(Click here for more photographs.)

What do you do when winter tightens its icy grip?  Time to visit California.

On Feb 8, we flew to LA to enjoy a few days with Steve and Wende as well as Valerie’s family.  Up first on the 12th was a baby shower for Chrissy.  Valerie’s sisters also made the trip from Maryland for the shower.

The next day Steve and Wende hosted a Superbowl party where we watched the hometown Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals.

On Monday the 14th, Steve and I took off for Tahoe for some skiing.  The local ski resorts had not seen much snowfall since mid-December when they got a very heavy early snow accumulation.  However, our first day of skiing was greeted with fresh snow but it came with winds and poor visibility.  Fortunately, the next day brought clear blue skies allowing us to really enjoy the nice accumulation of new snow.

On the 18th, while we were concluding our time in Tahoe, Valerie and Wende drove Brady and one of his friends to Mesquite, NV, for a weekend football tournament.  Following their return on the 21st, Valerie and I then flew back to Maryland on the 23rd.

Back in Maryland, in our photos link above, we’ve included a video of some deer dashing through the meadow during our morning walk.  On the 27th we enjoyed a nice dim sum meal with our Maryland family.