Action Photos!!!!!

What's a ski trip without ski photos? So today I took my camera out onto the slopes to record the action. We'll start with Tatiana.

That's about it. She's getting pretty camera-shy, especially on the mountain. Then again, Evan is not quite 5 weeks old and Tatiana is on skis, so I guess she's got a point.




Marina has been doing her best to catch up with Mom. After she noticed that all the big kids on the mountain had poles, Marina decided that she needed some too. We asked what she needed them for - "to push myself forward". OK, I guess we can try. So here's Marina with her own poles:








Marina uses them in all the right ways. She goes fast...

She steers her way through deep powder...

Mostly she tries to guarantee that this is the only view most of us will get when she's on skis!

Marina and Evan meet the Greatest Snow on Earth

My last final finished Thursday at 10pm. Drove Tatiana's mom to the airport on friday at 3:30 am. We were all in the car and on our way to Utah by 10:45. Guess I was a little eager to get moving. And now that I've been hanging out here, I haven't been so good at posting updates. Sorry.



So what's the news been? Marina has been learning to ski. Egged on by the promise of a jelly bean at the end of each run (or 2, if it was a particularly tough course), she has quickly gotten the hang of it. We've already taken her down a couple of double-blue runs (in the US it goes green -> blue -> black). All this despite her instructor - me! The next step is to move her to parallel skis - it's a little tough to explain, since she doesn't yet understand "parallel".









What about her little bro Evan? He was quiet for the car trip out (thanks!), but then got back to his hollerin' ways. Grandma Judy finally figured out that he likes fresh air, so he's been getting plenty of walks - and sometimes just hangs out on the balcony.








Mostly, Evan's been learning some new expressions. He's got "serious"...



"Happy"...

"Fish"...

and "Rasta-Mon!"





So, as you can tell, there are a lot of smiling faces out here.










One final lesson that Marina's learned - always end with hot chocolate!


I've got some videos of Marina on skis, but they'll have to wait until we get home.

Sightseeing

Hi again

My finals are almost done, and it's almost time for Grandma to go back to Ryazan. Seems like a good day for sightseeing.

Well, we didn't get too much sightseeing in. We drove up to SF and decided to stop at Tom's place to feed Evan. Then we fed ourselves. Some of the visitors were not impressed with cheap Chinese pastries. There's no explaining taste, I guess.

Finally we arrived at something that looked like the Golden Gate Bridge, only without fog. I pulled out the camera for the first time in a week or so. Was there initial resistance to photography? You decide...


"Smile!"


"This won't hurt..."




But I finally managed to get everyone together. Please note Evan at the bottom of the frame.










And soon we were having fun...













Those of us who could handle the wind walked out onto the bridge for a photo op.










Just as Evan was waking up, it was time to go home.

Videos because I'm too busy for pictures

Been busy this week finishing up the quarter at school, sorry. But we did all get together to watch Monday Night Football for a couple minutes.



Played with the camera more than we watched the game



And later, we checked out new toys


Good times!