May 29, 2012
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The weekend after I got back from Kathy’s celebration cruise, was pretty laid back. Saturday, the kids both had dentist appointments right after Calie’s dance class – no cavities x2! Hurrah! Then we went to a carnival set up at Intel. There were bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, and fish feeding. But by the time we arrived, the lines were too long, and the fish were no longer interested in eating. We did some carnival games and won inflatable bats and stuffed animals. Zach was super excited to win the last dolphin on his last attempt, the very last minute before the carnival shut down.
James won tickets for free hot dogs (yuck), but they ran out, so we got hamburgers instead (yea!). We also had tickets for sno-cones. There was a small dispenser for the flavors, which allowed me to control the amount of artificial flavor/color my children ingest. As we had extra food tickets, I gave some to one of the guys on my team.
The kids played indoors in the afternoon, but the weather was so nice/warm, that we kicked them outside in the evening for dinner. We have a shady backyard and a new patio set, so it would be a shame not to use it!
On Sunday, Calie had a playdate with Cassie. We met up at a park near our home, which has play structures, sand, shaded picnic tables, and a water feature.
We had a picnic lunch at the park and then headed home in time to attend Kaitlyn’s birthday party at The Bounce Spot. I thought maybe Zach would be too old for a bounce house party – it’s been awhile since he’s been to one – but he had a great time! He had so much fun rough housing that he lost a wiggly tooth (#7). Happy 8th Birthday Kaitlyn!
During the week, I hosted guests from Microsoft, which meant long days (through dinner), as I wanted to get the most out of our on site collaboration. I also attended an interactive murder mystery team builder (Suspects). While it was fun, the combination of the 2 day Microsoft visit and the afternoon off resulted in late night catch up work. I was exhausted. The three day weekend could not have come soon enough! We kicked off Memorial Day weekend with a casual dinner playdate at Alex and Nicole’s house, where we played games. Crockpot barbecue pulled-chicken in Hawaiian sweet rolls = yummy! Our original plan for the long weekend was 2 nights of camping in Tahoe. We even had the car loaded in preparation. However, the weather forecast predicted below freezing temperatures and scattered thunderstorms, so we aborted mission. As it was the day before, we forfeited our payment – at least it went to a good cause, supporting California parks.
Saturday, after Calie’s dance class and lunch, we arrived at Marine World around 2pm. My work gave us 4 season passes with free parking. As it was a long weekend with ideal weather (70s), we had to park in an overflow lot – according to the parking attendees it was one of their busiest days yet! Knowing that Tava’s Jungleland is the least popular section, we decided to hang out there for most of the day. Since we had season passes (as well as a free weekday from work later in June to go), there was no reason to fight the crowds. Zach is now over 48″, which unlocked a number of good rides: Wave Swinger, Thrilla Gorilla, and Boomerang. He also went on Bumper Buggies, Scat-A-Bout, Monkey Business, Cobra, and The Ark.
We interspersed these rides with kiddie rides for Calie and a walk through the butterfly pavilion. The kids played in Zoe’s tree house a lot longer than I expected too. As I predicted, Tava’s Jungleland was very empty which allowed us to get on ride after ride after ride … Frog Hopper (x7), Monkey Around (x4), Tava’s Elephant Parade (x5), Congo Queen (x5), Safari Jeep Tout (x10!) Pretty fun day for only ~$40 in food and gas!
Sunday, we drove north to Pollock Pines (1 hr 15 min) for a short hike to Bassi Falls. It was definately a high ROI hike, perfect for kids, even as young as Calie. Depending on where you park, it could be as short as a 1/2 mile hike to the waterfalls (1 mile round trip). We had a picnic lunch, and then the kids burned off energy climbing over rock formations and jumping small streams. As we were hiking towards the falls, another hiker (who camped the night before) said it was very cold and many people gave up/drove off in the middle of the night. I was glad we made the call not to tough it out. We live so close to Tahoe, we’ll just go a different (warmer!) weekend – and maybe convince some friends to join us too!
On Memorial Day, Bev and I took our boys to put together sack lunches for the homeless. I was feeling pleased that I was teaching Zach to contribute to those less fortunate. However, my moment as super parent was quickly dashed when Zachary announced to the other volunteers,”This lunch is better than the ones I get!” After assembling the sandwiches, we headed into the city to hand out food. There was a big line and we ran out! Zach had a good time, and we decided next time we’d like to buy some food to donate.
In the afternoon, we hung out at home … played Monopoly, did chalk art outside on the patio, put together puzzles, and um… packed.
Last but not least, I got in some good exercise this weekend -jogged 2x and took 3 yoga classes … thanks Sam and Bev for being great workout buddies!
