Mostly Random Bits of the Weekend Thus Far

This weekend is the 1st of two three-day weekends we get in February. And by "we" I mean the kids & I. Bryan doesn't get 3-day weekends, and he rarely gets 2-day weekends. Most weekends he works during nap-time or after the kids go to bed, if not during the day... while we're both glad he's working, it is difficult not to have a whole weekend of family time.

Yesterday was the one day of this long weekend that he got to be "free" - he and my dad drove up to San Jose to catch a Sharks game while the kids & I spent time with my mom & grandma. Errands, play time, a movie, and lots of snacks later, we met back up with Bryan and headed over to a friend's house for dinner and Rock Band. It was a fun, but exhausting, day.

Today was another fun one. This morning I packed the kids up in the bike trailer, hitched the dog to the bike, and went to the park for a morning of fun. Let me say that again. I placed by 41 & 38 pound children in the 25+ pound bike trailer, attached the 60+ pound dog, and rode to the park.

It was fun, but good gracious I am out of shape.

Then we tried to walk to the library, but it was closed. Boo. This is the second time in as many weeks I've tried to take the kids to library and been denied. I have hopes it will be open tomorrow, but since it's a holiday I'm not going to hold my breath.

During naps (well, for G), Penelope and I went grocery shopping. It's always nice to spend time with just the two of us. She really seemed to enjoy it, I know I did.

When we got home I started a sponge starter for tomorrow's bread, made heart shaped dog biscuits, made sugar cookie dough for tomorrow's cookies, made dinner, and made lemon ricotta muffins.

Oh, the dishes.

And Oh, this post is boring.

Maybe it will be one of those posts that the kids really appreciate when they look back over the blog as adults (ha, like they'll read it).

I do have some pictures, but they're on my phone which is in the other room and Downton Abbey is on, so there's NO WAY I'm going to leave to go get it.

MLK weekend

This weekend was gorgeous. The cold front we had been experiencing left us in favor of weather in the upper 60s/low 70s and no wind to speak of. It was the perfect weekend to be outside - and so outside we went.

Saturday the kids went to my parents for the night. They spent a significant amount of time at the beach, looking for seashells, and falling in the water. Bryan and I took advantage of the time off by working (ok, he worked, I baked). We were also able to eat out without having to order extra napkins or wipe boogers from someone's face.

Sunday Bryan went to play a pick up game of hockey and I had a coffee with a friend. The kids came home and we spent the rest of the day playing outside, cleaning house, and reading lots of books. We also made a Lego house using all the Legos we own... I think we need more Legos.



Today was packed. Bryan had to work, so I took the kids & the dog to the beach. It was beautiful. Mid/upper 50s, clear, and perfect. We built sand castles (and I use that term loosely, since everything we attempted to build was immediately destroyed by Griffin Kong). We played tag (I totally won), and chased the dog all over the beach.

Here's our happy picture


Our toungue out picture


 And our super silly face picture



Both kids fell asleep on the way home, which never happens. Penelope rarely takes a nap anymore.



After lunch we headed out to Devon & David's house for some Ultimate Frisbee. The kids alternately played on the playground, practiced playing frisbee with each other, and ran up and down the field with us.

By the end we were all sapped. Penelope told us that her "tentacles hurt" (she meant her feet). Post dinner time, early baths and a movie were in order - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. And I wouldn't be surprised if Griffin crashed out halfway through.

This week is a busy one for us all. The next two months are actually going to be pretty hectic. I'll feel good once we get through February and are well into March.

Refreshed

This weekend was truly wonderful - for a lot of reasons, mostly though it was because we were able to spend so much time together as a family. Last weekend we were still so busy unpacking, the weekend before was the move, and prior to that I was working at HLC at least day each weekend so we only had one day during the weekend to be all together. Bryan's been swamped too, so he's been spending as much time as possible working. This weekend, while he and I both did a little bit of work (him more than me), we spent a lot of time doing fun (and free!) family activities.

