Santa Cruz

With rain in the forecast later this week, we loaded up the bikes on Sunday and drove the 1.5 hrs to Santa Cruz. Dan met us at Natural Bridges, and we took our bike along the waterfront path to the Boardwalk for some sand, sun, and a little bit of napping. Oh, and ice cream. 

Bay Bridge Bike Ride

With Gina's brother Len, we rode on the new span of the Bay Bridge for the first time, from the staging area, almost to Yerba Buena Island (connector closed until the old bridge is removed), and then to Emeryville for lunch on the water.

Star Wars Exhibit

The kids had been there with an uncle before, but this was my first time at the Tech Museum at San Jose. We met friends and wandered through the displays from the movies where you could see the models used in the original Star Wars, original robots, outfits and full-sized models. In-between, they could play with robots for making legs move and outfit a small R2D2 with different wheels and programs. Nate found the arm that spelled words with blocks, and the Mars Rover.

Finally, rain!

The first real storm in 13 months, and it was a good one. A steady rain fell for three days straight, and you could almost hear the plants gasping in relief. The kids looked forward to stomping in the swale again (and helping clear out the drainage paths), and I look forward to emerald green hills again, at least for a while.

Fourth Grade Strings

Chicken Whisperer

Nate is also a good chicken whisperer -- although just after this picture was taken, he was walking around with Speckles under his arm and asked, without any sense of irony, if we could have fried chicken for dinner.