Spring Break Day 2

 Today is the most goregously warm day, so we headed up to San Francisco to visit the SF Zoo and beach.  It has been ages since we went to the zoo (and SF for that matter), so it was a special adventure.   We started off with a stop off at a donut shop that multiple friends have told us about recently in San Mateo- Apple Fritters.  Wow...it did not disappoint!   The girls and I split the best apple fritter than I have ever seen or tasted, while Jake gulped down both an amazing sprinkle and chocolate log donut.   They were scarfed down so fast, we decided to buy more for Josh to taste!  

The zoo is managing crowds by booking tickets on the half hour.  We got up there an hour early, so we walked across the street to Ocean Beach and had an hour of flying kites and jumping down the sand dunes.   We knew that it was going to be nice, but we still put on sweatshirts just in case.  We didn't need it- it was 70 degrees by 10:30 in the morning!  But, there was a perfect breeze for the kite to just pick right up and stay in the sky with little effort- just perfect kite flying weather.

The zoo was just like we remembered it, although with three bigger kids, we walked the entire zoo and played on the playground all within two hours!   All indoor exhibits were closed, but we barely missed them, as all of the animals seemed so happy just basking in the rare sunshine.   

Great adventure day #2!

Spring Break Day 1

 It's already Spring Break time!   As all of the kids are back to school (as am I) in some capacity, we are opting to not travel this year, to avoid the need to quarantine afterwards.   Instead we hope to have some fun adventures each day to make it feel special, and possibly explore some spots that are now opening up around us.   

The kids have had a crazy plan (which they learned about via YouTube), where they are allowed to shop on their own, within a budget, but can only purchase items that start with letters in their first name.  So after giving Coops a good long walk, we headed out and finally did this "challenge" that they have been asking about for so long.   For example, Addy picked: A= animal (stuffed dog), D= Dots (Lego), D= donuts, etc.   

Lunch was enormous pizza slices at Pizza My Heart and Jamba Juice...yummm!

Next we went mini golfing for the first time in a year and a half.  We arrived at the perfect time, and I think we shared the entire 18 hole course with one other family.  But the end it was starting to fill up, so we headed out, but easy, fun, outside, spaced out time. And to end the game, Addy hit the hole in one at the 18th hole, sirens blared and she won a free game! 

Last, we came home for some Easter egg fun while Jake had soccer practice.

New Fence!

Our next door neighbor had a knock on her door on Wednesday from a passerby who happened to own a fencing company.  From the street he could see our shared fence leaning significantly to the side, and offered to take a look.  As I lead this gentleman and our neighbor into our yard, neither could believe just how bad the fence had become as a thick ivy tree had wrapped and pushed its roots through our shared fence.  Being the great salesperson that he was, he talked us into fixing the fence, and now here we are four days later with a beautiful new and STRAIGHT fence!  An enormous amount of brush, trees and roots had to be cut back from our neighbor’s yard, so we have lost a bit of privacy in the process, but oh well!  

Back to School!

 So fun to see this at school as the girls are back 4 days a week!

Happy Anniversary Bill and Lee

 Today we wish Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lee Lee a Happy 51st Anniversary!!

Our Little Chefs

 Colbie and Addy had another busy weekend of cooking classes.  For our Friday night family cooking class we cooked up a spanikopita pie which was delicious, using up 2 pounds of fresh spinach!  Today they had another class sponsored by our local education fund as a fundraiser, where they baked whoopie pies and apple hand pies.  I had never baked either of these, so it was an adventure for me as well. 

Otherwise, the weekend was a whole lot of cleaning out our garage in preparation for our construction to start sometime soon.  While we did make many trips to the dump and Goodwill, we did end up renting a little public storage space to keep a bunch of stuff.   It's pretty packed already, and I've still got plenty more to take over there this week...yikes!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 The girls built traps again this year, in hopes of catching those sneeky leprechauns!   Instead of finding a little guy, they found mounds of chocolate coins awaiting them around the house this morning!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

Jake is Back...366 days after he left last March!

 One year ago + one day was the last day that Jake was physically at school, finishing up fifth grade.   To think that a year has already gone by continues to blow my mind. 

This afternoon he headed over for his orientation for 90 minutes.  He too will learn about how everyone's temperature will be checked, what classrooms he will and will not be using, how to safely transition between rooms without causing a "large gathering" (curious about that one myself), etc.   

Very excited for him to experience the return to school as his sisters have.   Going forward, he will start his day on Mondays with a two hour block at school...more to come on exactly what he will be doing. 

Appreciation for our Parks & Rec

 We have always been impressed with the Parks & Rec department in our town, participating in classes, runs, and family activities since the girls were babies.  But, I have to say I'm super impressed with their ideas to keep families active and busy during this pandemic too.  

