Date Night: Pinball Museum

One of the cool things about living near San Francisco is that there are infinite things to explore. You could probably live here your entire life and still not have seen everything there is to see. I was reminded of this when our friends asked us to accompany them to the pinball museum in Alameda. My response: "There's a pinball museum? Like, on this planet?" Who would've thought!

It actually had some pretty amazing historical pieces. There were several rooms, and the machines were organized by decade, starting with some of the old wooden penny machines from the 30s and 40s. Very cool! All the machines were lined up side by side, making for a bright and noisy display.

 We played tournaments on several machines, where we'd play our turn and then rotate to the next machine, like a crazy relay race.

 See that high score? It's mine. No big deal. I won most of the tournaments. Hate to brag! :)

 We spent most of our time with the machines from the 80s and 90s. I was excited to see "The Black Knight", which I spent many childhood hours playing at a friend's house, but unfortunately, it was out of order for the night.

Another fun date night! Visiting such a fun little nook of the city made me want to be more proactive about exploring the cool things at our fingertips. I see many eclectic date nights in our future.

Date Night: Kart Racing

I've been looking for exciting new date night ideas, and Reed has been a total sport for trying them out with me.  There are several kart racing placing in our area, so I found the best one on yelp and got a sitter for Friday night. When we got there, things looked promising!

The track was built in a huge warehouse, and the route was long and had tons of curves. Here's Reed gearing up:

We got in our karts, they waved the green flag, and we sped off. The karts actually went pretty fast! I was having so much fun... until I rounded the first corner and my out-of-control motion sickness reared its ugly head. I slowed down, trying not to lose my dinner, and the race manager kept pointing at me and slapping a big wooden sign (loudly, I might add!) that said "Slower Karts: Move to the Right!"

I ended up riding home with my face out the window, trying to quell the nausea with cold air. Reed was, of course, laughing at me the whole drive home. If anyone would like to try Kart Racing, we have store credit.

Nannying

I started a new job this month, nannying a friend's two cute kids. This means that I now nanny kids Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As I type that, it seems like a lot, but it really doesn't feel like a burden. Cal has a lot of fun with all the different friends, and it keeps me engaged in something beneficial, which keeps me happy.

Growing Up Silly: January Edition

Sunbeams!

Look who started sunbeams this week!

Cal was so proud to sit in his chair in primary. His friend Nolan (behind) comes and gets him each week to walk to primary together. Isn't that so sweet?

I love my little sunbean!

Welcome to January

I always feel like January is the lamest month.  To everyone who is born in January, be assured, I don't think you are lame, just the month. I guess I should cut January some slack. I mean, the fall/winter holidays are hard acts to follow.  But on the second or third day of the year, when I wake up to a dull gray morning and a void of holidays to look forward to, I just can't help but think it: "Welcome to January."

But don't worry, I am also very proactive about my happiness, and so we've been filling our dull January days with activities that make me smile. For instance, we got a bigger dining room table this week. I know that probably seems boring (so very January), but I could not be more excited!

Our old one comfortably sat four people:

And the new one seats up to 10 just fine (there's even an additional leaf that we don't have inserted in the picture below). It'll be nice to be able to have people over for dinner, now that we don't have to be squished around our tiny table.

And of course, we take every opportunity we can find to visit Daddy for lunch at Apple. That helps January feel a little less...January.

Geode from Grandpa Olsen

While we were in Salt Lake for the holidays, Grandpa Olsen took Cal to the new Natural History museum at the U, and bought him some goodies to take home. One of them was a geode that Cal got to smash once we were home in California. Look how excited he is!