Earlier this month, Tom attended the annual Salesforce conference, Dreamforce, and got a major work perk. He got to meet Beck and attend a VIP concert. I was seething with jealous but also pretty excited for Tom. He told Beck that we took our son to his concert this summer.
We had lovely weather yesterday and miserable rainy weather today. We went on a short hike yesterday and we were able to see all around the valley. It's pretty easy to spot our neighborhood since we are directly next to Apple's huge spaceship.
Last night we went out to celebrate Tom, Ricky and Pete's late November birthdays. We had a delicious meal and tasty drinks with good friends. I only had my elbows on the table to lean in for the picture. I promise.
Left side: Mary, Pete, Tom and me. Right side: Jeremy, Lizzy, Ricky and Kristy.
Bucking traditions, Tom decided to make a duck this year. It made more sense because out of the five diners at the table, only three eat meat. It was the perfect size.
There were still turkeys though. Like these three...
Last week, a pair of Pumas I ordered for myself arrived, but they were a wee bit small. Tom suggested Serafina try them on and they were a perfect fit. Leo tried them on and they were perfect for him too. Neither of them liked the color I chose (grey), so I ordered them each a pair in the same size but in colors they liked better. I love their coordinating Pumas.
I haven't reordered mine in the right size so I'm throwing off the cool Puma vibe with my Adidas. They still let me be in the picture.
Here's Tom carving his duck. He was very pleased with how it turned out and the kids ate it up.
It's Tom's birthday. I made him breakfast, which isn't my strongest meal, but he claimed he enjoyed it. Since the birthday boy likes the beach, we went to the beach.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and there was no traffic - neither of those things are normal around here so the universe was coming together to give Tom a good day.
Here's my crew on the path to the beach.
She spent most of the time like this.
Checking out some tide pools.
The beach is also a wildlife preserve so much of it is blocked off for the harbor seals. We walked up a trail to get a view of them from the cliff above. They were very cool.
There is no normal picture posing with these two.
Serafina made Tom a sweet card and he liked it.
I made him a sweet cake and he also liked it.
Tom is giving Leo this look because of his enthusiastic birthday singing.
Here's a small sample...
Yummy cake.
I think he had a good birthday. Next year is a major milestone birthday so I better get started planning now.
Today, the fourth graders experienced various Native American traditions in the school cafeteria. There were five stations set up - coloring totem poles, creating boats, playing pogo sticks, drawing pictographs and making cornbread. Two classes rotated through the stations in the morning and the other two classes did it in the afternoon. I only helped in the morning.
I was in charge of the pictographs. Each kid got a rock to decorate with pictographs and some example pictographs. I wasn't convinced the kids would be into it and would instead want to draw emojis on the rocks or something equally annoying. Boy was I wrong. The kids were so into it. Most of them made detailed "stories" on the rocks all with pictographs.
Here's the station set up before any kids arrived.
The kids were into all the stations. Here's Leo working on a boat at a different station. There were 10 kids in each group and they had 15 minutes in each station.
He arrived at my station and got to work on his rock. One kid asked if he could have a different rock because his was "bumpy". Um, no.
Here's the end result. I got pretty good at reading them. His says "man hunt deer".
I knew I didn't want to do anything with food when the sign up sheet went out, but I was extra glad I avoided the food station when I found out they had to chant while making cornbread. Here's Leo and Amy not chanting along while mashing corn with a mortar and pestle.
All and all it was a fun morning and I was so impressed by the kids' engagement with the activity. Of course, it was still exhausting.
Serafina had her last game of the season yesterday. They lost, but played hard. She was pretty lukewarm about playing this season and didn't really enjoy attending practice or games, but over the last couple weeks, she started playing noticeably better. I'm not sure if she'll want to sign up again in the fall. The team plans to stay together and I'm sure they would have a spot for her if she wants.
Here's the whole team in front of the fancy professionally printed banner one of the moms had made.
After the game, we had a picnic at the park where they play.
The coaches came up with something encouraging to say when they handed out the medals, like "strongest kick or most improved". Serafina was acknowledge for her team spirit and her "gymnastics on the sidelines". Ooof.
Later in the afternoon we went to the Stanford shopping center to pick up some presents for Tom's birthday and get me a new computer. (I'm using it right now to post! Very exciting since my old machine crapped out many months ago and I've been using one of Tom's). The kids wanted to stop by the American Girl store too since it is at that mall and bring Serafina's two dolls. Leo got to carry Josefina. He has zero concern about gender norms and just likes American Girl dolls. He's particularly fond of one named Maryellen from the 1950s, which I find especially sweet because of my aunt Mary Ellen.
Fourth graders in California learn about the California missions. Today, Leo had his first of two mission field trips. They took the city bus to Mission Santa Clara. I didn't join them but Leo had a great time and the chaperones sent me these pictures.
This afternoon Leo got a chance to FaceTime with his friend Max in Australia. It was Saturday morning in Australia and they talked about Legos and Nerf Guns and it was really sweet.
