Visitors!

The first week of April (and spring break) brought us a three-day visit from Bob, Vanessa and Thomas, as well as a Saturday with the Detterich clan. We had a great time with everyone! The boys couldn’t wait to see their cousin and hijinks ensued quickly. Upon their arrival, there was an immediate nerf gun war that lasted a couple of hours. After a break for dinner, we walked to Rick’s for ice cream where we tried to get a picture of the three boys. They weren’t particularly cooperative.

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On Saturday we met the Detterichs at the kite flying area of Shoreline park. It was a perfect day.

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After kite flying, we went over to Google where the kids tried not to fall into the water …

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… played video games …

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… tried out some Google snacks …

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… and explored all of the crazy Google stuff.

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The adults played around a little, too.

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Later, the kids bonded over computer games.

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And then we had dinner at the local ramen place before the Detterichs left.

The next day was Easter, so we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

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After an enormous amount of sugar was consumed, we decided to try the Canada Road bike ride again. We were a little worried they might not close the road on Easter Sunday, and the weather was threatening rain, but we set out anyway. What could go wrong?

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Things looked good at first as the signs said the road was closed, and the weather app said it wouldn’t rain. Alas, just as we reached the beginning of the closure the rangers were out opening the road up again. We don’t know why they opened it early but it was a bummer to have the cars whizzing by. And then, just to make sure there was icing on top, just before we got to the furthest point along the route, almost ready to turn around and head back, the skies opened up and it poured. It rained so hard it was actually comical. We were all soaked by the time we got back to the cars, but some time in the warm cars and snacks solved all the kids’ woes.

The next day we Wunderlich County Park for a hike.

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A fellow hiker took a group shot for us.

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I have lots of pictures from the day (here), mostly thanks to Finn who commandeered my camera.

Google Games

A few weeks ago we caused the boys a bit of trauma by contemplating putting in an offer on a house in Redwood City and then deciding against it. The house was a kid’s dream (or at least our kids’ dream) with a half-acre lot and a stream running through the property. Alas, it was on a very busy street and we just couldn’t get past the noise so we nixed the idea. Ezra, in particular, was devastated so in an attempt to cheer him up, Bruce invited the boys to come play video games at Google. And cheer him up it did. Here are some pictures from our mini-arcade adventure.

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I liked this sign left on a broken Lord of the Rings game.

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Russian Ridge

I made it to another of my friend Sonya’s hikes on March 30th. It was a beautiful day with lots of wonderful views. Here’s a slideshow of my photos.

Pi / Cornhole Extravaganza

We had wanted to celebrate Pi Day by having Bruce’s work group over, but a few key members were going to be out of town so we postponed it. Last weekend it happened — a pie potluck and a cornhole tournament. I didn’t take many pictures but we had a nice group of people with a variety of pies: shepherd’s pie, pizza pie, pumpkin pie, berry pie, chocolate pie, and some Russian “pies” (Bruce disputed that these were actually pies, but really only to give Baris a hard time).

I reprised the deep dish apple pie from Pi Day.

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And I made a chicken pot pie.

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The cornhole tournament was super fun, with Bruce’s colleague, Devin, and I going head to head for the championship. He won.

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Here he is celebrating with his two year old, Kingston.

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I’m glad Bruce works with such a nice group of people.

Half Moon Bay

After being told countless times that we should visit Half Moon Bay, we finally got over there a couple of weeks ago. Our plan was to take our bikes and cycle along the Coastside Trail, grab some lunch, and let the boys play in the sand for a while. Finn was ready.

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The trail is paved and the landscape beautiful. We did have a bit of a detour because a bridge on the trail is out of service, but although it added mileage it wasn’t a bad ride. I have very few pictures because it’s hard to ride and shoot at the same time, but here’s one from my handlebar cam (AKA my iPhone on its bike mount).

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After lunch, we headed back the same way we came and stopped off for a little beach play. Here are some shots of the scenery.

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We then decided to ride back to where our car was parked to put the bikes away and let the boys play some more there. The boys were definitely in their happy place.

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Holes were dug.

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Naps were taken. Finn wrote out some Do Not Disturb signs for Bruce and me.

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It was a great day.

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