December Outdoor Adventures

Despite the chilly and rainy December we have been determined to get out of the house everyday for hours on end. Something about no preschool, no swimming, no tennis class, and no breaks for me in the form of work....made 12 hours seem like very long days. Spending a good portion of each day outside made for happy kids and a more relaxed mommy.

One of our favorite holiday traditions is going to a tree farm and finding the perfect tree. This is something I always did with my family growing up, and it means a lot to be able to do it with Adam, Kate, and Charlie. As you all know the kids are in their element in forests, and they had a great time running around searching for this year's perfect tree....

Charlie, being the serious working boy that he is, jumped right in to help cut our small but wonderful tree down.

Kate monitored the whole thing. Our quest for the prettiest and smelliest tree was in no way met this year. Although he have still not managed to find a good looking tree that smells like the ugly trees we had growing up, we sure enjoyed our tree this year.

We continued to visit our most happiest place on Earth, the discovery museum in Sausalito. We spend hours and hours exploring, discovering, and playing. And after every trip I walk back to the car with the biggest smile on my face. K and C are thoughtful, great listeners, polite, energetic, sweet, creative, and just all around amazing the entire time we are there. This month we have made a few trips to the harbor to pick up some fresh crab for dinner. After over 2 years of going to the discovery museum at least once a month, they finally discovered this crab fishing thing. They played together for about 3o minutes pretending to be the fishermen/women.

Mr. Athletic started to really get the hang of hoola hooping....

And after watching him focus on this amazing Magna tiles for another 30 minutes, I rushed home and asked my mom to get the kids a set for xmas. They are pricey, but honestly one of the best toys ever. We have all enjoyed building with them ever since xmas.

We have continued to explore our nearby beaches despite rainy weather....this one afternoon no one was around and the kids and Lily sprinted down this beach from Popular to Kelly.

An hour later we surfaced quite far from our house and had to make the long trek home. We were wet, tired, hungry...and then it started to rain. Kate started to lag behind and when I turned around the check on her this is what she was doing....while walking

I asked her what she was doing and she replied: "I thirsty Mommy!"

We have also been enjoying long, muddy bike rides to the nearby forests. Not sure how much longer I will be able to bike along side them, especially on the long way home where you can see me biking, Kate in the front seat and me carrying her bike while trying to hold lily's leash. At least I used xmas gift cards to buy a helmet for when this scenario leads to a crash.

Kate has become quite the balance bike speedster. Her quads and butt are so muscular from all that pushing...

Adam and I have also been switching off taking the kids to the harbor with Lily. They love to dig holes and build castles by the waters edge because they sand is saturated with water and every hole dug fills in fast with water...

This month we have had our share of sibling bickering and battles. There have been times where I wonder why my kids are so wild and won't follow directions. Times were voices are raised and tears were flowing. But for the most part we have had moments like this picture or moments like what has been going on in our living room the past 1.5 hours. While I have been pressure cooking beans for our slow-cooked chili, doing dishes, and working on this blog the kids have played together nonstop. The living room has become an ocean, the cushions their boats, stuffed animals and dolls their friends....their imaginations soaring, laughter and conversation flowing between two siblings that are truly best friends. And in moments like these I know Adam and I have done something right.