Out and about with Omicron

2022 is here! We certainly didn't expect that we are still in the pandemic. With Omicron, we are more cautious than before, but comparing to this time last year, we are still pretty active while keeping up with all the safety measures.

 

Hiking continues to be the family event. We visited Las Trampus after a season of rain. The trail is kind of muddy but really fun.

When out, Renee and Max always enjoy messing around a bit.

Max is taller than Renee for sure and he always likes to show off.

Max got an opportunity to perform with his Kungfu team at Warrior game primetime. Everyone was very excited and they look pretty cool.

Renee's troop started hiking program. We went to the Black Diamond Mines on this day.

Max continues practicing his Kungfu techniques. This is the back flip that he has been working on.

Lastly, Happy Year of Tiger!

Big Snow Trip

The highlight of this month was the Tahoe trip, where we got snowed in, delayed the departure for two days, and took another day and half to really reach home. It was pretty exciting and the kids had a lot of fun with the snow.

Max has been practicing Saxophone for many years and got into the school band.  During the break, we asked him to bring it out and play.

Renee is also in her band at the high school.  These two are not playing the same piece in this picture.

We hit the slope for two days.  But the first day was not good after two years of lack of practice.  The second day was really good with fresh snow and everyone warmed up.

One learning from this year's snow is how to use the snowblower.  I learned it from our neighbor across the street, and Max picked it up quickly.  He enjoyed it so much that the next day when I opened the garage door, he was already standing behind the snowblower ready to go.

With all the fresh powder we were able to dig some snow caves in the snow. Although the place we dug was all with fresh snow, so the caves collapsed easily.

Shotgun Shooting!

Besides the usual outing, we tagged along with a friend of mine from scouting for a trap shooting event using shotgun!

Renee has been keeping up with her 10k trash project by going out and picking up trash on the road side and trail. She has about 6k now.

This is the second hiking event Renee and I did with her new troop. This time there were a lot more scouts coming.

I am not sure if Max will grow to like shotgun. At least for this round, he is still trying to figure out how to position his body.

Renee's aim didn't improve this time. She was actually pretty good at the beginning last time so I was hoping that she can earn the Shotgun Merit Badge with some practice. Maybe it is the way these traps are flying this time, she didn't get as many shots as last time.

During the Thanskgiving weekend, we made a day trip to climb Talmapais. We had some challenges finding the parking spot. So the rest of the family went towards the ocean while I was waiting for a spot to open up.

The weather was great on that day.