Days of Love

Holidays are really starting to be very fun for me and Cal. He is becoming more aware of the passage of time, and always asks me things like, "What's next?" and "What we do today?"  Lucky for us, the spring months are adequately sprinkled with little holidays that get us through the weeks with joy.  He loved Valentine's Day this year, and it's always so easy to come up with themed activities. One of our friends had us over to play and decorate cookies on afternoon. Just look at that focus!

Reed took me out to a Los Gatos restaurant for our biannual "fancy feast", and on Valentine's Night, we had a special dinner at home with Cal, complete with presents. Here is Cal opening his new apron:

My little boy loves to cook and bake with me, so he knew exactly what it was when he opened the package. Look how excited he is! We now hang it on a hook about 3 feet off the ground, and whenever we start dinner, he runs and puts in on himself. Same thing goes for hanging it up after we're done!

Reed's present was something to hang in his cubicle at work, which he was thrilled about.

We finished the night with Grandma Linebarger's chocolate lava cakes, cooked in heart-shaped ramekins.

We are very blessed to have so much love in our little family, and in our lives.

We Love Vasona

One of our favorite parks in our area is Vasona. I know I've mentioned it before, but I just had to post some pictures from a recent visit, because we love it so much. Reed and I took Cal there for a five-mile run in the stroller. Vasona has beautiful trails that wind through wooded areas and around a lake, plus there are fantastic playgrounds for kids, so Cal has a great time, too. We always end the visit with a ride on the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad!

Growing Up Silly: February Edition

Bubbles in the Park

Welcome to February in California. :)

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.