Cliff House

We wrapped up our SF day with dinner at the Cliff House. Beautiful view. (and more sunglasses pictures).

Photos: everyone and the Pacific Ocean; Watching Nona and the girls run on the viewing deck; Molly & her sunglasses.

Golden Gate Park

After the beach we hit the park (enjoying the excellent $2 shuttle). Right away we hit a goldmine: the park police stables. Horses Horses Horses. A perfect fit for our group. Rhea chatted up the staff, Molly quietly asked about everything, and Clara enjoyed looking at the horses. One of the staff members even gave each girl a horse shoe and explained how to keep it "right-side up".

Photos: (above) Molly & her first horseshoe; Clara leading the way through the benches; Molly at the de Young sculpture garden; Clara on the de Young rocks (doing some "shows"); the de Young sculpture garden.

Ocean Beach

Saturday afternoon we drove out to Ocean Beach. The weather was uncharacteristically warm. Which was really nice.

Photos: Molly in her rockstar sunglasses; Clara loves sand (even if sand doesn't love Clara); Clara loves the beach; Zach, Clara, & Nona walk along the beach walk; Clara, ready to hit the beach; Nona strolling the beach for sand dollars; Molly hitting the beach; Clara, Zach, & Molly ready to dip their toes in the water; Rhea & AJ soak it all in.

Molly's Playground

A few weeks ago Molly made this playground. It has (clockwise from top left): a swing, slide, Zach, Monkey Bars, and Molly. But you knew that already. :)

New Sunglasses

Molly & Clara wore their new sunglasses for the drive up to their swim class this morning. Too bad we forgot that swim class was canceled. They took it amazingly well. Maybe the promise of going to a (non-swimming) beach in the afternoon blunted the disappointment.

They Grow Up So Fast...

On Thursday we moved the chicks outside. It was long overdue, the house was smelling like a barn and the chicks were done being in their (bigger) inside "brooder". So we scrubbed down the upstairs part of the coop, laid down fresh sawdust, and set them out into their new home.

Here they are in all their awkward teenage cuteness.

From Left to Right: Buff Polish, Rhode Island Red, White Crested Polish, Buff Polish, and Ameraucana. We're pretty certain the 2nd Buff Polish (2nd from the right in the top photo) is gonna be a rooster.

Photos: all 5 chicks in a row; Molly watches the chicks; Molly & Clara watch the chicks; Molly shows the (ridiculously docile) RIR around the coop;

Swim Lagoon - splashing good fun!

We went down to Castro Valley today and enjoyed a morning at the Cull Canyon Swim Lagoon. I've been wanting to check it out for a while now: it's a sandy-bottom chlorinated swimming area. It's got sandy beaches, and a "dock" for jumping off of.

My childhood friend Rhea (better known in these parts as Gallagher-the-horse's owner) and her fiance are visiting and so we took them down there with us.

Overall it was great. The only issue is that it was a tad cold (weather report says it got to 67F in Berkeley, 74F in Castro Valley), but still lots of fun.

The girls enjoyed their new all-over swim suits, although as you can see Clara insisted on wearing what she calls her "baby" swim suit over the other one.

Photos: Clara, Sofi, Molly; Clara "swimming"; Rhea, Clara, & Molly; Clara splashing fun.