Adam’s graduation from Kindergarten was a week later and we were all able to attend that, and conclude the day with a graduation cake for both of them and dinner at Fogo de Chão!

And then it was time for a few weeks of California summer! Last year we left for summer in Philadelphia directly after Adam concluded school, which meant we couldn’t do anything in California before we left, and I was pretty disappointed about that. California is gorgeous, and in spite of nice weather year around, there still are seasons for things like swimming and boating and it was a shame to miss that. This year, we didn’t!

When I returned from Boston, we went to Ardenwood Historic Farm for their annual Rail Fair. The last time we were at Ardenwood the train wasn’t running, so our first stop was getting to ride on that.

From there, we met with folks from the Western Pacific Railway Museum where we learned about their Run-A-Locomotive program where an instructor teaches you how to run a diesel locomotive and then you get to run one on their grounds! We are 100% going to do that. They were also really kind to the boys, both of whom asked a lot of questions and they were happy to indulge.

Several areas were also set up with model trains, which is always a lot of fun. Perhaps the most fun was the Live Steam group from the Bay Area Garden Railway Society whose model trains ran on actual steam. Some use little pieces of coal for the boiler, others some type of gas or alcohol solution. Very involved, but also very cool.

We spent the following weekend with a lot of water. First up, was our first visit to Cull Canyon Swim Complex! Gaby had gone a couple weeks earlier and reported that there wasn’t a lot of sand, which was important for one of our very sand-adverse kiddos. We went on a rather warm day, so it was already crowded by the time we got there, in spite of getting there rather early. Still, we had fun! And promptly made plans to buy some additional supplies from Costco and REI for our next visit so we could enjoy our time there for longer. On our list: Beach tent, beach chairs, and a collapsible wagon.

The next day it was over to Lake Chabot for paddle boats! We had considered going to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to enjoy the paddle boats there, but the boys didn’t want the long drive, and we were slightly concerned about crowds. None of those problems at the Lake 10 minutes from home!

We quickly learned that paddle boats are quite tiring, hah! Adam and MJ started the journey, but Adam and I very carefully swapped places on the boat halfway through so I could take over for him and MJ and I could get us back to to the wharf. It was fun, but we all agreed that next time we’ll take out one of the motor boats so we can focus more on the scenery and less on paddling.

For some indoor summertime fun, we enrolled the boys in the Kids Bowl Free program that our local bowling alley participates in. It’s funny though, in over seven years of living here all of our au pairs have taken the boys bowling, but MJ and I had never been! So the other morning I took them over to get them checked in and watch them wildly throw a few balls down the lanes. I should participate next time.

It’s been fun, and we have more to do! I took a couple days off this week so we could enjoy a few more fun things and avoid the weekend summer crowds. Plus, after the whirlwind that was April and May at work, I could use a break.

I also took the opportunity of being up in the city to go over to the San Francisco Modern Art Museum (SFMOMA). I hadn’t been in years, and I was looking for something nearby to where I was to spend a peaceful afternoon. I’m not a fan of abstract art, so modern art museums are sometimes a bit tricky for me, but if I stick to the more real stuff, I tend to enjoy it. One of the things I quite enjoyed was seeing the Daisy with Rider collotype by Eadweard Muybridge, but not because he was a good person, quite the opposite. I had recently started listening to the History on Trial podcast, and back in 2024 she did an episode called The Motion Picture Murder that I had listened to just a few days before, and it was about Muybridge. What timing!

I spent the night in a hotel in the city, which was a bit of a last minute decision because we happened to have a free night to use and I was attending the RSA Conference expo hall the next day. It worked out nicely, I got up early and went to the pool, which was a glorious way to relax before a busy day. I popped over to Moscone Center just after opening time for the expo hall. There, I met up with some open source folks I had planned to see, incidentally saw a few others, dropped by the IBM booth to get a lead on some AI stuff I’d been looking into, and had a lovely lunch with a friend who was in town.

On the weekend of May the 4th we had a somewhat Star Wars and Lego themed weekend. On that Saturday we went to Brick by Brick, our local used Lego store to pick up some Star Wars mini-figs that were on sale. While we were there we discovered a new used video game shop in the same small shopping plaza, genius location! We got a couple Nintendo DS games for Adam, along with another Lego game for the PlayStation. They buy old consoles as well, and seemed very interested in my R2-D2 Xbox 360. I’ll have to think about it, but it’s doing no good sitting in a box in the closet. On our way home, MJ dropped Aaron and I off at our local comic book store for Free Comic Book Day and we had a lovely walk home together from there. On Sunday we went over to the mall to the Lego store for their Star Wars releases, since Adam was quite eager to pick up Lego Chopper since I showed it to him a few weeks ago. I think that might be our next build once we finish my big R2-D2.

