I Left My Heart...

Four days with my husband, our best friends, and San Francisco. And since the kids were enjoying sleepovers with Gram & Paw-Paw and Aunt Sara it was a true vacation. (Kids, if you are reading this one day, please hold judgment on that last statement until you have children of your own.) We had burritos in The Mission, bought trinkets in Chinatown, saw a man riding naked on his bike near Fisherman's Wharf, watched Ashley play soccer, drank wine at Gundlach Bundschu in Sonoma, drove down the coast and watched the sunset, went to Capatola Beach, Steve tried surfing (and actually did well for his first time out, ) we ate one of the best meals ever at Wood Tavern, and spent some good hours in between laughing. My favorite part was the laughing. I miss hanging out with Brian & Jen regularly. I learn so much from them about serving, leading, loving, parenting, cooking, I could go on and on. The McKillips relocated to San Francisco 3 years ago and have been trying to convince us to move there ever since. I would so love to. I love the culture, the people, the weather, the scenery, the proximity to beaches and mountains, the food, the pace, and the McKillips. For now I will try to apply a little SF mindset to my STL life. And start saving for our next visit.

Daniel's First Day of School

Daniel started school this week. This year he will attend three mornings a week and his homeroom class is The Rainbow Room, which is a pretty big deal in the land of Union Preschool. The Rainbow Room is where all of the "pretend play" toys reside, along with the fish, hamsters and science toys. There is a play house, a loft, and all kinds of God-made goodies in boxes and jars around the room.


This year he will be learning about numbers and letters, and he'll have a few field trips to the library. When his first day was done, as usual, all he had to report was that they had juice and pretzels for a snack. He described the pretzel shapes and juice flavors in great detail. I have no idea what else they did all morning.


Addie was disappointed when we left Daniel at school in the morning, not because she misses her brother, but because she wants to go to school so badly. Even so, she was happy to see him at the end of the day.

Safety Hudgies

Daniel invented these about a year ago. I'm just getting around to editing the video for web. This little apple did not fall far from "Safety Steve's" tree.

Wipeout

We love to watch Wipeout. Something about people voluntarily humiliating themselves is just good-heartedly funny. And Daniel loves the mud. If he were old enough he'd be the first one in line to take a header into the sludge and bounce off the big balls. If we lived in L.A. I'd convince Steve to go on the show, because I know he'd win. But we live here, and while our yard does have a mud pit and one big red rubber ball, the effect isn't the same. One afternoon we filled a baby pool with bubble bath and made up our own version of Wipeout. The kids jumped in, but had more fun splashing than wiping out.

Lessons Learned from the Garden

This photo was taken mid-season. Don't ask me why Daniel has only one sock. Our garden wasn't a huge success, but I learned a lot I can apply to next year's garden.

The tomatoes were plentiful, but a source of major frustration. Squirrels and opossums helped themselves to many; so many that I pondered getting a cat, but Steve reminded me that I would have to pet it and care for it at least a little, so no cat. Eventually the tomatoes were abundant enough that the rodents decided to leave some for us. Enough for homemade tomato sauce which turned out kind of ho-hum. I did discover that adding a little baking soda to tomato sauce cuts the acidity.

The sunflowers Daniel & Addie planted grew to a whopping 9 feet! By far our greatest success.

The herbs did well, the peppers are slowly turning red, and the rest was a little disappointing. No watermelons. But we're starting round 2 with some broccoli, pumpkins and lettuce.

Next spring we'll move the garden to our new sunny spot in the back. I've come to terms with my new landscape...sort of. We bought a new tree and have a plan for large bushes and twining vines to cover the fence. Praying Miracle Gro will rain down from the heavens so everything fills in fast.