First Day of School, 2021 Edition

First day of school.

Senior year for this girl. The morning started with the Senior Sunrise--everyone goes out to the top of the hill at Del Valle to watch the sunrise--only this year was way to smoky to see anything, Bummer, but Bean and her friends had fun anyway, and then they came back to our house for cinnamon rolls and eggs before they had to head off to school.

Bug got his first first day on campus. Last year, starting virtually kind of took away some of the fun of starting high school, but maybe Sophomore year will feel a little more like the HS experience is supposed to feel.

And this 5th-grade Peanut is the last man standing in our homeschool. This is technically my second year of only having this kiddo at home, but since everyone else was home last year, too, it didn't really feel like it. We've got a lot of plans for this year and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Last Summer Hurrah

It's kind of turned into a tradition for us to go to San Francisco for an adventure before the kids go back to school. This year, thanks to water polo practices, we were a little tight on time, but Bean picked for us to spend the day at the SF MOMA.

This Contemporary Optics special exhibit was beautiful.

I love how these kids are pretty much game and interested in anything and everything. 

(Love being in the city--I don't think I'd want to live in a big city full time, but they sure are fun to visit.)

This kid was loving the outdoor statues🤣

We did take a break for awhile at a nearby park to eat lunch and get some fresh air. This was the longest indoor activity that I've done in 1.5 years.

Peanut and I worked on the museum's scavenger hunt for awhile. It kept him interested so the other two could enjoy the art for a little longer.

Favorite color (and I will never understand this type of modern art.)

And HIS favorite color.

Very cool airplane.

This girl loves it all. She could have stayed a lot longer.

One of my favorite exhibits--lots of miniatures in this architecture exhibit.

Love how they took something flat and made it pop.

And these miniatures, too. I'm fascinated by tiny things.

And with that, Summer Break 2021 is over. I don't know how many more years I'll have all three of these kids to adventure with, but for now, I'm just going to keep going as much as we can.

 

A Peak Into the Future

We went on our first college tour--UC Santa Cruz. My friend, S, was kind enough to take us since she went there and was able to tell us a lot of stories and details.

I can't believe I've never been there before--I didn't realize it is literally in the middle of a redwood forest, and that we would have wildlife sightings.

Turkey running down the road, coyote running through the trees. It was like we were out hiking.

I don't think Bean was really considering this school. It was a little closer to home than she was hoping, not as warm of beaches, but I think she was won over and it's going on the list.

It's a little crazy to think that one of my children will be leaving in a year to attend a college somewhere. Not sure if I'm ready for this next step, but I know she will be by then.

It Just Wouldn't Be Summer Without. . .

Baseball games. Daddy-o has successfully indoctrinated at least a couple of his kids to be Dodgers fans. These two had a great time at a game one night, even if the Giants did win.

Sumer fruit. We love our pluots from the farmer's market, along with all the berries and peaches and nectarines and melons. So much delicious goodness this time of year!

Fire season. This one is sad, but it's become an expectation once we hit August. We haven't had as many bad air days this year as we did last year, so for that, we are grateful, but there's still a lot of forest burning.

A trip to the rec center pool. We have a different pool to swim at this year, but we did meet up with our park day friends one day for the water slide and big pool fun.

Beach days. It was weird not having Bug and Bean with us for a lot of these trips this year--their schedules are so much busier these days. But they joined us when they could, and we met up with friends most times, so it was still fun.

Peach Pie. Daddy-o taught Peanut how to make a delicious pie. 

Park Days at the water. I love summer park days where we visit all the good splash pads and swimming holes around the East Bay. I hadn't been to Shadow Cliffs since I was a kid, but we were in town this year and while there was a little snafu with the swim test for these two kiddos, we still ended up having a pretty good day.

Bike rides. Okay, I'll be honest, we haven't done any amazing bike riding, but this kid does love his bike and so we've ridden around the neighborhood a couple times. I need to get a rack for the car so he and I can go adventure a little more on the bikes. There are some great trails around the Bay that would be a lot of fun.

Lazy pool days. I've loved watching this kid turn into a fish this summer. 

And so much hammock time! If we're at home and it's not 95 degrees outside, this is probably where you'll find us. Lots of good books have been read in these hammocks. And naps taken. And ice cream eaten. Best investment ever.

Pool Days

This kid has been living his best life, floating in a pool day after day.

Having this pool membership this year has been so fun. It's really made summer feel like summer for us, and luckily we've been able to get friends to join us most days.

These two kiddos have spent so many hours here, playing one game after another. 

The two have had a lot of fun, too.

Can't think of a better way to do summer than in a pool.

Just the Two of Us

There's a lot of just the two of us these days (and I'd be lying if I didn't say it's still a little strange for me to not have my other kids along for so many of our adventures. Growing up is hard!) But when we were looking at the calendar and realized that both Bug and Bean had separate camping trips with church groups, blocking off a couple weeks that our family couldn't do much, Daddy-o and I decided to each take Peanut on an overnight trip somewhere kind of close.

First up, Peanut and Daddy-o spent the night at Pinecrest Lake while Bug was on a backpacking trip and Bean and I had a girl's night at home.

Peanut went to work with Daddy-o that day so they could leave from the office. They had time to set up camp, make dinner,

and make it to the outdoor movie--Jungle Cruise. I think the movie was pretty much the highlight of Peanut's camping experience, possibly from all the camping he has ever done, haha. You really can't beat an outdoor theater right by the lake.

Such a sweet boy. This kid knows how to sleep in the morning, even through all the camp sounds.

And then, the next morning, after breaking camp and packing up, they rented a kayak for a couple hours. They had a great time paddling around the lake just before a storm rolled in. They both said it was a great campout!

For our trip while Bean was on her campout and Bug went to work with Daddy-o, we went to Henry Cowell State Park. We'd been to play in the river last summer, and I'd been trying to make it back down there, so this was the perfect chance to explore the park a little more.

I'm not going to lie and say it was a perfect trip--Peanut was not so excited about my hiking aspirations the first day (they couldn't live up to an outdoor movie, for sure)--but we did have a lot of fun. After we set up camp, we hiked through the redwoods to the river.

By the time we'd made it down there, everything was good again so we hung out for a little bit before hiking back up the hill to the campground.

There, we had a great evening--games, dinner around a campfire (which I made with no lighter fluid--the go to method for a couple other people in my family who I won't name, haha.) We told stories around the fire, wrote our own Madlibs, and then read in our sleeping bags until we fell asleep (which was very quickly for one of us--I don't know how this kid isn't more tired at night, but he can outlast me pretty much every night.)

The next morning, after breakfast, we went for another short hike before we took down camp.

This park is unique in that it covers several different habitats. The redwoods are the big draw, but the campground is actually just past the redwoods in an oak forest, and at the edge of these sandhills.

We hiked up the hill to the lookout tower for the amazing views of the Santa Cruz mountains and then took a little walk through part of the hills. It's crazy that this is about a 10 minute walk from towering redwoods. And then, of course, there is the river area, too, which was our next stop after we cleaned up camp.

We drove to the main parking lot and then walked along the river trail until we made it to the train bridge. I'd been wanting to check this spot out, and it really was a lot of fun to hang out here where we got to see a couple of the tourist trains pass overhead on there way through the redwoods.

We hung out there for a couple hours, reading

and floating.

This has definitely been the summer of water--so much time spent in pools and rivers and lakes. It's been awesome.

And I'm so glad this kid is still around for the fun!