But before I get into the weekend (with pictures!) I wanted to talk about daycare. Friday was the kids' first day in daycare and it went really, really well. Stephanie said they were great and Poe had such a good time that she didn't want to leave. She actually asked me twice this weekend to go play at Stephanie's house, so I think daycare is a hit. I'm sure both kids will have days when they don't want to go, but we've found a good fit I think. This week will be their full week in daycare and I don't really foresee any problems. So that's nice.

On to the weekend!

Friday night after picking the kids up we headed back to campus for the Freshman mixer. I saw a lot of my students, met a parent, and the kids got to play with some other teacher/admin toddlers. My principal has a daughter a month younger than Poe (and a baby boy that's due any day) and the activities director has a daughter the same age as the principal's daughter. The girls seemed to have a really good time together. Penelope was wearing her Princess crown, so one of the little girls kept calling her Princess... as in "hey Princess! Come here Princess!" So cute.

Saturday G and I woke up early and took a mommy/son trip to Seaside for teacher appreciation day at Staples. It was nice to spend some time with him one on one and I think he enjoyed it as well. Afterward B and I talked about the beach or the Aquarium, but decided to get a small start on the backyard. Our backyard is basically an L shaped dirt run. Not super wide, but not super narrow. Semi divided in two. All dirt.

Since we live in the "salad bowl" I decided that I'd really like to start a garden. We're not planning on being in this place for years, but I know almost nothing about gardening and so am considering this my starter garden. When we own a place out here a few years down the line then my experiences with this garden will help me design my permanent garden.

So we picked a spot and got to digging. The plot will end up being 13' x 6' - so not huge, but decent sized. We got rid of all the top soil (like my handy dandy gardening for dummies website suggested) and did a bit of tilling. It took a little while to get the soil removed so we didn't till it all. We'll probably rent a small roto tiller in a couple of weeks and get the rest done. We're also considering putting sod on one side of the yard so we have a place to come out and sit/play, but I don't want to get too ambitious.

After lunch and naps we unpacked the office (finally). We also did an early dinner/bath so we could all watch a movie together downstairs. It was a nice homebody day. At one point Bryan took Penny for a bike ride and I took Griffin and the dog for a walk, but in general we stayed at home and just enjoyed being together.

Sunday we were more ambitious. The beach topped our list, followed by shopping, lunch, naps, a bike ride to the grocery store, dinner, the park, and finally baths and bed. Here's some beach pictures.










Ok, so this picture has to be explained... Griffin was digging trenches with his head. Yes, you read that right. I have no idea why. I have some video, will upload it later



So yeah, we had fun. Penelope was all about running up and down the beach. She ran with Harley and I for awhile and then ran for a long stretch with Bryan and Harley - that child loves to run. She also loves the beach, who can blame her?

Griffin and I buried each others feet and I made sand castles that he knocked over. He was all about immersing himself in the sand.

Neither child was brave enough to put their toes in the ocean :) I was! And Harley, of course, she loves the beach more than all of us combined.

I wish I had more pictures of the park, but we were too busy having fun. The kids spent some time in the swings, I swung... we played tag as a family, we climbed on the playground equipment. The park itself is small, but I LOVE having a park less than 2 blocks away. The library is also super close, less than a block. And I bike to school, it's only 1.5 blocks away. Love.

We did some light grocery shopping as well, just enough to fit in the back of the bike trailer. It is wonderful that I can take the kids to the grocery store on my bike. It is amazing that I can go days without getting into a car.

I do wish our daycare provider lived a little closer so I could ride my bike, but alas she does not. She's on the other side of town and while I could technically ride my bike, parts of that ride are just not safe for cyclists. Oh well. Even with that daily ride, we haven't had to put gas in the car since 8/5, which is a record for us.

Tomorrow starts the first full week of school and I feel ready. I still have some planning to do for the week and a few copies to make in the morning, but I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle my 6th period... I thought 6th period last year was an anomaly of energetic and... challenging kids, but apparently that's just 6th period. My group this year is a level up from last year's group (and I mean a level up in challenge). Things should get even more interesting when they shuffle schedules around after this next round of placement testing (long story). But I'm ready for them. Bring it on LAD B!