Mother’s Day began with swim class! I had thought about an adventure out to a museum or something, but work has been incredibly intense lately and I was honestly just feeling tired and wanted to have a chill day. We had lunch at our usual cafe and then dinner out at a local brewery, which is a great Mother’s Day spot since they don’t tend to be very busy that day, and I love beer!

With spring here, the boys are spending a lot of time outside (and so am I!). Aaron recently went from riding his bike like a balance bike to getting the pedals on. He’s really excited to be riding on two wheels like his brother, and we’re really proud of him for catching on and doing it all without training wheels. With how well both the boys did, I’m now a firm believer in balance first bicycle training.

Our town has an annual rodeo parade, which was cancelled last year due to some organizational restructuring and returned this year with a small festival attached. The festival was a great addition, there were tents out with various local businesses, along with food vendors and music. The parade itself was cute, though I wish it wasn’t so spaced out and that the horses were scattered throughout instead of being mostly at the end, since that’s what everyone seemed to enjoy the most. Still, it was a lovely way for us to spend the afternoon.

The end of the school year is creeping up, and with that the elementary school had an open house. So the evening before I flew out for a work trip to Boston, the boys and I went over to the school to visit Adam’s current classroom and say hello to the teacher he’ll have when August rolls around and the new school year begins.

Then I was off to Boston!

First up was a trip down to Ardenwood Historic Farm. I’ve been wanting to go for a long time because they have a vintage train there you can ride, but what brought us down this time was their annual sheep shearing event. I wasn’t sure how the boys would feel about it, but they definitely had an interest. Aside from some timing issues and a much more crowded event than I expected, it was a good time. We got to wander around the farm and see lots of old farming equipment and animals, and then made our way over to the sheep shearing area where Aaron got to pet some sheep.

If we go again, it seems like going after noon is best for avoiding the crowds. And the train has been put away for maintenance, so hopefully next time we’ll have an opportunity to ride on that too.

Last weekend we made our way over to a book sale by our local library book organization and plant sale put on by our local garden club. The book sale is always a hit, though I didn’t come out with as many treasures as I had hoped. The plant sale was a lot of fun though. We aren’t the best at keeping plants alive, but the boys love gardening, so I’ve been setting plant watering reminders and trying to come up with strategies to be more thoughtful about plant care. We’ll see how it goes, we picked up five plants: rainbow cherry tomato, raspberry, Celosia Flamingo Feather, spider plant, and a geranium. I think most of them will do OK, but I am worried about the fragile little tomato plant.

We observed Passover recently with a Seder at home. It’s been an interesting time marker and opportunity to see how much the boys have matured, as we’ve never really managed to make our way through the Haggadah since we had kids. Last year Adam loved the search for the afikomen, but ignored most other things. This time I wouldn’t say they were fully engaged, but they did go through several of the seder activities with us and mostly stayed at the table during a seder that hit the important points. I’m really proud of them, and glad we can share this with them now. They still didn’t enjoy the brisket meal, but Aaron seems to love matzoh ball soup, even if he hasn’t quite figured out eating soup without wearing a good amount of it.

This spring has brought a several days of gloomy weather as well as new found sunshine and warmth. On one gloomy evening, we already had plans to take the boys to see their first movie in a theater. A Minecraft Movie was playing at our local one-screen, historic theater, and the elementary school booked a showing, and we figured it was a good opportunity in case the boys weren’t as quiet or settled as is appropriate for that setting. It was wild. Before it began there were kids literally climbing the walks, hopping on the stage, running around, and even during the movie it wasn’t exactly quiet in there. Aaron did talk a little during the movie to ask questions, but overall I was really happy with how it went. The movie was fun for all of us too.

Another rainy weekend was spent changing light bulbs. It wasn’t planned like that exactly, we had a few things on our house list and light bulbs were an afterthought, but when we discovered that the recessed lighting were canned lights, it basically derailed everything. What’s a canned light? You have to replace the whole thing? The ones we had are nearly 20 years old and not made anymore?! Thankfully, the holes in the ceiling are standard size for canned lights, so it wasn’t hard to order a half dozen and do a big replacement project the next day. We also scoured the house for a bunch of others to replace, including the one in the bathroom the kids use. In that one, I also took down the entire lovely, art deco glass feature and cleaned it, which I’ve never done (we’ve lived here for 7 years, hah!). In the end, our house has much better lighting and Adam told us he never wants to change light bulbs again. I guess it wasn’t exactly an exciting weekend for him.

