We had just over two weeks between our Philadelphia trips, and those weeks were packed.
The day after we got home, I grabbed tickets to Oakland Zoo Glowfari. The tickets for weekends tend to sell out quickly, and it’s busy, so I decided that we wouldn’t wait and would just grab a weeknight far enough before the December holidays that it wouldn’t be too crowded. So the boys and I went with Gaby, our new au pair Ana, and then their former au pair Rebeca joined us! It was a ton of fun, the structures are beautiful and there are a lot of them. The first area we explored was a future of Oakland-themed village which had all kinds of great Oakland landmarks, including the Tribune tower, the boot from Children’s Fairyland, and a Chabot Space & Science Center observatory.
Plus, they had a BART train you could go inside! And run inside, which the boys did, of course.
From there we walked through areas devoted to insects and African animals. Of particular interest to every kid there was a tile you could jump on to trigger a stink bug to spray “smoke” out of his rear end. Oh boy.
We then met up with Rebeca and got a bunch of great photos of the boys and three generations of au pairs. I’m really glad we were able to do that before Gaby went home! With Rebeca, we took the Gondola up to the California Trail to explore the ocean part of the Glowfari. Up there the bubbles filled with “smoke” were a big hit with the kids. They were pretty cool. We didn’t get to go on the Zoo train which gets you to even more light up goodies, but since just train tickets are required for that, I’m hoping that we can go with MJ some time in January to just do that.
I mentioned Gaby leaving, and that was a pretty big deal for all of us. She’s our first au pair to actually go home at the conclusion of her term (the first got married, the second stayed to go to school in the US). As a result, the boys still see their past au pairs! We’re really going to miss her. I think we got really lucky with our new au pair though, the boys immediately connected with her and she’s been great so far.
The following weekend we joined a bunch of other Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) fans at Rockridge station for Sweaterfest. It was a whole little celebration with BART crafts and other related pop-ups with little activities for kids and photo opportunities. At the end, they took a big group photo with us in our sweaters! MJ wore one from when we attended a couple years ago, Adam and I had matching BART sweaters from this year, and Aaron donned this season’s BART winter hat (no shirts in his size this year). We got to ride the BARTmobile (a hilarious train with tires that use used in parades and other events), and managed to get in the group photo.
Inside the BARTmobile!
We checked out the craft table briefly and the boys got to jump around inside a big inflatable winter bubble. It would have been nice to arrive earlier since things closed fairly promptly around 3PM, but we still had fun, and it was probably for the best that we didn’t go on such a long adventure, did I mention December was very busy?
The next day, we went to the Great Train Show, which was set up at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. This is also an event we’d gone to before, I think it was last summer? Last time, MJ realized he knows one of the folks who regularly attends with one of the model train clubs, as they used to work together, so he likes to use it as an opportunity to say hello.
Plus, it’s a great place to shop for model trains to expand our Hanukkah train layout! Sadly, the engine on ours wasn’t working well. In spite of buying it just five years ago and only taking it out for the winter holidays, think it was dropped a few too many times by small kids. We brought it to the train show to test it on their test track, and that’s where it completely failed. We tried to get a replacement engine, which is lovely! But will take some work to get it going with our equipment. Still, the fellow who sold us the engine also had a really cute Hanukkah box car that we bought along with it. And maybe I’ll see if I can get our other engine repaired.
The boys also got to check out a couple of retired maintenance cars that are kept running by members of the West Coast Railroaders Group. Some people have boats and sail over water. Some people buy old rail maintenance cars and ride down tracks through beautiful forests. MJ spent some time talking with them as the boys kept themselves occupied by sitting in the cars and playing with the controls.
It was a fun afternoon, but I was tired. I had developed a sinus infection that was being treated with antibiotics, but I think what I needed was rest, and not a weekend full of train adventures,. I was also prepping everything for Hanukkah, which had me up on a ladder outside hanging Hanukkah lights during this time too, something I thought I’d skip this year but ultimately wanted to do because I love holiday lights. And prepping to come back to Philadelphia. It’s no wonder I was feeling worn out.
We’re in Philadelphia now, and while I didn’t take much time off of work through the winter holidays, I am grateful to be able to focus on more project work that tends to bring me more peace and calm. I’ll try not to overdo it activity-wise while we’re here. I think I’m finally over the sinus infection, but both my body and mind could use some time to relax and recharge. Maybe some time reading a book by the fire. We’ll see how that goes.