Is This What Summer Is Like?

Today was a great day.  Full of new adventures and fun times.   It was also full of sunshine.  I love the sun.  I don't mean that I'm one of those people that likes to lay out and bask in it for hours at a time.    Sun just makes me happy.   I love my house but it has one serious flaw and that is the fact that it is in fogville when it comes to summertime.  All summer long it is foggy and cold, and for this girl who grew up in high 90 degree summer weather swimming daily, it is a tough pill to swallow.    But when we have days like today, and it's still winter, then I love where I live.

I did two things today that I've never done before.  The first was chaperone a kindergarten field trip, and the second was attend Castro Farmer's Market.   I was nervous about the first, but looking forward to the second.  Also, squashed between those two events was a surprise trip to get frozen yogurt with new friends from Jingle's school and weeding in the garden.  Oh, and did I mention I lined up two interviews for later this month?  A good day indeed.

The field trip was to the Exploratorium and I was nervous about it.   There were three classes of kindergartners going there, and that place is huge and easy to lose kids.   There wasn't enough room on the buses for the parents so we had to get there separately.  I rode BART downtown and got there early because I had to call one job prospect before the kids (and the noise) arrived.  Once they arrived, I was pleasantly surprised, and very relieved, to learn that there were so many parents, so we had a 2 to 1 kid to parent ratio.  So, that meant I was responsible for my son, and one other little girl.   My son always calls this girl by her first and last name (because there are two with the same name in his class), and I do mean ALWAYS.  If he talks about her at home, or if he talks to her.  Also, if he shouts her name across the Exploratorium fifty times, it is always her first and last name.  We'll call her "Ana Steve!"   because he also always says it as if there is an exclamation point at the end.   Ana Steve! was a very sweet girl who never stopped moving.  She had twice the energy as Jingle.  But, she also listened, and would return from her runs when I called out "Ana Steve!" too.  I really tried to just call her Ana, but Ana Steve! was so ingrained in my head, that if I just said Ana, I thought I was calling her by the wrong name.  

Give the kids a screen and lights and they might dance for hours

The three of us had fun.  I quickly realized that if I took them to the biggest exhibits - the ones where they could jump and move around endlessly, then we could kill quite a bit of time.   We went outside for lunch and spent the last half hour out there with some outdoor exhibits.   After that I brought the kids back to meet their classmates for the bus ride back to school.

Kids stirring up a tornado at the Exploratorium

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I had about a half hour to kill before I had to get back on BART so I headed to a Starbucks and basically collapsed.   Prior to the field trip I had walked both kids to their respective daycare and school, and then walked from school to BART so I'd been on my feet all morning and afternoon.  Sipping coffee by myself was bliss despite the fact that I was so dazed it wasn't until I had my last sip that I realized I was spilling it all over me.  After that, I headed home on the train because I had to get back to pick Jingle up from school.  We had just gotten home together and were trying to figure out a snack when one of his classmates and his mom surprised us by knocking on our door and inviting us to frozen yogurt.  That was so nice!  I can't remember the last time someone randomly invited me somewhere by stopping by AND we were free to go.    On the way back from yogurt we picked up Savvy and the friends went their merry way.   

When we got home the kids refused to come inside and Jingle said he wanted to "sunbathe".   Ok... fine, go lay on the grass.  My daughter refused to lay on the grass, so she laid on the sidewalk.  Yes, that's right.. my daughter sunbathes by lying on a sidewalk in SF....    But, not being able to sit still for more than a minute, Jingle then suggested we weed, so that's what we did for the next half hour before heading out to meet Daddy at the Castro Farmer's Market.

Now, there's nothing special about this market, other then it just opened today for the year, and it was a rare one on Wednesday when I needed veggies.    It turned out special because, once there, my kids were asked to hold the ribbon for the ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome the Market.  Mr. Mingle and I were happy because that was a unique and memorable occasion.  The kids were happy because they got free strawberries and balloons for helping.

It has been so long since I had such a packed day where everything went right, and I also wasn't tied to my cell phone worrying about work.   Such a difference!   While I did set up a couple of interviews, and I am still planning to go back to work - when that time comes, it is going to be difficult.  Let's hope it's foggy when the time comes, so I don't want to stay home.

Holding the ribbon

Cutting the ribbon