Weekend fun for everyone.

Our au pair, Rebeka, sadly (for us) will be leaving in about a month.   She has gotten engaged to a great guy, Alex, and they will start their life together soon.   As a good-bye present to the kids, she wanted to take them with Alex to an amusement park.   I suggested Waterworld--a waterpark in the east bay.  So this Saturday, she and Alex took the kids for a special adventure.

Meanwhile, Jason and I were left with a weekend day at home alone without kids or work--what a treat!  We decided to take advantage of our time and took a long hike in Point Reyes--Alamere Falls--a 8 mile round trip to a waterfall that drops into the ocean.  It had been almost 10 years since we did the hike.  Unfortunately, it has also been "discovered" by social media since then, so it was a lot more crowded than I remembered.   But still really beautiful, with a lot of water running even at the end of september.

The kids returned home shortly after we did, equally jazzed about their day.   Perfect!

Powered by the sun

A few months ago, we decided to invest in solar panels for our roof.  It faces southwest, so has the perfect positioning for harvesting the afternoon heat.   In about eight to ten years, the energy that we generate will have offset the cost of purchasing the panels, so we will be making energy for free.  Meanwhile, each day we can track how many kilowatts that we produce, and give back to the energy grid.  What is really neat is since I drive an electric car, all of my transportation is pretty much sun-powered.   I do worry a lot about global warming, and the environment that we are leaving to the future.    But now, we are doing our part to keep our earth a beautiful place for our children and generations to come.

Half Birthdays

Well it is has been a busy summer.   But we still managed to mark the kids half-birthdays with small celebrations--but I am only getting around to posting them now.

Alaina hit 4.5 this year.  I cant believe it.   Most days, I look at her and wonder what happened to my baby?????   She has developed quite a sense of humor.  She loves telling jokes and rolling her eyes. Whenever we take a pic, she always wants to take one silly one after the "formal" one.   She has really gotten into coloring, and her manual dexterity has improved tremendously--she is writing all of her letters quite well, although she still tends to write her name backwards.

When Ethan hit the big 8.5, I had another "wow, what happened" moment.  Ethan continues to be a happy, loud, and loving kid who is really maturing quickly.   He recently got a new haircut--a schlitzie, as jason calls it, otherwise known as a buzz cut--and it makes him look older.   He continue to love playing sports--I think that baseball is his current favorite--and of course eating.

Life sure flies by.