The Smith Family

Friday, 9 June 2017

Had a great time earlier this month (May 2017) climbing Shasta with Bob and Rob R.

Pictures Here

And of course had to make a highlight video.

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Winter fun 2017

A trip to NYC to see a play and some friends, trips to the beach, basketball games (to watch and to play in) and it's already early March. Much to be grateful for...including the Year of the Rooster...a great trip in San Francisco for the Chinese New Year's Parade! PICTURES. Oh, and found some OLD pictures on film from London...before kids when we went to the London Eye - we look SO YOUNG!

Napa 2017 - rainy season

Even in the rain, Calistoga did not disappoint. It was short, wet, and sweet with great hiking and the mineral pools. A ton of rain this year.... already looking forward to a drier spring! PICTURES

Skiing 2017

First trip of the year? Deer Valley, Utah. All three kids on skis, Kuba doing blues. Followed by some weekend Tahoe trips with the Krimmels where we had an EPIC snow season. Super fun. Love that we can all go out on the snow! PICTURES

Maya and Ella skiing in Utah

Kuba skiing

Some professional pics

It's been a while since we've taken these as a family - so here you go for the 2016 Holiday card! (I hope that these get easier as the time goes by...the number of tears and fights around this process makes it just about not worth it!) PICTUREShttps://goo.gl/photos/pEuevmPTpodfMWbh9

Christmas 2016

And here we go again. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, big Christmas party and LOTs of performances. The kids made Christmas gifts for all of us which was super sweet. Ella as the bafoon in the nutcracker was the highlight...and seeing the Lion King in San Francisco is forever etched in our memories (particularly the music for Kuba). Lots of kids theater and cirque de sole as well for the whole family. We spent NYE with Rob and Leah and their kids with a long hike up Mt. Tam on New Years Day. 2017 here we come! PICTURES

Fall 2016

Busy fall! Ella and Maya started 3rd and 1st grade respectively...At work we celebrated OPEN in LA (intro of trips!) and I got to visit Sydney and Melbourne (had not been to Australia before). And this year for Halloween we were Alice from Wonderland - with soccer practice it was challenging to sneak a trip to a pumpkin patch - although we did find some pumpkins in the end! PICTURES

Yosemite Labor Day Weekend 2016

Our annual trip over Labor Day weekend - this time to Yosemite. Rob and I got to hike up North Dome - not challenging but breathtaking....we did some hiking and swimming with the kids too. It is amazing to live this close to this park. PICTURES

Summer 2016

Lots more hiking trips, another outing to Tahoe, and Ella going FAR to sleep away camp (3 hours+). Rob and I snuck in another short trip to Napa as Kamila took the kids for the weekend....but it is starting to feel like fall is around the corner...PICTURES

Summer Trip 2016 - coast and Oregon

We were late this year into our summer trip planning and at the end decided to stay closer to home. We started by making a 3-hour trip off the coast to Mendocino (always one of our favorites) where we stayed at Sanford Inn and kids got introduced into vegan food (not fans!). Lots of hiking and kayaking...we then drove across to go to Lake Almanor which was such a gem. It reminded me of Okoboji - we went out on the lake nearly daily with the finale of watching the fireworks on the 4th (we often tend not to be in the country on the 4th - this was the first time the kids saw fireworks). We went out on the boat late into the evening and the view was spectacular! We then went north into Oregon where we played in Bend for a while. On the way back we stopped by Crater Lake (rainy and cold though, so missed most of the views) then hiked around Lake Shasta to cap off the trip. It was our first major American road trip (not counting often visits to Southern California) and based on how much fun we had last summer in Poland, we thought that we are ready for something big here. The girls got to be junior rangers - a great program from our National Parks. They are ready to do more. Can't wait to do it again soon. PICTURES

Steep Revine 2016

It is like winning the lottery. We secured one of the cabins for July, which is a miracle. We were ready on Jan 2nd - and somehow it worked. It was amazing. 30 mins from home, but really, a world away. Our own little quiet beach, but we could also play at Stinson for the afternoon. Beautiful weekend; I'm hoping one we can repeat many times. PICTURES

Spring 2016

It has been a busy spring. Piano and Ballet recitals, mommy's work trips (Florida for the crocodiles), of course the auctions...and well, end of school for the everyone (which included a field trip to the jelly bean factory for Ella). We also celebrated Father's Day by going for a small sailing trip near Bolinas. We were lucky to sneak in a little trip to Napa for Mother's Day with Jill and Pete - and though it rained, we managed to get in a tasting or two. Warrior's Game was fun too - although in the end no championship for them this year. And Rob is getting old - 10-year Kellogg Reunion in Chicago (great sneaking out without the kids!) There was a fun excursion into San Francisco and all of the sudden we're ready for summer! PICTURES

Easter 2016

And yes, the Easter Bunny came again. We had a nice brunch, blessed our basket, and too much candy! Lots of big smiles :) PICTURES

Saturday, 4 March 2017

Birthdays 2016

Maya 6, Ella 8 and Kuba 4. Lots of parties (again) ... with a nice dinner party for Rob - at 39 he's getting up there (I now recognize that we will one day look at these pictures back and dream about how young we were).
PICTURES

Spring Break 2015 - San Diego

Love combining work and pleasure...and Maya, so brave to fly to San Diego on her own to meet mommy on a business trip! It's been fun spending time here - playing with Fletcher, San Diego Zoo, and of course lots, and lots of beach time. Perfect spring trip! PICTURES

Hawaii (Kauai) 2016

Our best trip to Hawaii yet. Kauai proved to be breathtaking...but it's likely the kids' ages that are made it truly special. We had an adventure nearly every morning - from jumping off cliffs to helicopter rides, to hiking the Napali coast (only a bit of it, to be fair) to great snorkeling trips, we loved every minute. Very lucky to be able to live so close to Hawaii...PICTURES

Skiing 2016 - and winter fun!

Kuba's first real, real debut on skis. Ski school was a bit of challenge on the first day....there were LOTS of tears. Bribery also lost its magic. But finally, mommy and daddy left and Kuba decided that he had not much left to do but to try to ski. It was amazing to put all three kids in school so that we could ski by ourselves. After waiting for 7 years, these little steps give us some little previous of freedom that is much, much appreciated.

Oh, and mommy got to sneak in a short trip to Sundance - so much fun! PICTURES