2 Trips

March 2023

As we left all the snow behind in Yosemite, we were surprised to learn that even the hills right near our house were getting snow. I didn't get any pictures of that, but I couple days later, I grabbed a picture of the surprising amount of snow that was still hanging out on Mount Diablo. 

A major highlight of March for me was getting to go to San Diego for a couple days with my sister! We stayed at the cutest hotel and spent time walking around (seriously, 12 miles one of the days), eating delicious food, shopping in cute stores, exploring the beach, hiking and just hanging out/catching up. We could talk for hours and it's nice to be able to do exactly that without our kids interrupting us. 

 

Random smugglers' cave that we overpaid to check out. But no regrets because it was fascinating to see how this was set up to smuggle things in and the cave opening made the silhouette of Sunny Jim-a cartoon mascot for an old brand of cereal. 

Pretty crazy, right?

All the baby seals driving their mommas crazy and trying to flop away from them

We went for a hike and missed the trailhead only to eventually come back out that way and feel validated knowing we wouldn't have guessed it was an actual trail in a million years.

Brunch, baby

Another fun outing was the Japanese Friendship garden downtown. The cherry blossoms were blooming and it was gorgeous.

Exploring the hotel and going for a swim before we had to head home. 

Andrew started making the kids alphabet pancakes. They love it way more than this picture suggests, I promise. 

Less than a week after I got home, Andrew was off on a trip to France for work. He spent a week in Strasbourg and got to explore a famous cathedral, eat lots of yummy food, and of course, spend most of his time working. The day before he was supposed to come home, he texted me saying that his colleagues out there were asking if he could stay for another week. Haha it was a bit of a disappointment for everyone, but Andrew managed to find some fun things to do and the kids and I kept things going back home. 

After that surprised two week trip and a little bit of time spent recovering from all the excitement of the month, March was pretty much over. It went by so fast. 

Adaline picked these flowers in her gardening class and then came home and made arrangements for the kitchen counter. 

The nativity that Andrew brought home since Strasbourg is known for their Christmas markets

This trimester, Adaline is studying Harry Potter for her big project. She's learning about the author, the theme parks, and how it all came to be so popular. For one part of her project, she made butter beer. It's fun to see her learn how to research and to find different ways to present what she's learning.