In between all this, April brought two vague illnesses through the house during which the boys had mild fevers and sore throats. I’m grateful that no one else got sick, but it did cause some missed school and swim classes, which is always a bummer. The recovery isn’t fun for anyone either, since they both want to go on grand adventures, but I know they need rest to recover, even if they refuse to accept that. This weekend is more of the same, probably no light bulbs this time but we do have some projects on our list and a kid recovering from the latest ailment.

Fortunately, I have a great life, so personal hardship doesn’t make it worse. I also don’t have depression that’s debilitating enough to keep me from work and from the care of myself or loved ones. I am grateful for this, I know how lucky I am. It’s very hard some days, but it’s still possible to cope, even if I’m not feeling like my best self. And keeping our lives activity-filled on weekends does help keep my mind off how I’m feeling.

Retail therapy and seeing something to completion also help a little, perhaps unfortunately, but it did mean that finally getting a couch ordered and delivered for my office was a high point. We’ve actually done this before, but the couch was moved into the family room and we really like having it there, so we ordered an identical one to replace the one in my office. It’s actually a sofa bed, but it’s not a traditional one with a thin mattress, it’s the Serta Ainsley (Monroe on Wayfair) and it’s quite comfortable both as a couch and a bed. Since my home office doubles as a guest room, it’s nice to finally have it back, plus it’s a comfy spot to work from when the mood strikes.

We’ve been getting out around town lately, and the end of August brought one of our favorite events, Castro Valley Cruise Night! People bring their antique, vintage, and tricked out cars from all around the area to simply cruise down the boulevard. It’s just a couple blocks from home, so it makes for a very easy event for us to attend. A few booths from local law enforcement and emergency services are set up to meet the community, big speakers for music are set up midtown, and the community really shows up with folding chairs and snacks to hang out and enjoy the cars. It’s one of those events where we really feel community, and it’s energizing and makes me proud of our diverse little town. After doing some walking, we ended up at our favorite sushi place for dinner, and then got to enjoy the rest of the sunset and walk home and keep the boys out too late, oops. But we all had fun.

Last weekend we made it back over to the Chabot Space & Science Center for their first Friday event, and this month it was Science Fiction themed! We’re members, so it was a free event for us, but it would have been worth the price of admission. We were delighted to discover that the Sacramento Astromech Builders brought a couple droids that responded to activity, so the boys and I had a great time engaging with them. They also had face and arm painting of space designs, which Aaron was eager to get, and then Adam was too once he saw how great Aaron’s turned out. Since the event ran from 6-10PM we got to peek into the telescopes before and after sunset. Before sunset we went to their two smaller, older telescopes to see a couple stars, which were just pinpoints of light. After sunset we went over to their biggest telescope and saw the Ring Nebula! Aaron especially really seemed to enjoy that it looks a bit like a doughnut.

I didn’t realize until I got home that I was also wearing R2-D2 socks!

Aaron sits for some arm art

That Saturday marked the Castro Valley Fall Festival, which, yes, is held at the end of summer. It was warm out, but thankfully not overwhelmingly so, and we were able to enjoy a couple of hours there. I bought a couple local themed t-shirts from an artist there and we had some good food truck snacks. One booth had watercolor paining that the boys enjoyed, and there was a petting zoo! Aaron got a pony ride while Adam spent some time with older kids on a climbing structure.

Every Sunday morning the day has begun with the boys in swim classes. We actually started when we were in Philadelphia back in June and did them through July, then took a break in August as we settled back into school routines here in California. They’re held at a gym that’s about a 10 minute drive or 20 minute walk and single stop BART train ride. So far we’ve done both, and the boys definitely prefer the BART ride when it’s warm enough to take a stroll through parking lots and down sidewalks in their bathing suits and towels.

I’m happy to say that as of yesterday, they both graduated the first level of swim survival classes! Next Sunday they’ll have their first “Minnow” lessons, having completed the “Starfish” level. Luckily for us, they had openings in the same time slot, so it won’t be a big change for any of us.

We’ve also been putting some thought into what other activities to sign them up for. I feel like this is one of those things that really blind-sided me as a parent. I vaguely of knew about extracurricular activities, but it takes a lot of work on the part of the parents, and there’s a lot of pressure to sign your kid up for the “right” one. I’ve watched with a bit of shock how hard it is to get into some activities and the lengths people go to in order to get on the right lists and programs. Then I discovered that ones that are almost as good seem to have open availability. I obviously want our kids to be served well by the programs they’re in, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about parenthood it’s that the needs and values of the whole family need to always be factored in when making decisions about what we commit to. We’ll see what fits the criteria for us in the coming months.

