The sun returns

strawberries on the beach - summer has started!

The summer has hopefully finally started with this beautiful Memorial Day weekend. Saturday we went to Ocean Beach for a walk. The sand there was very black, and the lifeguard showed us that it is actually magnatite. Very cool.

Sunday was another beach day. We met up with friends at Montara Beach to play in the sand and have a BBQ. The weather couldn't have been better-  warm, no wind, and not too hot.

Alec had lots of fun playing with the girls.

The kids loved being buried in the sand, although for A the thrill didn't last long, especially when there were so many sand toys, algae, and a frisbee.

Lunch was delicious, then after a bit more hanging out, it was time to hit the road. We should have left about 20 minutes earlier to avoid (perhaps) an outburst, but now the little man has calmed down and is hopefully dreaming of shovels, sand, and the sea.

buried treasures

Back at the ranch

Alec just returned from 10 days visiting his grandparents in Quebec, while N was reunioning with various classmates.  I missed them and am glad that they are back at home.

While they were gone, A's garden grew like crazy - we've been harvesting radishes and arugula - beans, carrots, etc. will have to wait a bit longer.

He's been sort of hyper since he got off the plane. Running around, playing at the park late last night,
and looking through his microscope:

and reading a new book:

And getting back to his California life.

Magic Mountain Dream Machines

Last weekend the weather was gorgeous and we had dates with friends. First off a birthday party for some of Alec's preschool friends at the Magic Mountain Park in Coyote Point. Lots of running around, climbing, and polishing off some very fancy cakes.

Then on Sunday morning we got an early start to drive down the coast to the Half Moon Bay Airport for the airshow, where we joined Adair and her parents. Vintage fighter planes, dancing on the tarmac, what more could you want?

'

checking out the planes

Alec even got to sit in a NOAA plane that they use for environmental management of the coast.

Woahhh!

Of course, a bbq courtesy of chef K was in order afterwards, while the kids played in the garden.

Party time!

Yesterday was Aunt R's birthday, and we had the family over for a nice dinner. The sun was out, and sets late now, so there was ample time before everyone got here for playing in the garden and doing some weeding.  Alec loves helping!

dinosaur gloves!

We had a great dinner, followed by a double pie dessert - pear and ollalieberry.  I hope that R gets all of her wishes.

A la mode, of course!

Visite de grand-maman et grand-papa

Grand-papa et grand-maman sont venus visiter Alec pendant une dizaine de jours à San Francisco.

Alec a passé beaucoup de temps à lire et à jouer avec ses grand parents...








... et il a eu un lapin de Pâques!

Playing

hula hoopin'

Alec's grandparents are visiting from Quebec, and he has been enjoying spending lots of time with them.
Frequent activities include playing and reading. Here are some photos from the past week...

Down by the Bay

Unfortunately, the photos from the Sussman family Passover seder aren't on my camera, but I hope to see them soon. The little man was a trooper, after a brief meltdown at the beginning, he participated and played until almost midnight!

The weather situation has deteriorated since these photos were taken last weekend. We've had a rainy week and Alec has a cold, but we're hanging in there and looking forward to the weekend!

Choco-monster

After a day where Alec was tired and didn't want to eat anything, while we weren't looking, he found the secret chocolate stash ....

Unfortunately, it wasn't just chocolate, it was Chocolove dark coffee crunch - basically dark chocolate with ground coffee in it. Or perhaps we should just call it double caffeine delight or hellish night waiting to happen.

The monster strikes again!