We got one kid home for Spring Break--with their breaks not lining up this year, we decided to do more stay-cation things. The boys spent a Saturday afternoon playing baseball down at the church field,
And found this cute frog (which is why they were all on the ground when I walked down after the online conference I was watching with friends.)
It is definitely spring around here!
So many beautiful flowers.
We don't really need to go anywhere to enjoy it.
We did spend one day over in SF with Bug, and lucked out with the best weather. Warm and completely clear with views of the bridge everywhere we turned.
We mostly walked around the Presidio, checking out the Tunnel Tops area (which we'd never been to before) and revisiting some favorites like Chrissy Field,
and the Palace of the Fine Arts.
We got to do a few miles of walking around, found a good pizza place near the Lucasfilm campus, and then left in time to stop at a new place on the way home.
The lookout on Yerba Buena Island had great views.
And the story of the Port Chicago 50 which I'd never heard of before. Always interesting to learn more local history, even if it's usually not pretty.
And we spent a couple more days up in the mountains,
first skiing with our homeschool group for one last day at Dodge Ridge.
And then we stayed in the van that night
so we could go to the Railtown 1897 State Park in Jamestown the next morning. I'd been wanting to visit this place since we moved back. It was fun to learn about the history of this spot, which stretches from early trains during the Gold Rush time period to extensive movie making until 2000.
We took a tour of the round house and got to hear stories about all the trains that have been used for different movies over the years.
Peanut got his Jr. Ranger badge, and then it was time to head home so we could start Spring Break Part 2, with all the kids!
Feeling just a little behind around here, and as much as I do want to catch up, I'm having a hard time imagining how. So, I'm dropping in some current photos right now.
Spring fun meets have started again with swim team. Peanut got talked into it (he really hates racing), and dropped several seconds on his breaststroke time! Hoping he'll keep improving his times and realize that it's fun to just challenge himself each meet.
I've been scheduling as many field trips and fun things as I can knowing that this is it for our homeschool life. And trying not to think about that too much because I definitely have complicated feelings around it. We went to the Sulfur Creek Nature Center in Hayward with my nature group, learned about animal skulls, and spent some time exploring the rescued animals on site.
We've been science-ing weekly--my classes are pretty good this year, with just a little extra chaos in the middle school class (I think almost the entire class has ADHD), but we've been having a lot of fun studying ecology and the kids have been getting better about doing their homework so when I assign posters or presentations, we actually have things to look at in the next class! It's the little wins that count. . .
Part of my field trip initiative involved setting up a few homeschool ski days at Dodge Ridge.
And, on the second one, I decided I was done sitting in the lodge waiting for my people. My last time on a snowboard was 7 years ago, and it was pretty painful. After breaking my ankle, I figured I was done. But I've been doing a lot of strength training and balance work for the past year (with a break in the fall while we were on our trip), and was feeling pretty strong. And. . .
I still remember how it's done! I was pretty nervous for the first run, but by the bottom, I felt like I had it. I'm not doing anything crazy these days, but I can cruise down a blue run with no issues and it felt pretty good. And it's fun to be out there with my family. Now I've just got to get Peanut skiing on harder runs and we can explore more of the mountain. He's kind of a speed demon, but if we can get him more comfortable with his turns, I think he could handle the steeper stuff, too.
We've used the van both times we went up to the snow. It's so much easier to drive up the evening before and not have to get up at 5.
And we stay nice and cozy in there, despite the cold temps outside. Dinner, family movie, and then a solid night of sleep before a day in the snow is pretty awesome.
Peanut has gotten back into 4H since we returned home. He's doing the cooking project this year and we're all enjoying the monthly dinners he makes. Last month was tacos in homemade tortillas--yum!
We've also been pretty busy with our nature hikes.
I've got a solid group this semester with about 6 families signed up for the whole package, and then several others who are coming as many weeks as they can. We had 22 kids on one of them!
These are still my favorite classes and we've had some really fun topics this semester.
Some of the kids get really into it (and then there are still the ones who just want to talk about their imaginative worlds for 2 hours with their friends--I think as long as they're out in nature, it's all good.)
Peanut falls somewhere in the middle--he wants to do whatever the topic is, but some of those conversations are just too alluring. I've been impressed with his nature journalling each time, and let the rest of it go.
And the weeks when we get to really explore are fun for everyone.
Found a couple newts on one of our February hikes.
And lots of mushrooms, of course. It wasn't the best season because we didn't get enough rain in January, but there have still been some good ones.
And finally, a property update. It's getting green over there, things are blooming, but the house is slow. It should be right along the right side of the property here.
But we did get the buildings cleared that we needed to, and they've come out to do testing for our septic system, which means we're making progress. Just not sure how much or what the timeline looks like from here. I'm cautiously optimistic that we might be able to move over there by the end of the summer. We shall see how it turns out. . .
Watching them walk is one of my favorite things--they are so cute!
Also got to go for a hike with a couple of friends on Saturday morning.
We did a few miles on the Bay Area Ridge Trail near the north bay and got beautiful views.
Love having friends to hike with.
And more exploring local ecosystems with my class. The Huckleberry Nature Preserve is a little pocket with unique native plants due to the way the bay fog comes in and funnels between the hills right there, keeping the area cool and wet.
Found mushrooms, and several native plants (and unfortunately I found some poison oak which got in my eye and led to a round of steroids. This was my first bad encounter since we moved back, which is kind of surprising considering how much hiking I do near poison oak, but I would have been happy to keep my clean record for a lot longer.)
Peanut loves getting to hang out with his friends on these hikes.
Love mushroom season.
I got out on some early morning walks with lots of sunrises.
And a little bird watching.
And we had another ski day. This time, I decided to try snowboarding for the first time in 7 years. I thought those days were over, but I started a pretty serious weight training routine this winter and was feeling a lot stronger. It seemed like I might as well try.
Ended up having a fantastic day with my boys! Turns out snowboarding is like riding a bike--you don't really forget how to do it. I did a few warm-up runs to get the feel of it again, and then started picking up speed and doing small hops. I'm not willing to do anything extreme these days, but it was so fun to be back out there.
