More Goodbyes

Our next door neighbor, Ms. Dorothy, runs a day care, and she hosted a goodbye party for the girls today. The kids ate pizza, cake, and ice cream and then played for an hour while I got some cleaning done. We're going to miss the kids next door. Taylor asked me, "Can I go over to the day care?" so often that it was probably one of Lauryn's first long sentences. At least once a week the girls would hop the fence to play--with Ms. Dorothy's and Mom's approval of course.

Bed Head

I'm grateful for detangling spray.

Goodbyes

We had a park picnic play day Wednesday to say goodbye to Easton, Sabina and their mom Lisa. Good friends! We all enjoyed some of Peter's homemade fig roll ups.

Easton and Taylor were preschool buds.

Running Lake Chabot

One thing that I may miss above all else about this place is Lake Chabot. One friend told me there are over 700 miles of trails around the lake and on into other regional parks. One of my favorite runs was simply around the lake but I never got to share the whole 10-mile loop with anyone. Here are some of my favorite parts of the loop as well as a video of my favorite single-track section. I always thought it would be cool to make a video of this but now I include it as comic relief. It's sort of like that movie Blair Witch Project; shaky and confusing.

On clear days you can see San Francisco glistening in the distance from this vista.

This lake has lots of fingers so before you can get to that side of the lake...

...you must run around this section.

It's ironic that here, in the city, there are awesome trails to run but in the mountains where I'm going I will be running mostly on the highway.

Half Moon Bay

Off to Half Moon Bay! But first...

Gotta change the flat.It was foggy but not too cold. The kids had fun playing in the sand, and I ejoyed the peaceful sound of the waves. That's Bren in the picture with Lauryn, not me. She came down for two days which was awesome.

Jill and her daughters.

Afterwards we walked down town and had ice cream cones. I nabbed these pictures from Bren's facebook:

Interesting Data

I just got off the phone with an institution that does not recognize my new address in Somes Bar. I think that happens a lot so I will probably need to get a P.O. Box at the store. While I was looking for the post office I came across this site with info about Somes Bar. I keep saying the population is 600 but according to this site it's 197!

Bye Bye Bunk Beds

We gave our bunk beds and dresser away yesterday to a family in need. This is how the girls slept last night.Our house was on the market 8 days before we got an offer for our asking price. We're in escrow now and hoping that all goes as planned. Peter took our first big load up today and will work at the ranch for a few weeks before coming back down for the final move.

What Happens...

...when you leave Lauryn alone to eat a hard-boiled egg. Peter and I were downstairs when I heard a pounding noise in the dining room. I came up to find Lauryn smashing her yoke with her palms. Are you familiar with the game Mole? It was like that. Later Peter told me that Lauryn never eats the yoke, just the whites. I wish I would have known that sooner.

Farewell Potluck

Three families, including ours, are moving out of our ward at the same time. We had a farewell potluck at our place last week. Peter spent his time chasing kids out of the garden while I visited. I will miss this ward. I put more pictures on facebook.

Telesia and Jill hanging in the hammocks Mia, one of Taylor and Lauryn's favorite playmates, and her mom Lisa, one of my best pals.

Beating the Heat

It has been so hot here lately. A few days ago we went over to the Potter's house to jump on their trampoline in the sprinkler. Taylor and Mia thought it was awesome; Lauryn stuck to the wading pool.

Jelly Belly Birthday Beauty

Yesterday, after a morning run and Peter's morning basketball, we got the house ready for an open house and headed to Woodland to celebrate Grandma Carolyn's birthday at Vince's Mexican Restaurant. On the way we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory. We waited in line and everything seemed fine. Then...we had to wear hats to go on the tour. Lauryn completely refused and couldn't be bribed. So she and Peter waited outside while Taylor and I went through the tour. Afterwards...

Then we visited with the Ochoa family and checked out their new, awesome house before going to Vince's.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

On the way home we saw an amazing double rainbow.

Don't worry about Lauryn, she has fully recovered.

The Good Life

When Peter quit his job, we decided that we wouldn't spend any more money on food and just live off our garden, food storage, and chicken eggs. I was not looking forward to eating. However, we've been eating better than normal around here. This was Friday's dinner: Cucumber and tomato salad,
salmon burgers and grilled zucchini

enjoyed outside on the patio.

I Think I Can

Taylor learned how to ride her bike yesterday. Peter is a good teacher. We went back to the school playground again today to practice and this time I brought the camera. The best part of this video is at the end when you can hear Taylor chanting "I think I can. I think I can."

Replacing Pebbles

This is our newest chicken. Peter says he wasn't planning on getting another chicken to replace Pebbles until he saw this beauty. She has grown up free-roaming and so when Peter was feeding her yesterday she escaped the coop and our yard. She flew right over the fence. Once I got into the neighbor's yard, she flew over another fence. After meeting more of our neighbors and explaining our predicament (which they found amusing) we finally caught her and clipped her wings right away. This was after the chase and wing-clipping. I think she was exhausted because she stood on Peter's skateboard for a long time.
I love the color of her feathers. She just started to lay eggs, they are off-white.

On the Market

Facing Reality: We can afford to be here only a couple more months...without buying food (yay for food storage, chicken eggs, and our garden). Law firms in the area have laid off many employees. The chances of Peter finding a job that will allow us to keep the house is slim. So, our house has a big FOR SALE sign and is officially on the market. You can check out pictures on our realtor's' website. We're 670 Sybil.

Cock-a-Doodle-Do

While the girls and I were in Trinidad, Peter stayed home to do some projects that we had materials for but hadn't gotten to because we didn't have time. One morning he called me around 8AM; I was still in bed. "I've been up since 6:30," he said, which isn't normal Peter behavior. Turns out, around 6AM he was having a dream in which someone kept making this awful noise. When he finally woke up he realized that Pebbles, our youngest chicken, was welcoming the morning as only a rooster can do. He took Pebbles back that day and got another hen--which I think is completely crazy considering our situation at the moment. We were very suspicious of Pebbles' rooster tail and strut. She--er He never got along with the other chickens so it's kind of a relief.

Trinidad Vacation

We have spent the last ten days on a much-needed family vacation in Trinidad, CA. Karen's family gets together there every year to go fishing and relax. Here is an overload of pictures. I'm missing pictures of our boat ride, but I'll get those from Mom later. Taylor making a necklace at the bead store.
The first five days were beautiful and warm. Lauryn loved the beach.

Taylor and cousin Josh

Peter came up on Taylor's birthday to spend the last part of the week with us. Here he is adorned with "Pretty Pretty Princess" accessories.

Happy 5th birthday Taylor! Bren made the carrot cake.

The Birthday Girl

4th of July on the Arcata plaza

Daddy shows how it's done.

Poor parenting moment.

Listening to the live music.

Fireworks on Trinidad Sate Beach

Taylor and Lauryn sporting their matching Patagonia jackets from Amy.

Auntie Bren and Lauryn

Lauren, Laura, Bren Laurel, and Lauryn

Peter put on a nice fireworks display for our group. We also enjoyed watching the fireworks of other families on the beach, especially the illegal ones.

Taylor was Daddy's helper.