Self Applied Sunblock

There will be no sunburn in ballet class today

If God Takes a Vacation in October...

..he may very well head to Carmel.

We took a much needed break from our over scheduled weekends (birthday parties, school events, social events, soccer, and more!)   We were treated to epic weather.

D

D 

C

Why Didn't Anyone Tell me...

...That when my kids started kindergarten I would quickly become more chauffeur than cohort in this business of growing up?
...That instead of doing things with them I would spend a lot of time watching them do things?
...That there isn’t a lot of time to do anything really fun between 2:30 and dinner/bath/bedtime?  
...That kindergarten is like the entryway into the rest of the world?  That their little brains have to start tackling complex thoughts and handling complex situations and respond to complex influences?  That our lives would get crazy and over scheduled in a flash?
...That I would not end up with any more free time on my hands?
...That soccer would begin to own my Saturdays?
...That I would be better as a mom w/ 3 kids than with one, in that with one I tend to forget to bring a snack or lunch but would never have done that when I set off with 3?

...That I would look back and be so, so, so incredibly grateful for all the mornings last year when I had all three girls and the city was our playground?

...That I would miss those mornings so much that I would think I got the lucky end of the stick when Andrew left for the weekend and I had the girls to myself?

Apple picking about an hour north on our Dodson Girls Weekend

Goats!

C Inspects an Apple

Still Standing After All These Years

 We moved to San Francisco in August of 2004—over 7 years ago (In SF years, 20 years.  Of the 18 kids in C and D’s first preschool class, only 4 others still live here). Last year I was sure would be our last, but here we are again, and it is glorious October.  We still have no yard, and our apartment could serve for a period movie about the 1930s.  (C and D also love Marin now and can’t wait to live “where there is sun.”) But we love our schools, and we experience the beauty of San Francisco daily.  And I like that C and D will actually remember “growing up in San Francisco.”  When we leave in a few years, we will be more than ready, but for now, here we are.

 Having a playdate on the beach and watching the jet girls (Blue Angels).

 The next afternoon, getting "ice cream made on the spot" at a new ice cream outpost in Hayes Valley, and seeing them fly overhead again (LBD loves them)

Steve Jobs

I tried to explain to C and D that the man who was responsible for inventing many things they liked, and pretty much everything lila likes, went to heaven before his time.  I tried to explain how, thanks in many ways to Steve Jobs,  I can be work accessible (or even working) and still wait for them at the bus or outside of ballet.  I tried to explain the importance of thinking differently.