We’ve been having lots of fun with Ms. Savanah’s class through the Atown Rec Center on Wednesday mornings. The focus is on building things and using construction tools so “Civil Engineering at work!” Xavier is also in class with us.
Fun overnight visit with Yung, Meaghan, and Nora. Cato was VERY excited for a playmate, but Nora wasn’t so sure about 3-year-old boy energy (she’s almost 6 years). They both had fun working together to help make breakfast, though, and Nora was excited to learn how to make a horse slurpy to feed Dunny.
Overnight jaunt up to the Bay Area with Barbara, David, Colby, Breana, and Cato to catch up with the Dixon family! Big, beautiful event at Lorraine’s sisters house. Cato especially appreciated the arcade room and carousel. On the way up, we took a long lunch at the mall in Salinas.
Lovely morning at El Chorro park hiking with Clay, Sierra, and Storm. It definitely felt more like springtime than winter! (Including copious amounts of poison oak and ticks) The only people we saw were conveniently at the top to take a group picture.
This was our maiden voyage in the new camper van! As with all such voyages, there were some bumps in the road (primarily a dead starter battery and multiple campsite “Plan B” options). Sawtooth Canyon campground at New Jack City climbing area was very cool, so we ended up there for 2 nights. We made a brief foray up to Big Bear looking for snow, but there was none to be found outside the man-made ski slopes. Camping outside Joshua Tree on a dry lake bed was a unique experience (confirming zero interest in ever attending Burning Man, lol). Joshua Tree National Park is very cool, but fighting the holiday weekend crowds was less than enjoyable so we didn’t do much other than have a nice picnic lunch.
Lovely winter morning in the riverbed riding Dunny with Clay, Serena, and Sierra. Everyone had fun playing in the river (especially Cato and Storm…Cato waded out up to his knees, shoes and all, while Storm held true to her Lab heritage chasing sticks in water). Dunny was a perfect gentleman except for a brief self led escapade chasing other horses down the trail (Breana and Jasper running after).
For Catos’ birthday, we had a fun house party with lots of family and friends! Thankfully, the sun came out for some pleasant bubble fun in the backyard. Jasper had to stay outside all day until he could get a bath since he defended the yard from a skunk 4 hours before the party.
He came for the parade, stayed for the footwork.
The best gift is celebrating being together with family (and getting a Hot Wheels Garage). It was a very wet, muddy holiday, however.
We finally made it back for a drop in gymnastics class! Super busy (schools must be on holiday break or something, lol), but it was still lots of fun. Grandma and grandpa Tran came along to watch. Cato thought 50 min was too short!