We went on a lot of adventures. Possibly too many. The first day they were here we spent a lot of time on public transit making our way around San Francisco. We took BART up in the late morning and then immediately took a historic street car over to Fisherman’s Wharf where we finally got to ride the SkyStar Wheel (Ferris wheel). From there they did a little tourist shopping before we headed up to Ghirardelli Square.

Someone remind me never to go to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream on a summer weekend again. It was never a calm experience, but now it’s pure chaos. It’s loud, you hover over a table to find seating, and it’s quite the opposite of relaxing. We did eventually find a table to enjoy our ice cream, but I think Aaron was a little tired at this point so I had to sit with him for a while to calm down after he had a huge tantrum over not getting to finish the brownie on the sundae (it was offered to him multiple times!). Honestly, next time I might just take visiting friends and family to the Factory Store in San Leandro, it has a lovely little ice cream cafe that is enjoyable to eat in.

Once Aaron had calmed down and everyone used the restrooms the next thing on our agenda was riding on a cable car. We hopped on a bus and made our way down Van Ness to pick up the California Street cable car at the end. Unfortunately that’s when we learned that the cable cars had shut down for the day due to the Vice President visiting for a campaign fundraiser that happened to be taking place at a hotel located on the cable car lines. Thanks, Secret Service. Taking a peek at the time, we made a diversion to a nearby Grubstake Diner that MJ had heard good things about. It didn’t disappoint! The bus ride to Civic Center there did disappoint though. It’s not the best part of town, the bus was late, and I think that particular adventure was a lot for my sheltered Maine relatives, hah! Still, it got us safely to BART and all three of the kids fell asleep on the train ride home.

Sunday I wanted to be a bit more chill since everyone was tired, so we had a quiet morning at home together, and then decided to head up to Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland to finally visit the Chabot Space & Science Center. It was amazing!

The gems of the center are definitely the telescopes, and we’ll be back for some of their telescope events in the near future. It was fun checking out the exhibits, and there was a lot of interactive and play stuff there too, which will be nice to take more time with when we go there with just the boys.

They also have a planetarium that does shows all day, and I love planetariums. It’s also a gentle introduction to a theater environment for our rambunctious kiddos, and just like our planetarium experiment in Philadelphia back in July, this one went pretty well.

On Monday I worked from the San Francisco office and then Gaby was kind enough to shepherd everyone from Castro Valley into San Francisco on BART before concluding her day with the boys and heading home. This was when we fixed our missed cable car opportunity! We waited at the Powell Street turnaround for a while, and then caught a cable car back down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a nice walk and discovered the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Visitor Center that has a surprisingly extensive exhibit about the history of the area, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. From there my sister picked up some more tourist goodies and then we got on a street car to head home. Mission accomplished!

On Tuesday afternoon once Adam finished school I packed up my work laptop and we made our way over to the Oakland Zoo. I settled in near the bison paddock for a couple hours to finish work while Gaby and Annette took the boys around the zoo. I met up with them around closing to go on some rides in the area just outside the zoo.

We let everyone have a chill, local Wednesday and Thursday while I worked from my home office, and then took Friday off for some final adventures! In the course of the week, I discovered that going swimming was on their California list, but the beaches are far and not really swim-friendly, so I asked a local friend what she recommended and that’s how we ended up spending the afternoon at the Don Castro Swim Lagoon. It was perfect! I can’t believe we hadn’t been before! Admission for the six of us was a total of $15 and they have life guards and a very clean facility. It’s still beach-like, but it’s all man-made and effectively a big pool, which you notice when you swim out to the deeper parts since you can touch the concrete bottom of the “pool” out there. We had snacks at the beach and wrapped up around 4PM to clean up and eventually meet MJ for dinner. MJ was picking up the family car in Dublin, so we all hopped on BART and then caught a bus to meet him at Lazy Dog right on time to eat.

Our final adventure was on Saturday, to a railway museum that I’ll write about soon. They headed out on an overnight flight back to Maine on Saturday night. It was nice having them visit and seeing the boys bond over adventures, video games, and even chill TV time. I also enjoyed having some quiet time with my sister to catch up on family stuff and how she’s doing in general. We live such different lives so far apart, it can be tricky to stay connected, but these visits every year or so certainly help.

