Eliza's class dance/ shadow puppet show

Without the shadows because it was the middle of the day in the cafeteria.

Learning to ride a bike!

Last night Kevin and I took a nostalgic trip down memory lane via this blog. It's amazing how the kids have changed in such a short time and it was so sweet to see glimpses of their past selves. So sweet that we decided to return to the blogging. Besides the sweetness, we don't know what else to do with videos of the kids. One of the first posts here was Eliza learning to ride a bike. It was 2008. She was in kindergarten and we were on the BAM schoolyard. This is Hazel learning on the same bike, in the Cragmont schoolyard, January 2012. Actually, she first learned earlier that day. We'd taken the bikes to Marin and were biking on a gorgeous path in the shadow of Mt. Tam. Unexpectedly, Hazel decided she was ready to take off the training wheels. And with Kevin running alongside her, she learned! Of course we had no camera. We didn't even have a phone. So we rushed home to get the various recording devices and recreate the whole scene on the schoolyard. Here it is.

Dreams

Hazel's been really into the concept of dreams lately.  Yesterday while we were driving in the car to swimming she said, "What if all of this is just one big dream?" 

And every morning she's full of stories about that night's dreams.  This morning: 

"Mom, I had a really big dream." 

"What was it about?" 

"Fingerdips!" 

"Fingerdips?" 

"Yes.  Fingerdips. You know those things where you dip your fingers."

"Like food?"

"No. Fingerdips."

Maybe she's going to invent them. 

Purim

Our Purim celebrations started on Friday night when we had a fun-filled family Shabbat at Hazel's school. All the kids and some of the grownups (including us, of course) dressed in their Purim costumes, Chris played music and we all shared food, wine and fun times.

Then, on the actual Purim, there was a parade and festival at Hazel's school. She had a blast.

Mr. Karl and his awesome folk music class for kindergartner's

Land's End

Today we took an awesome hike in Land's End in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day and the air smelled full of spring, blooming flowers and the rich smell of wet earth.  It was incredibly green from all of the rain we've been having. It had been a long time since we took this hike and was the first time we did it with the kids. Mostly, they loved it, but it was a lot of walking and a lot of steps. At one point Hazel burst into tears and said she wanted to go back to the car (see picture below).  Promises of hot chocolate got us through that rough patch and she persevered to play with rocks on the beach.  At the end we did have hot chocolate, as well as a meal, at the Cliff House.  Laura and Helen met us much to everyone's delight and we had a fantastic table with a corner view: ocean beach surfers in one direction, Farallon Islands in another and the Sutro baths in another.  All in all, a beautiful day.

(Postscript: A major damper on the otherwise wonderful day occurred on the way home from the Cliff House.  Laura became extremely ill and Kevin wasn't so hot himself.  Turned out they ate bad Mahi-Mahi and were suffering from Stromboid Poisoning. Yikes.  Luckily they recovered quickly.)

Crazy Hair Day

Today was "Crazy Hair Day" at Eliza's school.  The excitement for the day has been building all week and culminated in the late night purchase of some pink hair spray last night.