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 […]
Archive for the ‘kids’ Category
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 […]
A nature-full spring break in Philly
April 22nd, 2025 by pleia2
Spring break from school landed over the end of March and into April and we took the opportunity to add on a second week and spend the time in Philadelphia. We got in on a Friday night, and the next day the Churchville Nature Center happened to be having a day of activities for members. […]
Organizing things and watching monster trucks
March 20th, 2025 by pleia2
A few weeks ago I began a home organization project whose goals were: To make me feel better about our home, rather than “argh, it’s always a mess!” To make it easier for me to complete tasks, less “where is that form for school?” and “where is that 9 inch baking pan?” And with the […]
A rainy February
February 26th, 2025 by pleia2
We’ve had a pretty chill February. Part of it is that I’ve just been a bit tired and it’s easier to stay close to home, another is that we’ve wanted to spend the weekends catching up with some stuff around the house instead of grand adventures. It’s also rained a lot and been quite chilly, […]
Lions and more Lego
February 13th, 2025 by pleia2
Beyond birthday parties and wish granting, our January was pretty normal. We were all fighting off the ever-present runny noses that stalk our household this time of year, we had some small adventures. On the weekend we visited Aaron’s cave on the west side of San Francisco, we made the trek up to the bay […]
Birthday wishes: Caves and Ice
February 8th, 2025 by pleia2
Some time last year Aaron started asking to go visit a cave. I don’t know where he learned about caves, or what drove this request, but he was quite insistent upon it, for months. Finally, just prior to his birthday in December, I did some online spelunking to see if there were any we could […]
A very Lego 6th birthday
February 7th, 2025 by pleia2
On January 6th Adam turned six years old. He’s blossomed into a hilarious, fun kid and I’m so proud of his thoughtfulness and kindness. Plus, he’s always been interested in figuring things out, so this past year that’s morphed into doing Lego kits with me, and one of his birthday requests was going to the […]
Hanukkah 5785 in Philadelphia
January 31st, 2025 by pleia2
This year was the first time with the kids that Hanukkah ended up being observed all in Philadelphia. Because of how it moves around on the Gregorian calendar, there is always a chance that we’ll be spending part or all of Hanukkah in Philadelphia over the winter school break. It presented an interesting challenge, how […]
A castle, dinosaurs, and snow in Philly
January 22nd, 2025 by pleia2
I wouldn’t recommend flying across the country 12 days after an appendectomy, it’s painful, but we had holiday plans in Philadelphia and our flights wouldn’t wait! On December 18th, with a lot of luggage help from our au pair, we made our way out to Philadelphia for two and a half weeks. We were greeted […]