See ya Truckee...Hello California Highway 1

What an awesome Christmas Day we had waking up at Kristina's and watching Mack & Jade opening all their presents from Santa in their stockings.  Ian made us all pancakes...then Kristina and I headed out on a mission to find a turkey.  We did manage to find one...but did get side tracked visiting Sqaw (another skiing resort) and doing a spot of shopping (god I love America - shopping on Christmas Day!).  Then we all headed out to Sierraville to spend the rest of the day with Red and all the family.  It was a fantastic day and our new American family even said it was their best Christmas ever :)  Boxing Day dawned and Jeremy went snow mobiling again with Ian while Red, Kristina and I went shopping in Reno at Legends which is a massive outlet shopping centre...well I was in heaven...even had my own personal shopper in the Adidas store!!  All was going well until I got a phone call from Jeremy to say he had come off Leroys snow mobile after hitting a tree!  Luckily he was ok...just hurt pride and some pretty mean bruising.  The next day we said goodbye to everyone and Red drove us back over the mountains to San Fran.  What a cool city!  We spent the afternoon exploring Fishermans Wharf...then Red and Jade headed back to the hotel to watch Rapunzel while J and I headed out for a night on the town.  We had a reccomendation to eat at Scomas which is apparently a world famous seafood restaurant...well lets just say if Americans think that seafood is world famous they need to visit NZ!!  It was about as good as the seafood we get in our pubs!!  Anyway the next morning we all jumped on a double decker bus and went on a tour of the city which took us over the Golden Gate bridge...very cool.  Then it was an emotional goodbye to my sister before loading up our hire car to head for California Highway 1.  Now for the cool part...the man at Hertz recognised Jeremy as being Maori and started talking to us about Once Were Warriors...next thing you know we had a free upgrade to a 2011 V8 Cadillac with all leather interior and a ridiculous amount of room!  Off to Monterey we went with our GPS guiding the way and only 2 arguments later we made it!  This morning we started out with the Monterey Aquarium (Kelly Tarltons eat your heart out) the place was amazing!!  It was absolutely massive!!  We spent 2 hours there before Jades legs gave way and I'm not sure that we saw it all...incredible.  Then we hit the road again heading for our next stop Pismo Beach...down Highway 1 through Big Sur.  Apart from nearly blowing me off the cliff due to the wind each time I made Jeremy stop so I could take a photo of the amazing scenery it was an amazing ride...what a beautiful rugged coastline!  Now we are about to crash for the night after a big meal at our hotel restaurant ready for the drive into LA tomorrow.  Watch this space for how we cope with the crazy freeway system we are about to come across!

Christmas Eve

Its lunchtime Christmas Eve and everyone is prepping their pork ribs with secret recipes ready for our rib cook off at Kristina's tonight...cant wait!  Apparently it is going to snow tomorrow so we should have a beautiful white Christmas...we're all getting the hang of living in the snow now and really enjoying it.  On Wednesday Ian took us for a drive around Lake Tahoe...wow...what a beautiful place!  He was a great tour guide filling us in on all the history of the area - took heaps of photos (loving my new camera just quietly) and played in the snow.  Thursday me, Red, Jeremy, Drae and Jade went up to Northstar which is a really flash resort about 10 minutes from Kristinas house.  It was amazing!  They have a big outdoor ice skating rink so Jade had her first go on ice skates.  Then we caught the gondala up the mountain and went tubing...so much fun...you get towed up to the top on an inner tube then slide back down the mountain :)  Yesterday the boys took Jeremy snowmobiling...must say I was a bit nervous waving goodbye to him...but the look on his face when they got back was priceless!  He had the best time and in his words "was happier than a pig in shit" ha ha.  Today they are going out in the valley to shoot targets...I've got a feeling he is not going to want to leave this place!

Snow, snow and more snow!!

After a hideous bumpy 12 hour flight in which I cried in the first hour...we made it!  Red was there to meet us at San Fran airport and we did the big run into each others arms.  Then after jamming our 3 ginormous suitcases into her little Audi we hit the road heading for Truckee.  So weird being on the other side of the road...especially on the freeway...the fast lane is the slow lane!  It was a slow drive over the summit of the mountain with everyone pulling over to put chains on their cars to get through the snow.  After 5 hours we finally made it out to Sierraville where Kristinas partner Ians parents live in a lovely big warm home.  Had a fun night with everyone catching up and drinking duty free vodka...finally hit the sack at midnight.  This morning Red and I went to Reno for some groceries and I had my first Costco experience...what a store!  They have everything from alcohol to groceries to tires to tvs to clothes...crazy!  Now we're back home in the warm and Jade is rugged up in 2 jackets and snow boots and outside with Kristina having her first play in the snow.  Time for my first lesson in watching NFL...

Welcome!

Jeremy, Jade and I are heading off for our first adventure together as a family...to the big old US of A!  We fly out on Saturday the 18th of December direct to San Fransisco where we will be met by my very excited sister Red and niece Kristina.  They will then take us on a scenic 3-4 hour drive to where they live in the snow by Lake Tahoe in a little town called Truckee. 

Cant wait for Jeremy and Jade to experience their first white Christmas in the snow and spend the festive season with my family. 

Stay tuned as I blog about our fun times ahead including screaming snowmobile rides, driving on the wrong side of the road and Disneyland!!