We came back about a week and a half before school started back up, with Aaron going back to his pre-school and Adam entering Kindergarten on August 7th. It gave us time for our au pair, Gaby, to take them out on some local adventures around town, over to the seed library at the Hayward Public Library, and to San Francisco. That Friday I drove them over to the Oakland Zoo where I settled in to work for the afternoon while they enjoyed the critters, and caught up with them at the end of the day to visit with their final remaining elephant, and then go on some rides outside the zoo once the main zoo closed.

We also got all the cars washed (an at-home car wash for our 2000 Alero, thanks boys!) and even jump-started one of them, since we’d been gone so long.

That first weekend back we went back to all our old routines. Saturday morning Farmer’s Market, we went to a book sale at the library and then a garage sale, had lunch at our favorite cafe. On Sunday I took them out for donuts and then we made our way over to the hardware store to pick up a couple plants and some soil to complete the dream Adam had all summer: planting a garden. I had gone out to Home Depot earlier in the week to pick up a garden box that was on clearance, and we assembled it, but quickly discovered that we didn’t have quite enough soil to fill it. Later in the week Gaby helped him with planting some seeds, which I’m happy to say have started sprouting.

Buying soil!

Freshly assembled garden box

Unfortunately it wasn’t all fun, MJ had an accident at the end of July that severely damaged his shoulder (thankfully no breaks) and that’s still healing, but he has been in a lot of pain for several weeks. Plus, he’s had to work doctors appointments and restricted driving ability into his schedule, which hasn’t been easy. A lot more childcare has shifted to me, but at least we’re back in California where I have some additional help around the house overall, so I’ve been able to manage the extra load, mostly.

Still, life kept moving along! While working with Adam on his planting adventure, and coming home after 8 weeks away, I realized how much our yard had gone to the weeds. It was bad. And honestly I don’t have the time or inclination to manage it, as much as I’ve tried. We ended up hiring a gardening service that pulled out all the mulch and weeds from the front, replaced a whole section along our front walkway with white rocks, and completed some weeding and tree trimming in the back. It’s still mulch, but it looks a lot better, and our neighbors certainly seem to appreciate it, and so do I.

Front garden before and after

The start of the school year was rather anticlimactic. Due to the arrangement of classes this year, Adam has the same teacher and classroom as he did in TK, so there wasn’t much to prepare him for, and Aaron went back to the same preschool. They both enjoy school right now, so there were also no tears. Aside from me coming close after we dropped them off, Kindergarten is a big step! Plus, it was nice to see us all get back to our routines, I certainly enjoyed being back in my home office here. Now we just need to get back to all our big home projects, the first of which is doing some furniture shuffling. But first, my sister and nephew came into town, and added on a few more adventures to the tail end of our summer!

I only had the pleasure of meeting Sherry once or twice and the boys never have, but a loss like this has ripple effects, and there was a heaviness to my journey. I felt bad that I couldn’t be physically present as MJ worked with her friends and their family to make arrangements.

Based on a variety of factors, her funeral ended up being after my trip and we decided that only MJ would go. He flew out on Thursday, just hours before I returned, so I didn’t get to see him, and we had a babysitter drop by in the early evening to fill in until my return. He came home Sunday night with stories about his aunt as he visited her home, the town she loved so much, and a bookshop she used to run. May her memory be a blessing.

Aunt Sher (right) at our wedding in 2013 and her mother, Ruth

With MJ away, I had the boys on my own for the weekend. On Saturday we took BART out to Dublin to visit a new playground that they absolutely loved, even if they didn’t love the half mile walk from BART to get there. Sunday was extremely warm, so we went on a water quest! The water hoses we had were cracked and basically unusable, so the boys and I went to our local hardware store in order to replace two of them, plus one of the stands they were on. When we got home we set them up and hooked up a new rainbow water toy in the yard and the boys had tons of fun running through it and turning it into a car wash for their Cozy Coupe.

In some ways it was a lot of fun to have the boys to myself, but it was also pretty tiring and I was eager to have MJ back. Plus, on Monday we had a Seder to prepare for!

Thankfully, MJ took off from work on Monday so he could recover from the trip and head up to San Francisco to pick up our Passover meal. When I was done with work at 4PM I got to work setting everything up. The boys are still quite picky about food, but Adam loves matzoh so it’s a fun time of year for him. The Seder was incredibly chaotic and I timed the food wrong again, but I think that’s part of the charm of family holiday dinners.

This year we also were able to hide the Afikoman and let the kids find it, which became a bit of a prolonged activity as the kids wanted to hide all kinds of things throughout the 8 days of Passover, hah!

I also succeeded at making matzoh brei, and the boys actually ate it, which was a nice surprise. Adam took to calling it “hot matzoh” and that’s probably the name in our house now.

