Finding Balance in San Francisco

Family vacation to Nueva Vallarta

Last week we had a family vacation to Mexico (Nueva Vallarta- just north of Puerta Vallarta), and I'm still feeling the positive effects of our sun-drenched vacation. The boys loved it, too.

We did a Dolphin Encounter through Vallarta Adventures that was fun

and stayed at Paradise Village, which was a good spot for kids and the resort even has live tigers on the property. The mama tiger, Daisy (in photo below), had just given birth to 2 darling baby girl cubs a few days before we arrived that the boys actually wound up getting to pet.

Paradise Village also had some great water slides that we logged a lot of time on

Quinn on the Alligator Slide in Puerta Vallarta from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

and lots of activities at the main pool (didn't keep Jordan awake though!)

Jordan asleep at the pool party from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

We rented a Jeep and popped up the coast one day, to San Francisco, Sayulita and Punta de Mita

Here's Quinn in front of the Four Seasons' Infinity pool at Punta de Mita

The Four Seasons was of course lovely, but I think Paradise Village is better for young kids. Always good when kids are allowed to be themselves, and at the Four Seasons I was afraid they were going to break something or annoy a patron. Not so at Paradise Village- it seems designed for kids- and adults, too! Great spa, and gotta love the Kids Club : )

Spring Skiing at Northstar

We just got back from a wonderful extended ski weekend with our good friends the Puiggalis. The kids got along great, and we stayed in Northstar in a darling little cabin.

Trick or Treat, smell my feet from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Quinn and Clara are absolutely adorable together. They've been kindred spirits since they were babies, and the love fest continues.

and Quinn is a lucky man. Clara's a real beauty already

Northstar is a charming, lovely resort and is great for kids. As a huge bonus they even allow 3 year olds in the ski school program.

Friday we all skied the full day even though it was a snowstorm

We expected another storm Saturday, but when we woke up the sun was out! It was a truly gorgeous day

There's really nothing like a glorious and beautiful sunny day of skiing on 12 inches of fresh powder. Epic day of skiing.

We (especially the husbands) also had a whole lot of fun with this little skee-ball game where you bounce little silver magnets off of a blue launch pad and into concentric circles (with a bullseye in the middle). It was a running competition every time we were hanging out in the cabin.

A beautiful, memorable weekend. Hope we can pull together a ski weekend with our pals every year and that this was the inaugural ski trip with them.

Horsing around at the cabin from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Skiing into the new year

We just got back from skiing at Heavenly- a great way to close out 2009 and welcome 2010.

and of course the obligatory trying to make a face shot from Jordan

We stayed in a nice little South Lake hotel called Lakeview. Decent spot, close to the mountain and breakfast was included, which was nice. A little ratty around the edges, but manageable. The boyz were delighted that they got to watch a few videos (Chip and Dale is the current favorite) and they liked the little holiday display out in front of the hotel.

The kids really enjoyed ski school at Heavenly (all day- 8:30 - 3:45)

and Ryan and I enjoyed getting to ski by ourselves for a couple days. The snow was really good- just how I like it with some fresh powder but not so much that it melts my legs in a couple hours. Only have just this bit of video because I gave Ryan a well-deserved reprieve from my shutterfly ways

Ryan skiing at Heavenly from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

On New Year's Day we went sledding

Started on a little hill, then quickly moved on to larger targets. The hill in this video was a good one but almost gave me a heart attack each time they went down it because it dumped out right into the parking lot

Sledding on New Year's Day 2010 from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

I feel relaxed after a good little vacation to the snow. The first night we got there, Ryan said to the boys "dream about snow and nothing else, " which Quinn claimed to have done the next morning.  Maybe that's why the snow was so good.

Happy New Year to all!!

Quinn's birthday week is over!

Quinn is officially 5.

Quite the week of celebrations. We had a birthday party for him Sunday-

Complete with bouncy house

Quinn's 5th birthday- bouncy house shenanigans from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Quinn's 5th birthday- more bouncy house fun from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

and light saber duels

It's a great thing to have a birthday party, and also exhausting. The Mighty Quinn seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, as did Jordan and friends and family we had over, and that definitely put a smile on our faces.

Quinn's birthday party- Moeller brothers from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Now we're in good standing for another 6 months, when Jordan will expect a partay for his 4th. At the end of the party, I felt a bit like one of our small guests:

Bravo, Susan Boyle

I've been watching and re-watching this clip  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
of Susan Boyle.  I'd embed the video here, but it's been disabled.  Maybe YouTube is trying to see if it will break any records?  At the time of this posting, it had 25,442,376 views... though some news sources say over 26 million... any way you slice it, she's getting close to 5 million views a day!

The whole underdog scenario is such good theater.  I also loved the selection of the song- in Les Misérables, it was sung by Fantine- who was unemployed, alone, not beautiful, and people were mean to her- just like Susan Boyle.  Fantine died before her dreams could be realized, but Susan Boyle is now the center of an international media frenzy, and her gorgeous voice has inspired and touched millions.

As Simon Cowell said "Susan Boyle, can go back to the village with your head held high." 

Bravo, Susan.