First Beach Day of 2021

Enjoying spring with the roller skates she got from the swap. They won't fit her by the end of this summer; but she likes them a lot!

 

Austin also got a set of adjustable roller blades.

They were excited to have done the puzzle without help.

Crazy hair day at CC

Colleen made a poster for a book for her teacher who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She worked hard on putting it together.

She got up this particular morning & told me that she needed to do her morning exercises. It was hysterical.

We had our first beach trip of the year! Our friends were running a bit late, so we stopped for a geocache near the marina.

 

 

The kids played so nicely all day, but it was much cooler than we expected. Although it was in the low 80's at home, it was in the low 60's at the shore. The water was icy, yet they still played in it. We were sad to pack up to get back to karate; the kids had so much fun.

 

 

 

We spent a morning doing school at Rolling Knolls park. Colleen did the monkey bars all by herself!

Austin had been coaching her.

This cache evaded us for weeks, but we finally found it!

A random late evening at the park, practicing baseball & playing.

Our finished bowls! They are perfect for popcorn, so we christened them with it.

 

 

Carolyn Comes for a Week

Carolyn came to spend the entire week with us; we settled into a comfortable routine of her working early/completing our school until about 2pm & then we had fun together. Sometimes we had outings; other times we had fun at the house.

Quick walk to the pebble beach by the dam at Duke Island Park

Colleen working diligently on our co-op end-of-the-year poster.

Austin's Monday night baseball game

Tuesday was the warmest day of this week, so we moved karate & spent the afternoon at Round Valley Reservoir. Patrick went into the office this day, so he met us after work to spend some time soaking in the sun.

 

 

Wednesday was rainy; we painted pottery & made gnocchi from scratch. Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colleen was so enamored with Amelia's sequin set, that she & I hunted online for her own pinless sequin activity book. She loved it!

 

On Thursday, the kids & I discussed throwing Carolyn a surprise early birthday party. Amelia asked if we could make cupcakes earlier in the day as a decoy. Austin asked Carolyn if she would come watch his karate class; while she was with Austin, the girls & I decorated the dining room & frosted the cupcakes. Amelia showed me her trick for blowing up balloons with a straw.

Excitement for all!

On Friday, we took a lovely walk at Duke Farms. Everything was in bloom & glorious.

 

And, of course, we picked up a cache or two. Carolyn found her first cache all by herself!

 

 

 

Saturday was the Swap Party that I go to twice a year. I have no photos of the day, but Carolyn & I went early in the morning to help with set up. Then we stayed for clean up, so we were exhausted when we got home. But the kids love it when I set up "swap Christmas" for them the next morning with their piles of free new stuff that I snagged. 

We were sad to see Carolyn leave on Sunday, but grateful for the sweet moments that we got in between work and activities.