The week of Passover also happened to be when some colleagues were in town, and we took the opportunity to go out for a group activity. Since our team is geographically distributed, it’s a rare occurrence for so many of us to be in one place, and there was one colleague in the group that I hadn’t met at all before! We met at a Bocce place in Livermore, and had a lovely lunch (even if my options were limited, Passover!) and then all attempted to figure out how to play Bocce, which was a lot of fun.

The end of April also meant MJ and I had our 11th wedding anniversary. Given everything that had been going on in the previous weeks (see above), we almost missed it, and had no opportunity to plan anything on the day itself. Instead, we booked at Thursday evening reservation just around the block at Tancho, featuring a Chef’s Counter Omakase experience. It was spectacular, and surprising for our little town! And while it was an expensive meal, they weren’t overly pretentious and the experience was a beautiful way to celebrate our anniversary.

Plus, by doing some thing early and local, it got us home in time to help their babysitter put the kids to bed. This was particularly important because we had just recently started our second attempt to put the boys in the same room. Honestly the change in room situation almost made us skip observing our anniversary at all, but we didn’t want to keep delaying taking time as a couple. It’s so important for us to stay connected, especially during the difficult and busy times.

“What do you want to do in San Francisco?”
“Just ride around in buses and trains and cable cars.”

That’s my boy. He also wanted to go back to the Cable Car Museum and to the new Transbay Terminal park where they have a fountain that activates along a path whenever a bus passes beneath it. With all these things in mind we mapped out a plan.

First up, we decided not to take the stroller. It was the first time taking both boys into San Francisco without it, so we were a little nervous, but we managed to keep walking to a minimum and relied on public transit. We took BART into the city and got off at Embarcadero Station where we picked up the California Street cable car. Aaron and I rode on the outside of the car while MJ and Adam rode inside for the first half of our ride. Once some people got off, MJ and Adam joined us on the outside and then we hopped off at the stop just down the street from the Cable Car Museum.

From there, we walked over to the new Rose Pak MUNI Metro station in Chinatown, during which we got to wave to several cable cars coming by!

We took the Metro from Chinatown back downtown where we then walked over to Jeffery’s Toys, which was sadly going out of business. We picked up a couple trinkets and then got lunch at a nearby California Pizza Kitchen that we sometimes went to when MJ and I lived nearby.

Right after lunch we stopped at the Ghirardelli ice cream shop at the corner of Market and New Montgomery for a couple sundaes.

After lunch we hopped on a PCC street car for a couple stops down Market and then made our way to the Transbay Terminal where we spent some time playing and watching the bus fountain until it was time to take our last exciting type of transit: a bus! It would take longer, but the boys really wanted to take a bus, and MJ found an AC Transit Transbay bus that we could take across the bay, through Alameda, and concluding at an Oakland BART station, which we’d then take back home. The plan was a hit for all of us. It was a nice and comfortable bus which was enjoyable to take, and Aaron fell asleep on me during the journey, so clearly he was comfortable!

That Sunday was quite rainy, and our only journey was to a thrift store to pick up a small filing cabinet to try and contain some of Adam’s school papers which had been increasingly taking over our house. During Aaron’s nap, Adam and I made a trio of custom shirts for Valentine’s Day!

Later in the afternoon, we made some banana bread and then some popcorn to enjoy with our stuck-indoors, movie-driven afternoon.

Speaking of movie-driven, I went to see a movie! I realized recently that something that would help a lot with life balance and mental health would be taking some time for myself. It may seem obvious, but our life is just so busy and we’ve been very reserved about hiring babysitters, only really doing it when absolutely necessary. Part of this is just a holdover from the pandemic, we haven’t adjusted our habits or repopulated our babysitter pool. But taking some time for me to go out, meet with friends, or just go to the record store on my own is so important. So last week I walked over to The Chabot theater, our local, historical, single screen theater and saw Argylle. It was so much fun! I also made some time to stop by my local record shop, and then over to the library where I picked up a couple books.

Last weekend celebrations began for the Lunar New Year. Adam had some celebrations at school to observe it and he was pretty excited, so I searched for some local events and found a lion dance event and crafts right nearby at our local library! So the boys and I first made our regular stop at the local farmers market, and then continued on our journey to the library where we met up with our au pair and her friend, and made it just in time for the dance to begin.

When that concluded, we made our way over to the children’s section of the library where they had celebratory crafts. Predictably, Aaron loved the crafts and Adam wanted to explore the rest of the library and check out a couple books. Around 11:30 MJ picked us up so we could go to lunch.

