Playtime

Alright. It's been a while, and we've been busy. First of all, we are now residents of the great state of California! The move was as low-stress as a move can be, with a quick stop in Utah before we drove out to our new home.

The kids always have fun at Grandma's.

We took a moment to get some new tires for the car.

This is how normal people wait.

This is how Elinor waits.

The Fourth of July was a lot of fun too. I loved seeing all the cousins gathering and playing together.

After spending a couple of days in Utah we drove the rest of the way to California. The kids and I have had a lot of time to do fun stuff together while exploring this new area. We go to different parks or on different hikes most mornings, and spend a lot of time in the pool in the afternoon.

Cuesta Park. I'm always surprised at how close the kids always end up playing, even when they have a huge playground to run around.

A hike in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Not the greatest picture, but I love how crazy Elinor is.

A better picture of the scenery. The drought has made all of our hikes really dusty and dead-looking, but most of the trees are still green.

And Jake. On my back. This was a tricky picture to take.

I take the kids hiking. A lot. I used to want to go all the time but couldn't because Joseph was always working, and then one day I realized that I could do it myself and since then we have gone at least once a week. (The same exact thing happened with my attitude about getting to the temple! Except I don't go once a week.) Elinor is a trooper. She is always enthusiastic about the prospect of a good hike and super tough throughout. Jake rides on my back most of the way. Caleb and Emily are babies about it so we have a deal where they have to pay me back for taking them to the pool by going hiking with me. Because, you see, I have a secret crazy plan to take the whole family on a 30-mile backpacking trip one day (probably the Skyline to the Sea trail) and I want hiking to be something they are used to and comfortable with by then. Don't worry. I won't attempt the long distance hike until Jake is at least five. I'm excited about it. I might be the only one in the family excited though. :)
 

Juana Briones park in Palo Alto. This park had a fantastic playscape, but the kids only wanted to play with the little water toy. All together again.

Shoreline Park this morning. The kids were intrigued by all the windsurfers. I'm pretty sure there was a windsurfing/sailing camp for kids going on right then. Awesome, right?!

Here's a picture of Emily and Jacob exploring the tunnel-caves at Central park in Santa Clara.

This park was fabulous. Emily (our climber) was in heaven.

It had a pretty fast and scary slide that the kids loved, but Jacob would not go down alone.

Elinor made me take this picture like four times until she got the pose just right.

These giant concrete tree-planter things were so much fun for the kids to climb all over.

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it. For some reason, the kids could not stop staring at a little silver tag stuck on the trunk of a tree. Jake was staring at first too, but he has a really short attention span.

California has been really fun so far, and the weather is perfect (besides there being no rain here). I am always so surprised to step outside at 4 in the afternoon to feel the cool breeze but also see the bright sunshine. I have also been impressed by the number of great hikes and trails around here. I'm excited to keep exploring!