The January Winter Storm

We returned from California with little hiccups. We did get delayed about an hour, but made it to our connection on time, so no harm done. Jenn worked the following day and made some big bucks while I recovered from the trip out west. The following week it was back to the grind with Jenn keeping everything in order at home and me working to educate the future of America. It took the kids a day or two to get back into routines, but overall we didn't have any problems. The following week though was a different story.

Sunday night we had a huge winter storm with 3-4 inches of snow. To put things into perspective for northerners, Gaston County has 15 snow plows for the entire county. When it has a dusting of snow, places close down. So after this storm, no one was leaving their house. Needless to say, school was closed. During the day some of the snow melted and over night it refroze so we then had a 1/8 or 1/4 inch layer of ice on top of the snow. So school was cancelled again. The same thing happened during that day- melting then refreezing overnight. The following morning it wasn't great, but the ice melted by about 8:30, so it could have been a 2 hour delay...nope. Closed. The following 2 days were fine. But school was closed. So we had another full week off school after being in school 4 days. Sounds great until you think about makeup days. As it looks now, we will have no breaks until Spring Break (the last week in April). It's going to be a long 3 months.

December in California

View of Ventura

While my parents have been traveling around the country (their blog), they finally stayed put for a few weeks in California to help my Nana out after she had knee surgery. They were able to spend Christmas there and hang out with some of my mom's side of the family a while. As a surprise to my Nana, Jenn and I decided to come out and visit, too. Since Jenn has off Monday-Friday each week we left on a Monday morning and came back Friday night and neither of us had to take off any work!

The flight out there was uneventful. When we arrived, we had a wonderful chauffeur (Aunt Susan) pick us up in LA and drive us all the way to Ventura. There we unloaded our stuff at our 5 star hotel (Uncle Dave and Janna's house) and went to visit my Nana. She was doing well, but understandably tired.

While we were there we played a lot of games, went running by the beach and around the wharf, went on a local hike to see Paradise Falls, visited downtown Ventura, visited a vineyard and had a wine tasting, watched the famous Smithcup played, and enjoyed visiting with relatives we don't get to see very often. We are very thankful for the wonderful accomodations from our CA family and look forward to visiting there again or hosting them on a trip to Carolina.

The cross on the hill overlooking Ventura

Me and Aunt Susan after one of our runs

Jenn and I on the beach after a run

The boys wine tasting in CA- Cousin Bryan, me, Dad

Sunset over the ocean. We were told we'd see a flash of green when the sun finally went down over the ocean, but didn't see anything.

Jenn at the old mission church in Ventura

Me, my dad, my mom, and Heather before hiking to Paradise Falls

Hiking back
Video of Ventura Visit