packed, cleaned and said goodbye to "tahoe house" as greta calls it.

it's been a bit of a whirlwind since returning from our trip to florida. we decided not to go up for closing weekend at alpine, which was the weekend after returning from florida. it was in the 90s at our house and we determined the 60s was not exactly the best skiing weather. we decided to just head up the last weekend of the lease and enjoy the hot weather at home.

we had a great weekend at home, working and playing outside. we even got it together to have some of our neighbors with kids similar to greta's age over for some playtime and munchies saturday afternoon. it was great to catch up with everyone after a busy winter. on sunday, we found ourselves heading up to san francisco for the afternoon before picking up a neighbor's car at the airport. we went to golden gate park on one of those few magical days in the city where you can wear summer clothes. we got to see our friends ann & will and their kids at the playground at the park. greta and harriet had great fun swinging and playing. we wrapped up our quick city visit with a stop at rosmunds for sausage, which was our on the go dinner. a great day to wrap up the weekend.

the following weekend it was up to tahoe to close up the house and turn the keys over. the jolly's were up there that weekend and our mutual friends brian, jen and colton were also up in the tahoe area. we all got together on saturday and brian and a couple friends of theirs unloaded their snow mobiles (or as greta calls it, the snow wheel) and we had a glorious morning of sledding and snow mobiling. greta even took evan on her first ride, which she loved (our daredevil). it was not as warm as the previous weekend, but comfortable and sunny and you couldn't beat the company.

we wore the kids out and decided to do take-in mexican food and make at home margaritas instead of going out with tired kids. a perfect way to close out the season at the "feige" house. sunday morning was a cleaning extravaganza and we hit the road around 10am to head back home.
we are looking forward to a visit from my mom (aka "gramma kafy") this week. i convinced her to stay for two weekends so evan and i could take off the second weekend for a getaway with just the two of us. now, we just need to survive a couple work weeks before then...

sunny florida

vacation in sunny florida treated us well. hope everyone had a happy easter and happy passover! we are back to the grind, but as we get to the end of the week, it's a nice time to indulge myself by recapping the vacation in florida and thinking about the next getaway we have on the books.

the weather in florida quickly warmed up as last week went by. it was perfect for being outside and swimming (although our beach day was a bit windy). we had a wonderful seder service and meal with about 30 other family members. greta was good but very busy during both, but we had a great time with family and met some family of family as well.

greta was a water baby last summer when the neighbors were kind enough to have a kid/parent pool night once a week to get together and familiarize the kids (all around greta's age) with the water. this year is no different. if anything, she's gotten more excited (and more fearless).

her favorite pool activity was jumping in. she is getting good at jumping away from the edge, kicking up and finding your arms to pull her head out of water. many times she would insist that evan or i need not be there to catch her as she was determined she could do it better on her own. not yet, but it gives us great incentive to keep letting her practice and getting some sort of swim lessons going this summer.

it was also great spending time with evan's parents (aka mimi and poppy) and eric, anne, hannah and riley. greta loved being with her cousins and anything that riley had was the object of greta's attention, especially when it came to riley's shoes. there was quite a bit of diplomacy over the week to ensure riley didn't go shoeless.

toward the end of the week, we also went to visit with evan's good friend from high school jamie (the same jamie who shares evan's passion for the ny giants and went with him to the superbowl), jessica and their three kids. it was a great visit and we got a tip on a great new toy for greta as she tested out all of their toys.

the trip back went just as planned (which i didn't expect in the least). we left ~6pm, changed planes in dallas and landed in san jose at 11pm. greta was a super good traveler and slept just when we wanted her to on the second leg. the even better news for us was she went right back to sleep when we got home and didn't wake up until 6 something in the morning. woo-hoo! no struggles getting back to pacific time.

we are sticking around this weekend to take advantage of the 80 degree weather, and then one last trek to tahoe next weekend for move out.

ahh, vacation

we wisely decided to forgo the tahoe trip this past weekend and stay home since we were leaving on monday morning to fly to florida.

this weekend was great fun. it was sunny and beautiful both days. saturday afternoon, i finally got to meet my friend ann's new baby, clark. he is 2 months old and such a cutie. it was a wonderful afternoon tea that ann's mother-in-law hosted and it was a great chance to catch up.


sunday we ate breakfast out and headed down to the beach in santa cruz. it was a much different day than the last one (which was foggy and cool). the sun was out and we had quite a bit of fun throwing sand in the ocean, being chased by waves and running through the sand.


a great weekend to get ready for a week of vacation in sunny florida! we left at a respectable time monday morning and the flights were great. greta did a spectacular job traveling and it was a huge bonus for her to have her own seat (alas, no more free flights for our munchkin). we arrived in fort lauderdale at 10pm eastern and got to the house evan's parents rented about an hour later.

it was hot and muggy and i was excited for a bit of summer. but wait... the next morning it was windy and in the 50's --- ehh?? so a major cold front moved through and the news last night was all atwitter about the record lows expected. well, at least it's not blazing hot and beautiful in california...

that didn't stop us from enjoying our first two days here. yesterday we went to the park and were joined for dinner by evan's uncle and aunt - burt & sue - and their clan. late last night the other aronowitz's arrived - eric (evan's brother) anne, hannah and riley. today greta got to play with her cousins and tonight, we celebrate passover with a seder with a plethora of family.


and, the weather forecasts call for warming up by the end of the week, so plenty of opportunity for sun and fun (read pool and beach) remains.