Before the sun rose on Sunday MJ was off to the airport for a business trip. That morning the boys and I went to the local Japanese Gardens. The boys love the gardens, they’re beautiful, have rocks to climb, and they can see fish and turtles in the water features. From there, we were off to lunch at our favorite local restaurant. Unfortunately, Aaron turned out to be terribly annoyed that we did the gardens instead of a playground, so we rectified that later in the afternoon by going to another park, this time with a playground.

Once all park needs were satisfied for the day, it was time to go home for the Super Bowl! We don’t really watch football and I can barely follow along, but Super Bowl Sunday is basically a holiday in the United States, and it turns out I really enjoy celebrating things with the boys. So we turned on the game, had snacks, chicken tenders, and little bagel bites. And we made and decorated sugar cookies. I guess making cookies isn’t a traditional Super Bowl thing, but the boys weren’t really going to watch the game and we needed something fun and different that we could do with the TV on aside from the regular playroom activities.

Then the game went into overtime right when I was supposed to start getting the boys ready for bed – oops! As a result, I was actively putting Aaron to bed as 5 minutes were left on the clock, and returned just in time to see Kansas City triumph over San Francisco. Adam was adorably disappointed because he knew San Francisco is “his” team, but he got over it within about 30 seconds and the subsequent bedtime routine went smoothly.

The week ahead promised to be very sugar-filled with a little birthday celebration for a friend and Valentine’s Day! We also have a week off from school coming up.

The second week in October is when our local pumpkin patch opened, and we were right there to welcome them! Pumpkin patches are odd things. I’m certain that in some areas they were actually the patches where pumpkins are grown, but every one I’ve ever been to has them delicately set out on a series of rows of hay bails. You wander up and down the rows and select your pumpkins. At the one we go to there are a bunch of rides for kids, which the boys really enjoy. We picked up a few small, decorative pumpkins while we were there.

For our actual carving pumpkins, we waited until the end of October and made the journey over to the grocery store for them. I’m not sure they’re fresher than getting them a few weeks earlier at the patch, but that was my hope, and we’ve had problems with carved pumpkins rotting very fast (within a day!) in the warm, northern California climate.

I joked when we got the pumpkins that I was only getting ONE to carve, because if I get one “for the boys” too, they’re interested for about 10 minutes before they run off and I’m left carving two pumpkins. Then Adam ended up bringing one home from school and insisted that we carve it, and I caved. Guess what happened? I carved two pumpkins. But I kept his simple and classic.

Mine was a bit more work. I found BART-themed pumpkin stencils and made myself a BART cat! Not sure what a BART cat is, but I think it must be related to Catbus. It’s cute and combines two of my favorite things, so I was happy.

Costume-wise, the boys are still young enough that we can follow their interests, but ultimately dress them up however we want and can pick a theme. This year it was Shaun the Sheep. Adam was Shaun, Aaron was baby Timmy, MJ was the farmer, and I got to be Bitzer the dog. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a terrible sheep dog, my sheep ran all over the place!

The first place they got to run around everywhere was Adam’s elementary school. They had games, music, and other activities, plus a firetruck that kids could climb into! They took turns in the fire truck, and little Aaron proclaimed that he wanted to climb the huge ladder. Classic. It was fun, but very loud, and there were lines for all the activities, which the boys had limited patience for.

Our next stop was over the weekend when we went to a Truck or Treat at park within walking distance of our house. We’ve gone to this event several years in a row, and it was definitely quieter this year than in the past, but we were perfectly fine with that. The kids got candy, and they got to do all the activities without much waiting!

And then finally, Halloween night! First, we ordered some pizza and watched Hotel Transylvania while answering the door for the first few trick-or-treaters of the evening. We’re very traditional Halloween-wise and stick to our own neighborhood. We don’t need big or fancy candies, and it’s OK if only half the houses are giving away candy. It’s a nice opportunity to meet some of the other families in the neighborhood, along with other neighbors who are opening doors to kids.

After our own trick-or-treat adventures, we watched more TV downstairs as we spent the rest of the evening answering the door and munching on candy far beyond standard bed times, just like you’d expect on Halloween. Thankfully the elementary school scheduled a staff-only day for November 1st, so we didn’t have to worry about getting out the door the next morning.

They had police horses that Aaron gathered the courage to pet, firetrucks that Aaron could climb up in, all while Adam explored the large grassy fields, marina, and generally enjoyed being outdoors in a park we haven’t spent a ton of time in.

