Friday, August 10, 2018

A Jaunt to Santa Cruz


The wildfires are raging in Redding/Carr and Mendocino so the air quality hasn't been good here. We decided to skip a trip to Lake Tahoe and escape instead to the Pacific.

Santa Cruz had plenty of activities to keep everyone entertained. The kids loved the games and rides at the boardwalk especially Logger's Revenge. Owen also waited in a long line to take a ride in the Haunted Castle which he says was totally worth it.

There was no shortage of nature in the area. We visited Henry Cowell state park and walked amidst the redwoods. We even went inside one that was hollowed out by a fire where someone lived and had a small cutout for a cabinet. We saw a banana slug, the mascot of UC Santa Cruz.

Later we took a short drive to Natural Bridges state park. The cold temps didn't deter the kids.

We went kayaking and saw sea otters, a kelp forest, a crab, jelly fish and sea lions. Owen took a surfing lesson and was a natural getting up on his first try! See video below.

We also drove to the Monterey Aquarium where we saw more sea otters, jellyfish, octopuses, eels, penguins and sharks. It was awesome!

And the kids also gave the all-you-can-eat breakfast the thumbs up at the Holiday Inn Express.





















Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Zoe Turns 6: A Bicycle Birthday

Zoe was very excited to celebrate her 6th birthday with her friends and a bicycle parade at Mason Mill Park. We made license plates for the bikes and enjoyed ice cream sundaes. Her kindergarten teacher Mrs. Wertz came by and gave her leg warmers, which she was very happy about. While everyone was singing happy birthday to her, she sang her own lyrics.

Our friend Rikki took these beautiful photos of the birthday party.








Friday, August 04, 2017

Ready for School



The kids started school this week. They are at the same school, Westchester Elementary, and will be Westchester wolves.

Zoe had her last day at Smarties and they rolled out the red carpet for the kids. She was given the Miss Responsabilidad for her attention, dedication and commitment to tasks.



On the second day of kindergarten, she got crowned Queen Zoe and sat on a throne. The kids made her a book with drawings. Her favorite food: mac and cheese. Her favorite animal: zebra. Her favorite color: pink.



Owen started third grade and knows the drill at school. He started playing academy soccer and is excited. His favorite thing to talk about is Minecraft, even though he doesn't get to play often. The day before school, he got to have ramen for lunch.


Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Bouldering while Traveling



We picked a rainy, chilly week to visit RI this summer. To avoid going stir crazy, we went to a rock climbing gym. Both of the kids liked bouldering and climbing. Luckily, they didn't test out my upper body strength.

Watch a video of the kids climbing.

We also took in a Ocean Waves baseball game and the kids got to climb again. We even watched the mascot climb/get pulled up the wall. See another video of Zoe and Owen climbing the portable wall.





Friday, May 12, 2017

Saturday on the Square

Last weekend the kids and I were at the library and on our way to dinner, we walked through the square. We spotted some people in capoeira shirts and they told us about a demo in 10 minutes. We decided to watch and Zoe was looking for her teacher Bruno to arrive. They were already sparring when Bruno showed up. Zoe went over to say hi to him. He took her by the hand into the center and said, "Let's play." She knew all the moves!



Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Interviews with Kids

After dinner tonight, we decided to test out my new video camera. (Thanks, Wai Gong!) First I interviewed Zoe, then Owen. Then the kids each took turns interviewing me.

Zoe's Favorites


Owen's Favorites, Part I


Owen's Favorites, Part II


Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Warriors All the Time

Owen has a new obsession, a book series called Warriors. It follows different clans of cats and has a whole mythology of its own.

Here he is explaining how Firestar is related to Graystripe:


Got it? He likes to quiz us on Warriors trivia, but it is almost as hard for me to remember as Pokemon characters.