The girls and I have been taking Friday night cooking classes through the Rec department since July, and honestly we are really, really enjoying them.  These girls are becoming more and more adventerous with their eating, and can truly bake a couple dozen cookies or muffins completely on their own at this point.   Last night, after a very busy and exciting day back at school and a park playdate, they rallied and together we made Tikka Masala with rice together for dinner.  We eat very little Indian food in our house, but the three of us honestly loved the dish!  Our homemade naan bread didn't quite workout, but we'll certainly try again on that one as we love naan bread! 

This week our Rec department put together a virtual Saint Patrick's Day 5k fun run as well.  A bunch of Moms decided that it would be fun to sign up our boys and let them run together, and to say I'm impressed with the event organization is an understatement.   They each received a shirt, a running number and a completion medal as well as a clearly labeled route suggestion for them to follow.   We did have a parent on bikes at the front and back of the pack just for safety reasons, but they had a blast.  I had gone out to catch some pictures, and found Jake struggling with a leg cramp at mile 2.5, so I was able to help him stretch and rally and ran the last part with him and it was fun!   I bought Josh a participant slot as well, so he'll be running this virtual race tomorrow perhaps, and maybe Jake will run it again with him!

Look What Arrived?

 Wow...look what special item arrived yesterday!  A Valentine's card all the way from Morocco!!!  It look just under a month to get here.   Thank you Bina and Leila!

Shot #1 down for Mama!

I'm tired of complaining about my kids being home and not helping our district move towards a solution, so I agreed to help out at school for Phase 4 hybrid learning which should be starting in 2-3 weeks.  In order to have parents help on campus, our district has to offically "hire" us as district employees and pay us strangely enough.  Anyway, the surprise was getting an email last Thursday stating that we were all going to get our first Moderna vaccination shot on Saturday!  It was a super easy process and besides a sore arm, I'm all good.   The only drawback is that my second shot appointment is now the day before Easter, so really crossing my fingers that I don't get those flu like side effects just in time for Easter (what a bummer that would be!).   

Addy and Colbie get to go to school two days this week for 90 minutes each day, and then in 2-3 weeks (as long as rates continue to go down), they will move to 4 days a week of 2.5hours of instruction in the afternoons.  Jake gets his orientation to hybrid learning next week, and then after Spring Break, will be going to physical school on Mondays from what I understand.   

Baby steps.......

A & C are at School Orientation!

 It has literally been 354 days since our kids have been back on campus, but today is the day for Addy and Colbie!  This afternoon they are attending a 90 minute "orientation" at school, focused on all of the new proceedures to get on and off campus, how the classrooms will work, etc.  To say that they were a little excited is an incredible understatment!  It's less about being back at school, and 90% about seeing their friends and teachers in person.   They picked out new outfits and got fresh haircuts just as if it was the first day of school back in August.  

 I was getting choked up walking them up to their classroom drop off spot, as it was just so nice to see people gathered at this special place that we've loved for the last seven years.  

There are dots on the sidewalk for each child to stand on while they wait to go inside, spaced 6 feet apart of course.   Today, only 7 kids from their class attended this specific oriention, so it looked extra sparce, but these kids turned out to be A & C's best, best buddies, so it worked out perfectly (thank you thoughtful teachers!).  

To top this exciting day off, two of their buddies whom they will now see twice a week at school starting next week, are coming home with us to play after school today.   These girls are going to be pooped tonight!!

A favorite teacher of ours from years past just sent this one to me.  She visited the third grades today to say hello after her first graders left. 

Pismo Beach Getaway

 In our district we have a "ski week" holiday in February every year.  Last ski week we headed down south to Universal Studios for the first time, totally unaware that that would be our last trip to any sort of large, enclosed public place for a long time. 

We were feeling cooped up, having not been anywhere over the Christmas holiday, so I started to look around for dog friendly spots.  I found a great condo style hotel in Healdsburg which looked promising, however when I called to check on COVID procedures right before, they causally mentioned that the pool was closed completely.  That wasn't going to work for us.  So, our second choice was to drive down south.  I found another dog friendly condo style hotel in Pismo Beach which worked out perfectly.  The "room" turned out to be nearly the size of our entire first floor of our home, with a huge full kitchen, two full bedrooms and baths and dining room.  The best was that the patio doors opened up directly to the pool...which is where we spent the majority of the time!  There was also a path directly down to the beach as well. 

While Josh worked for the first part of the week, the kids and I went to the beach and pool for most of the day.    We'll be returning as it was a perfect, dog friendly spot for us!

Hikes and climbing on rocks was also a highlight!