Happy New Year

Oh man, I can’t believe the holidays are OVER. December seemed to fly by this year for some reason. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I worked up until Christmas Eve this year, then spent Christmas with Sonya hosting friends and family for dinner. We wrapped up the year like we have the past 4 or 5, up in Lake Tahoe with our friends the Sherrards and the Tsuchiyamas.

Tahoe was great. Our friends Roger and Joanne have a place right on the lake in Tahoe City, which comfortably sleeps all 6 adults and 7 kids that make the annual trip. There’s lots of food, drink, more drink, snow, card games and just plain relaxation.

That last part is the key. Just decompressing after another crazy year is the key to why that trip is just so great. The kids get to go sledding at a really nice sled hill 200 yards from the cabin. There was also plenty of snow, contrary to what you may have seen on the weather reports.

The adults play poker, drink lots of wine and just chill.

Roger has also made it a custom to make a great prime rib every New Year’s Eve, so we also eat like kings while we’re there.

As the kids get older, their bed times get later and later while we’re up there. I went to bed at around 2am on Friday night, and Karsyn was chatting it up with the girls in their room when I turned in.

The only bummer we had to deal with was the 4Runner’s starter died on us, so we were forced to pop-start the truck in order to get home on Saturday night. Once we got the engine fired, it was a straight shot home…no stops! We made it, but now I get to sink some more money into the truck.

In any case, it still beats work any way you put it.

Happy New Year everyone. This is going to be a GREAT year.

Here are [Photos of the Trip]

Happy New Year!

The new year is here, which means the holidays are over. Bummer. Well, at least we ended 2007 on a high note. We did the usual Christmas Eve festivities at our house, followed by a trip to San Ramon to spend Christmas Day with Sonya's broader family. We capped it all with a trip up to Tahoe to spend the a few days with our friends Roger & Joanne at their cabin. Our friends Robert and Sherri also made the trek up to Tahoe. In all, there were 6 adults and 7 kids.

Sonya and I love the trip up there. It's relaxing as anything and we love hanging out with those guys. Lot's of entertaining conversation, games, food, drink, lounging, eating, drinking, did I mention lounging...and more drinking. We have what's now become our annual trumps game. I am the amatuer, teamed up with my wife, versus Robert and Roger...I'm not good, but I go on the offensive...blaming my wife for our poor team play :)

Roger has prepared this great prime rib for us the last couple of years, and this year was no exception. The kids get to play in the snow all day, so they have a blast. There's a sledding hill a short walk from their cabin, so the kids get plenty of sledding action in. We spent 4 days and 3 nights this year, which is just perfect. We high tailed it out of dodge right before this mammoth storm rolled into town. They're predicting 10 feet of snow in Thoe this weekend, so we timed this year's trip perfectly. I can't wait until next year.

Here are some [photos from the trip]