more to follow

Onwards. So last Wednesday and Thursday I had my 2 nieces for the day. What to do to keep 5 little girls happy and entertained for 7 hours? Thank god the sun finally came out. We had lunch and then loaded everybody up into the trusty van and drove about half an hour to Redwood Park, a very cool spot that was started up by two brothers many years ago. They planted several different species of trees from around the world, and today of course they are all very tall and very impressive...there is a giant redwood grove, tons of trails all over the place, meadows full of dragonflies, a giant treehouse, and a great playground. The sun shone, it was warm enough for the kids to run around in their t-shirts and all in all it was a perfect afternoon, other than Kate getting stuck in a prickle bush and getting a thorn stuck in her finger, which of course she wouldn't let me pull out, choosing instead to wander around whimpering and suffering, until I couldn't take it any longer and after coaxing her into my lap, I held her down and yanked out the thorn while she screamed and all the other parents looked on with interest and delight - yes, I had indeed earned the honor of meanest mom on the playground, ah well. At least Kate recovered quickly, and went on to play with the other kids until it was time to head home. And yes, another good day was done. Thursday Mr. Sun was more or less still around, so once again I packed up all the girls and drove about half an hour to Centennial beach. They have a massive playground out there which the kids enjoyed for a while, and then they put on the rain boots and went to play in the sand - the tide was way out, so they had a great time digging and collecting shells etc. I actually got to sit on a log and read my book for while....!!! Now that's a good day. Eventually they were all in various stages of wet and sandy, plus Elizabeth had cut her finger open on a shell plus hunger was setting in so we headed back home before anyone could have a complete meltdown. Had barely arrived and my sister in law showed up to pick up her girls - and yes, yet another successful spring break day achieved. I am on a roll....