Well, it's been a month since my last post.
We haven't been traveling. We haven't been fighting crime or dealing with a crisis. Nope. We've just been living our normal lives. And those, while pretty much devoid of fancy trips, romantic getaways, or extreme sports, are overall pretty rich. We've been keeping it relatively simple. Busy, but simple.
We begin with a smirking Mimi.
And why is she smirking? Well, her school had a teacher-in-service day so, with the other two in preschool, we decided to take her on a "just Mimi" date. We headed down to Luce in San Francisco.
Mimi ordered her favorite: butter pasta with Parmesan cheese.
Sadly, her table manners didn't quite match the ambience of the restaurant.
During one weekend in March Sumie had call, so I went into "entertain the kids" mode. That meant a quick bite to eat and a park. We headed over to Super Duper Burger. Eagle-eyed readers might notice my deconstructed burger...but that's another blog.
The burgers there are great. Both Mari and Kuri took down a half burger each, while Mimi chomped through a full one.
But the shakes and fries were the real stars. Mari began by being generous and feeding some to her big sister...
...but that strategy was quickly reversed.
After lunch we headed over to a park in the old Hamilton Airfield neighborhood in Novato. Mari and Kuri immediately took control of the helicopter.
Mimi decided to climb on top of the chopper to, I guess, have her legs chopped off.
For the next two hours the kids ran, screamed, fought, and played. I was able to get a few shots in amidst all the commotion.
There's a wonderful walking path near the park that skirts the bay. Despite the wind, we ventured out so the kids could burn off some more energy.
Mari and I eventually caught up to our two runners, who had been taking a break on the bench around the corner.
I love this next picture, but have no clue what my middle child is doing. This happens often.
Kuri had a special performance and space themed art show at his preschool. Here he is dressed up as an astronaut...
...and here's his award-winning planet diorama.
I've mentioned before that Kuri's preschool is amazing. Here's an example. Over the past month the kids and teachers recycled random scraps to create a massive space ship. They'll be entering it into the Marin County Fair this year.
The ship is crewed by the students and teachers.
On Easter weekend the cousins came by for a sleepover. Saturday night we had nabe, sashimi, and lots of dessert. On Sunday morning, we raced out the door for an Easter egg hunt at a country club in San Rafael. The kids quickly hit their quota of candy.
We then all went for ramen, which is always a favorite with the kids. Thankfully, there's actually a decent ramen shop in Marin now!
Of course, Sunday being the first of the month, I took the boys out to cars and coffee.
These evenings, if you happen to visit, there's a good chance you'll find Mimi practicing her ukulele. We picked one up about a month ago and she's really taken to it. I'm still amazed at how much more nimble her fingers are compared to her aged father's.
No, there's not much all that exciting going on in our lives right now, but it's a happy kind of busy. We do our work, go to school, tramp to a million different extra curricular activities, eat dinner together and then, when the day's nearly done, it's time for a book. Simple, but still pretty good.