Another evening Adam was rummaging around in my stuff in my home office (hey!) and found the Linux license plate that Compaq gave out back in 2000. I wasn’t the original owner, but it has been kicking around my office for some time without a home, and he excitedly told me that we should hang it up. Sounds good!

We did.

We wandered around the house replacing light bulbs and batteries another night, and the air filters for our HVAC system and air purifiers another. It actually turned these chores that had been piling up into a more fun and present experience. Instead of the boring manual labor of doing this tedious around-the-house work, I had a couple pint-sized helpers who would follow simple instructions like “bring me the screwdriver” or “bring me that trash bag” and enjoyed doing it.

One evening while out in the yard I even fixed the irrigation sprinklers. We had a monthly gardener for a while last year and on one of his visits he clipped one of the sprinkler heads and caused it to crack, which made the whole system unusable. Now, we don’t actually use it, so fixing it seems a bit silly, but the heads are less than $3 each and replacement is easy. Why not fix it? Plus, it was hot out, so it might be fun for the boys to play in the sprinklers!

Well, I quickly learned why we don’t use pop-up irrigation sprinklers with little kids. The damage a gardener did once was nothing compared to what a soggy kid who wants to clean his Cozy Coupe will do to a sprinkler head. I started with one broken one, and ended up replacing three. Oops. Though I guess I should be grateful that it was so easy to fix and they didn’t break anything more severely.

One of the reasons I’d been so eager to get out on a weeknight, or have more activities like fixing things, was that Adam hadn’t begun TK yet, and we had a (wonderful!) babysitter filling in while we were between au pairs for a few weeks. Unfortunately, due to the large price tag of hiring an hourly babysitter for what was effectively full time, we had her precisely cover while I was at work, not a moment more. That meant I had a bit more time with the boys than usual on weeknights, and that meant coming up with more activities to keep them engaged. At 2.5 and 4.5 years old, both are maturing in the direction that they can do solo play for longer stretches, so I’ve been able to get more chores done while still caring for them (and sometimes a little more work), a fact I was especially grateful for while juggling so much each day.

The week we matched with our new au pair, we went out to a local book shop to pick up some locally themed gifts and discovered the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Factory Outlet over in San Leandro. Having played tourist in San Francisco many times at the founding location that isn’t actually a factory now, it was a lot of fun to park in the lot for the actual current factory and enjoy their new ice cream parlor that opened up inside. The boys and I shared a brownie sundae.

Afterwards, we had dinner at The Original Mels Diner just down the street, which is the cousin of Mel’s in San Francisco, which we used to go to relatively frequently. The boys got their dinner in little paper cars, which I was pretty envious of until the amazing cornbread that went along with my turkey dinner arrived.

The first full weekend our new au pair was here turned out to be quite an eventful one. First was the Castro Valley Cruise Night. The town doesn’t shut down roads like for some of our annual festivals, but the boulevard is packed as people from all around the area make loops down the road in their classic and exotic cars. “Cruising” is frowned upon in most places, illegal in others, but for one night a year it is fun to get out with the rest of the community and enjoy seeing cars.

The next day we went up to San Francisco and showed our new au pair some of the classic tourist spots. Earlier that week we had ventured up to the city to check on some things at our condo, and ended up at Fogo de Chão where we made the surprising discovery that kids eat free there (though only Aaron was really into the whole experience). Our weekend visit was a much more exciting one though. We started off doing a near round-trip on the California Street cable car!

We got off near Grace Cathedral and walked down to the Cable Car Museum, which I was a bit worried would be too loud for my sound-sensitive kiddos, but Adam surprised me and spent the rest of the day asking to go back.

After the museum, we did the steep but thankfully mostly downhill walk down to Pier 39 where we had lunch and visited the sea lions. The big adventure for the afternoon though was visiting Aquarium of the Bay. Aaron loves fish and other swimming things, so I’ve been wanting to take him to an aquarium for months. With our half off discount via the Oakland Zoo membership, this was the perfect opportunity, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s not a huge aquarium, but it has some wonderful fish tunnels and overall Aaron had a blast there.

Our final stop was to to the Musée Mécanique, which was quite crowded and everyone was getting tired at this point. I think the boys would have enjoyed it more if the circumstances had been different, I’ll have to keep it in mind for the future. From Fisherman’s Wharf, we hopped on a vintage street car and made our way back to BART to go home. A fun day, and a successful one of showing off how the Clipper cards and public transit around San Francisco works to our new au pair.

Living in beautiful-all-year California, the end of summer is kind of a vague thing, but with work getting busier, Adam going to TK, and generally some things changing in our household, these adventures actually did feel like a close to summertime.