Summer Projects

Here is a collection of pictures from the last couple months, starting with a project in the garage.

The kids wear their ear protection and stand far away when Daddy is cutting wood.

Ross was so proud of himself for doing as he was told...

They were cutting wood to make some little wooden boxes.

They were so excited with the finished products and as soon as they rolled out of bed the next morning, they were showing them off and putting treasures in them. Ross used his to hold all his plastic bugs, Madeleine used hers to hold a wide variety of trinkets and papers.

Madeleine helped me iron some fabric I bought to make her a skirt. She had never seen an iron in action before!

While Ross was napping one dayMadeleine helped Daddy scrub some of the parts for his lathe...

 ... and then re-grease them.

We went for a weekend hike in Marin County and the kids loved throwing rocks into the reservoir.

Searsport, Maine

We flew to Maine at the end of July to see Kristin and Matt. They were married at city hall in August of last year and this year they wanted to throw a party at Matt's family cottage to celebrate with friends and family. The kids did very well on our red eye flights out to the east coast, and were very excited to see everyone. We shared the cottage next door with my parents, who brought their tandem bicycle and afterwards cycled to Nova Scotia.  

We enjoyed the first few days of cloud, rain, and cooler temperatures. 

But soon enough the sun came out and Madeleine was prepared!

Madeleine loved "babysitting" Polly the dog and was very happy to have her at our cottage as much as possible.

We had so much fun taking the kayaks out from the nearby beach. Both kids loved it, and so did I.

Ross held his treasured crab very tightly...

... and stopped to smell the flowers.

M loved the slip n' slide that Kristin and Matt got for the kids. It was luxurious to have so much water and green grass to play in - the kids don't get much of either in drought-ridden California.

Uncle Matt set up a ping pong table in the garage and all the kids had lots of fun playing together.

The gardens around Matt's family cottage are beautiful and lush - the kids loved running and exploring and rolling in the grass.

The party day was a lovely sunny day and about 35 people gathered here for a delicious lunch with pie for dessert.

Matt and Kristin re-enacted their vows, and shared their story of getting three family wedding rings melded into two. 

Matt and his friend Melanie entertained us with music.

After a relaxing afternoon, we all headed to the beach for an impressive bonfire.

Here's the happy couple and Polly!

Pizza and Round Valley

Last week the kids helped me make pizza for dinner.  Ross wanted to eat the dough more than roll it out. I can't really blame him; I remember wanting to eat the dough as a kid too.

About an hour inland is Round Valley Regional Park, where we went for a mini hike last weekend. The temperatures are a lot higher that far inland and it was sweltering hot. We had started the kids out in long pants and socks, trying to be cautious of ticks in the long grass.  But it was so hot, and they were moving so slowly, (and not going anywhere near the long grass), so we changed them into shorts.  However, they still moved just as slowly. M loves studying the trail maps and often draws her own maps.

The drought has left these hills dusty and golden,

and it was so hot out there we were very grateful for moments of shade.

On the dried up riverbed, there was one swampy area in some shade that had a huge number of little frogs. Both kids had fun catching and holding them.

Then Ross sat on a rock in the riverbed, first as a "big guy",

and then as a frog!

Not Quite Muir Woods

This morning we left early, hoping to beat the crowds at the popular Muir Woods across the bay in Marin County. We have heard it is a very beautiful, accessible forest trail, but also notoriously crowded and short on parking. By 9:30 it was already packed and the closest we could park was still too far for our kids relatively short hiking energy span. So we decided to do a less-travelled trail right near the car, which ended up taking us through forest and then into a pretty meadow. The kids loved helping Steve use his flower identification guide each time we came across a new wildflower.

Our lunch stop and turnaround point...

A few highlights from this past week: watching tree-felling across the street,

playing with the baking soda and vinegar tray,

and making this cake, which didn't taste all that good but got devoured anyway.

Last weekend we flew to Seattle and gathered with my mom's side of the family for a memorial ceremony for my grandparents. Their ashes are being placed in a veteran's cemetery near Seattle and it was a lovely time to remember them, and a fun gathering with family that I hadn't seen in many years.  Pictures to come...

Around Home and Point Pinole

The kids absolutely love spending time in the garage with Steve, and one of their favourite activities these days is using the shop vac. It's one of the newer additions to the garage, and the kids regularly pour all the contents out just so they can vacuum them up again. The picture below was taken when it was brand new. 

Ross is really loving using his tools these days and puts on the little tool belt, puts all his tools (and toy construction trucks) in the tool box, and goes to work "fixing" the scooter, bike, rocking horse, my leg...

Madeleine has really enjoyed talking on the phone with Grandma Georgia, Grandpa Don, and Uncle Chris. Talking on the phone is a novelty since most of her life has been spent skyping with everyone.

She also has a thing for bandaids these days, and on this particular day, during Ross's nap, she found all four boxes of bandaids (inherited from my grandparents - we didn't buy that many!), emptied them, arranged the different kinds, and then put about a dozen on a bug bite she had near her armpit. Unfortunately, taking them off wasn't quite as much fun for her.

We went to Point Pinole Regional Park for the first time this Sunday afternoon and had a great time exploring the trails and playing at the beach. The park is about 15 minutes from us and is situated on the site of an old dynamite factory, which was shut down in the early 60s. There are some beautiful groves of Eucalyptus trees but mostly open fields of tall, dry grass.

Both kids love their balance bikes, although Ross is a bit slower since he's only had his a couple of weeks.

There were many, many stops. For sticks, bugs, rocks in shoes, pretend trains, bird poop inspection...

Steve, trying the old "walk away and hope they follow" trick...

The beach we ended up at was rocky and windy - Madeleine doesn't like wind on her ears so she was covering them in the picture below.

The rocks and low tide made for some fun crab-hunting and shell-finding.

We spotted some sandier beaches walking back to the car on another trail, so we have more to explore on another visit.