Another year older...

My baby turned 7 this week. Wow. Seven sounds so much older than six and way older than five, and well, she isn't a baby anymore. She has been counting down her birthday for weeks now. The night before, she was so excited that she got in bed early, but was too excited that she couldn't fall asleep! Normally the last one up in the morning, she awoke way before her breakfast in bed was ready and politely demanded why we were not circled around her singing when I walked through her room! She is so funny. She received a few packages in the mail in the days leading up to her birthday and she could not decide what to open first! I took the day off and we had a picnic in the park. I told her she could choose anything for lunch- we could go anywhere (close by). She only wanted to eat Top Ramen! I NEVER buy it! Well she had it for lunch. I baked this cake and it was a great day to mark another year gone by. I still get a little sad that time passes so fast and my babies are not babies. Although, they will always be my babies.

Weekends

There is always so much to do here, and we wish we could do it all. We passed up haunted houses, shopping, carnivals and pumpkin patches this weekend. I heard about a beached blue whale on the news radio on Thursday. We went to see it Sunday. Oh boy was it rainy- very reminiscent of our Glasgow days. We were soaked through in a matter of minutes, even with our gear... The coast is beautiful and Sunday it was fierce. We found the whale and her foetus. Apparently it was hit by a ship. The baby was born premature. The mother was 80 feet and the baby was 17. We were so sad looking at the remnants of such an amazing and giant animal. However, we were very glad we got to see it. Maybe (hopefully) a once in a life time event.
And then Atlas and Leif found a freshly electrocuted crow. They were walking home in the evening and heard a ruckus of cawing. On the ground beneath a telephone pole was a crow. They came home and asked if they could bring it home. So they went back and got it. They almost exchanged it for a fake one in a Halloween display of one of the neighbors's. Could you imagine? It was measured, weighed, examined- they found a blown-out ear, then they plucked a few raven colored feathers, and finally they buried it and marked the spot so that next spring they will have a skeleton to look at.

Therapy

I think I would love a therapist. For the time being baking is my therapy. Last week was rough. I had a lot to do- everyone did, and well, sometimes life is just hard. I love Autumn. I feel like time passes fast (too fast) and with each season's passing I really feel it. I get sad that my kids are growing so fast- well anyways I think that when I wish that I could crawl into bed and sleep and go back in time, I bake. I think it is my lowest- Rich thinks it is when I have already hit rock bottom and am slowly coming out of it. Which ever it is baking is part of the recovery. I made pumpkin pancakes mid week for breakfast. Mid week!! I think Thursday I made banana bread. Then I made apple cake and flapjacks (scottish ones) Friday evening and then pumpkin scones Saturday morning. I also made pumpkin "latte" for the kids. That was a hit- sweetened milk with pumpkin puree and spices. All warmed up. It went great with the banana bread. Then I was better. I am trying to keep up with my therapy. Today I made pumpkin bread and zucchini bread- both with chocolate chips.So yummy warm out of the oven with butter. I feel good. It also doesn't hurt that the weather has been amazing- fantastic. Way better than I ever hoped.

A good Weekend.

I got to see my favorite band again! For free and in my back yard- just about! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Avett Bros. They put on a great show. San Francisco was at its finest- there were "infused" cupcakes, green rice crispy treats and many other interesting treats for sale at the festival. It was super crowded and I almost didn't stay! I am glad I did. So what if I have a mid term (my first) tomorrow morning! I got to see the Avetts!

settled?

So Jamaica boy and I are friends. He has a kid that goes to our neighborhood school and I see him often. He sings and dances constantly.

Here is a little photo journey of my commute. I got a bike and it matches Emilia's (on the other side of mine). They are both royal blue, not the first choice of colors for either of us, but we got great deals on them via Craigslist! I am sure we look really cool riding together (really slowly up the hills and getting passed by the other bikers!).
These photos are views of the first part of my commute- my favorite tree and the incredible views that are every where. I take the little kids to school-(Paris rides on the back rack, and all my books fit in the basket).

There is a farmers market across the street from my school one day mid-week and I never miss.




This last is breakfast- the tomatos were delicious.

Riding the bus

(We live in a neighborhood with a heavy concentration of Russians and Armenians. My favorite grocery store is Armenian and they have the best fruit and most exotic bakery- this picture is one of the several orthodox churches in our neighborhood)
I like the bus. It is freaky sometimes. Sometimes just surreal.

I like it when the recorded voice says Spanish and then in Chinese what it just said in English. I feel like I am going on Big Thunder at Disneyland. Even if the voice is saying to leave the front seats for seniors and the disabled.

This morning after walking the kids to school I walked to the bus. I ended up running the last block because I saw that it was coming. The day before I just missed it and the next was late due to electrical problems and then the overpacked bus broke down and we all had to crowd on to another and I was late! So this morning I boarded the bus a little out of breath. I usually have with me 2 bags and today I also had my yoga mat. There was one seat left at the back of the bus in between two dudes. I wove to the back and sat. Dude One asked me if I was ok. (Funny because no one talks much unless you know the other person. Then you can talk really loud and laugh really loud and let everyone know that you have a friend on the bus). I told him I was just fine. But I wasn't chatty because I had to text Rich that back to school night was tonight, not next week and that meant that I had to be home earlier than I wanted and would have to miss a class. He then asked me if I was going to the beach. (I am nicely dressed for school and it is before 9 am) I said no- and he pointed to the mat. He then told me that everyday is a beach day where he is from- So I asked- He is from Jamaica. After a few moments of quiet he started to sing in slow reggae style and wiggle/ seat dance with a lot of head rolling. Luckily for me he got off the bus soon after, but the last of the lyrics that I heard him sing were "and if she doesn't talk to me then she isn't nice" unfortunately I didn't hear the rest! but I did get a good laugh. And I am not so vain that I thought the song was about me, but it was funny.

Yesterday as I was coming home I was partially sat upon by someone. I saw the same thing happen to someone else a few days before so I think I was mentally prepared for it. Then as I was getting off the bus I realized that my shirt was unbuttoned more than I wanted. There is only so much I can prepare for. I am hoping to learn that if I can laugh at someone else- even in my head, then I better be able to laugh at myself.

San Francisco

We love being back in California- especially with the twist of being in the Northern part of the state. All the kids are back in school- we had a glitch getting Paris in with her bro in the neighborhood school, but it all worked out after much perseverance. Atlas and Emilia take the city bus across the city to school, but that is totally normal here and there are a few kids from the neighborhood who do the same. I started school too and life is back to crazy. Oh, it never stopped being crazy, but now it is a settled crazy.

We like our house. It reminds of us our Provo house (on the inside). The downside is that we have one toilet. The bathroom is split, so mornings aren't too bad- especially when we all wake at different times. Me being the first!

If I stand in the middle of the street in front of our house I can see the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. We have great fresh air with the ocean all around us. On most evenings we can see the fog roll down our street. It is eery and cool. The last fews days have been sunny, but mostly our neighborhood gets little sun. I am ok with it because where I go to school usually gets sunny by noon. And it hasn't rained... yet!

I like my classes. Having gone to school in Scotland has been an asset. So far it isn't THAT different. Teaching styles are different but the essence of the material is similar and it applies across the board. However, I may change my mind as the semester progresses!

Parking can be a nightmare- we have no allotted spot and two cars! I would love to get rid of one and get a garage for the other! Or get rid of both!

I actually like taking the bus to school everyday. It is really entertaining! I'll post on that next.

ps I know too long of a post and NOTHING to look at, but I just lost all of the pictures of the house, the rooms, kids going to school... gone. So I'll take some more sometime and the next post will be better! At least better on the eyes!