November snuck up on us fast, which is not surprising because we had such a busy October with all the fall festivities we had every weekend. Comparatively, our weekends were a lot more quiet, and sadly started off with a visit to pediatric urgent care for Aaron as he had a knee wound that ended […]
Archive for the ‘castro valley’ Category
Halloween Activities: Part 2
November 13th, 2025 by pleia2
I balanced these two Halloween posts poorly, I forgot how much we did this year! It was probably too much, but it really is my favorite time of year and taking the boys out on adventures where they get to run around outside is often easier than staying home. One evening after school we went […]
Local Fall Festival and old-ish computers
September 18th, 2025 by pleia2
A few people have remarked recently about how activity-driven we are as a family. It’s true, we have a lot of adventures! But the fact is, we also spent 2.5 years at home during a pandemic when our children are little, so part of it is making up for lost time. Another part is that […]
School begins! And August winds down.
August 29th, 2025 by pleia2
Our summer in Philadelphia was lovely, but we had to come back so the kids could start school in early August. It’s still surreal to me how early they start, but it was an exciting year for them, Aaron was finally joining elementary school as a Transitional Kindergartner (TK), and Adam was starting 1st Grade! […]
Parks, fairies, cars and airplanes
July 3rd, 2025 by pleia2
Last year we began spending summer vacation for the kids in Philadelphia, but I was a little sad to miss some of the California summer activities. This year we delayed our visit to Philly by a couple weeks so we could! Plus, MJ was traveling for a conference the first week of June, so it […]
Graduations, trains and lagoons
June 12th, 2025 by pleia2
Unbeknownst to me, the last day I was in Boston sadly overlapped with Aaron’s pre-school/pre-K graduation, and MJ also had a major work event that day. The graduation was a week before his actual departure from the school for good, so it was an important transition for him and we were sad to miss it. […]
Anniversary, Star Wars, and Mother’s Day
May 22nd, 2025 by pleia2
On April 28th MJ and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. This year we actually had the opportunity to celebrate it on the actual day with a lovely dinner out in San Francisco. We went to our favorite sushi place where we are friends with the owners and chef, and had spent so much time […]
Spring things and a movie
May 2nd, 2025 by pleia2
It’s springtime, and after a rather soggy and chilly winter here in northern California, it actually feels like we’re coming out of a winter for once. The flowers in our gardens are blooming, and our adventures lately have been rather spring themed. First up was a trip down to Ardenwood Historic Farm. I’ve been wanting […]
Summer joy through the clouds
September 16th, 2024 by pleia2
Depression is something I feel like that even I fail to fully understand until I’m in the depths of it. I have to very carefully manage my priorities, because some days I just hit a wall and I need to make sure I get to work and that life-sustaining basics are done for myself and […]
California summer adventures with my sister and nephew
August 30th, 2024 by pleia2
A couple weeks ago my sister Annette and my 12 year old nephew flew into town for a visit. We saw them over Thanksgiving, but that was at the townhouse in Philadelphia so it had been a full five years since they last came to our place in California. So much has changed! The family […]