What a difference three days can make! … Actually, at least 16 inches of snow fell on us while we were in South Lake Tahoe on Thursday — just three days after we had been riding at Sierra-at-Tahoe on a clear sunny Monday. (They got 42″ more overnight after we left!)

Jocelyn and I rode on Monday with her classmate Kai and his mom Rachel. The highlight was riding from the top of the Grandview Express chair to the bottom of the West Bowl Express — a distance of more than 2 miles in one run. Kai and Rachel has spent Sunday night at Grandee & Grandpa’s house, which was an extra special treat, too.

On Wednesday night, we returned to Tahoe with our friend Braden. When we went to bed at the South Lake Tahoe Super 8 at 10:30, the skies were completely clear. We woke up to four inches on the ground at lake level. Felicia got to see snow falling for the first time, and boy did it fall! We all went back to Sierra-at-Tahoe, but we could only manage two runs before the fatigue of riding on a foot of fresh powder took its toll.

Karen took this picture, and it’s just too cute to pass up. Earlier this week, we packed the Volvo with Girl Scout Cookies that Jocelyn has sold to friends, neighbors, and relatives. Now we need to sort and deliver the 180+ boxes of cookies without eating all of them ourselves.

It’s so much fun to compare … Here are our two fabulous daughters smiling for the camera as happy three-year-olds. In December 2001, Jocelyn and Karen were all bundled up for the holiday carousel in downtown San Jose. Just last weekend, we spent a warm sunny day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, no jackets required.

At their official birthday celebrations, they both had cake and felt compelled to make a silly face for the camera. This might be the last official “cake” Jocelyn has ever had for her birthday, but we expect tradition to hold for Felicia.

Felicia and I were at our local coffee shop on Thursday, enjoying our morning beverages, when the Chief of Police from neighboring Los Gatos stoped by for his coffee, in full uniform. I actually know Scott from my years at the YMCA, and it was fun to see him again. Felicia enjoyed meeting a policeman friend of Daddy’s, too.

After the Chief left, Felicia asked me where he’d gone …

Felicia: “Where’d he go?”
Me: “He went to work to help people.”
Felicia: “He’s a Daddy.”
Me: “That’s right, he has children.”
Felicia: “He’s not a Mommy.”

… It took me a moment, but I think she was trying to tell me that he couldn’t possibly be going to work because he’s a daddy.

It was only a matter of time — she’s been taking ballet informally for several months — and Felicia has finally started her own ballet class.

She’s at Miss Mary’s Center Stage Dance every Friday morning! She’s one of four young ladies in the class, and most of them are little sisters of bigger ballerinas — so the class is already very advanced!

This is a picture of Miss Mary leading her new class across the floor to the barre, using the famous heel-toe tap method. Jocelyn has already improvised a practice ballet barre in our house, assigning yet another evolutionary purpose to Uncle Timmy’s famous marble roll toy thingy.

We took advantage of a glorious weather weekend to enjoy an afternoon at the Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk this Sunday. Since everyone else was watching the Super Bowl, the crowds were very small.

Felicia & Jocelyn enjoyed digging in the sand, jumping over the waves, and riding on a merry-go-round or two.

Our family fascination with the music and puppetry of “Bear in the Big Blue House” has returned … several years after Jocelyn left preschool TV behind, she introduced Felicia to our DVD and musical collection. The original CD is in heavy rotation (I mean HEAVY) in our life … in the car, in the home DVD player, and on the computer.

Karen and I have decided that we stopped watching the show because we were fans before Tivo existed, and the video taping and rewatching got tedious. Anyway, it’s great fun to be back (DVR technology makes it a lot easier to follow), and both girls still really love the big guy ….

We’ve even scoured the Playhouse Disney broadcast schedule to find episodes. Although no longer in production, the show is still in reruns. We’re actually catching some new episodes that were made after we had grown older. There are even rumors of a silver screen movie, which we’d certainly love to see!