Science Fair

 

The school's 4th and 5th grade science fair night was a couple of Thursday ago. Iver and friend Xander studied the effects of different running shoes on race performance (speed), finding that the golden "spike" track shoes Iver wished for and got for his birthday were solidly superior to other athletic shoes and crocs in terms of their running performance in a ~200 m distance.  I helped the boys with data collection, but the poster and interpretation was all them, completed at school! 

Other kids studied the voltage of electrolyte solutions, plant growth, and other chemical reactions. Five participants from each grade were selected to present the county level and Iver's project qualified!  

Next to the posters was a science area with other booths. The kids were infatuated with "Nature Joe" and his reptiles! 

Now Iver really wants a snake (I drew the line at two amphibians!). 

We found out later that the boys' project/poster placed as "second place" in a group of  kids in the county and a ceremony was held at the County of Education conference center this weekend.

Fuente Strong!

Niall wanted to share in the credit :)

Iver's already thinking about his next year's project (involving his latest passion, football!).   

Flag Football

Football has rapidly become Iver's favorite sport, and even Niall is interested in throwing and catching the ball in our driveway.  I'm not a huge fan of football as a contact sport for young athletes, but it's pretty harmless for now.

football on the beach! 

Kelvin organized a kids' flag football game this past (sunny) weekend when I was on call. There was a good turnout of ~16 boys, and we even now own flag sets. 

The kids are interested in doing a flag football league this summer, and we'll see if we can make the practice and game times work with our work schedules and other commitments.

What I miss when on 48h OB call (bedtime reading & snuggles)  :(

Shasta Glow '25

We've taken advantage of the proximity of Mt. Shasta (~4 hours from our house) over the past couple of winter seasons. Iver has become quite the good skiier in the last two years and last year, Niall took one day of lessons before deciding it was "not his thing." We tried again this year, with him (at first reluctantly) attending two days of ski school at the end of the Presidents' Week break (driving ~7 hours from Yosemite), and we all had another great skiing experience! After a Wednesday storm (our driving day), we had fresh powder on Thursday and two days of spectacular sunny and low-wind, perfect skiing weather!

With his rental, but not too excited about (re-) starting ski school.

Magic Carpet on the bunny hill

They gave the ski students bibs so they wouldn't get lost on the slopes!

One of the spectating siblings of a ski student had this really cool snowman-making mold and made a snow family!

 While Niall was in school (10a-12p and 1-3p), we hit the slopes. Iver was a bit apprehensive after a ~ year break, but, like riding a bike, his motor memory as right back, along with his confidence. 

He was soon taking off and speeding down, "shredding" the slopes ahead of us old folks!

Kelvin (who snowboards) and I stuck to the intermediate "blue" slopes mostly on Douglas and Coyote lifts. We only fell a couple of times (and didn't get injured), which is the mark of a successful day!

I realize that all my ski pictures for at least 15 years have been in this same trusty Columbia jacket, which you can easily spot on the slopes!

We met up with Brian, Hudson, and Gavin on the slopes (they are generally stronger skiiers than we are, though! Iver went on a few black diamonds with them!)

lunch break at the lodge!

After Niall's second day of ski school (during which he progressed to level 3 and did a practice run on a green slope off Marmot lift), he was ready to go with me. The leash from last year was not needed and Niall did amazing "pizza-ing" side to side down Fresh Air run, joined by big brother and alongside me (I can't seem to get them up here, but I have a few nice short video clips). I am so proud of him for sticking through it to get the basics down! Now he just needs practice. (He's already asking about going on the advanced lifts!).

After skiing, we relaxed at a super nice Airbnb "The vortex" in Mt. Shasta, which had tons of entertainment, including board games and this Virtual Reality headset, a novelty which thrilled our kids. 

We enjoyed spectacular Shasta views from our hot tub! 

Friends (Valerie, Greg, and their similarly aged girls Stella and Carter) joined us for dinner and playtime on our last night.  "Skyjo" game was a hit...

... as was movie time as the adults reconnected.

I'm not sure when our next ski trip will be (Iver and Kelvin have a season pass and may make another weekend trip this year to Shasta), but we're so glad that Niall has caught on and we can make it a family adventure for years to come!