Finally a Four Day Weekend!!!

It was really nice to have four consecutive days off last week. Since starting the new job, I haven’t really taken much time off, and the stress and anxiety of the new change was starting to get to me.  We spent much of it hiking and enjoying the time off.  Now Emma is off to 5^th grade camp for 5 days, which means that it has been quiet around the house (Emma and Myles have a healthy competition going on). So what did we do with our time off?

So on Thursday, I got to sleep in for the first time in a while until 9:00 AM.  I can’t remember when my body allowed me to sleep in that late.  For breakfast we had red velvet pancakes with butter cream frosting.  We had gotten the mix at Target (Archer Farms) and it is excellent. 

We then went on a hike with the Berhens.  We normally get together at some point during the kids breaks for hikes, they have three kids all about a month a part from our kids.  We went up to Shell Ridge for a five mile loop.  The weather was perfect!!!  The leaves were changing, and the grass is starting to come back due to recent rains (in fact we should be really green after this weekend and our over 5 inches of rain).  The reason this area is called Shell Ridge is due to the fossilized shells found in the rocks there.  The kids love the area.

After the hike, we went over to their house for Pulled Pork sandwiches.  The  kids played on the Wii while the adults played cards.  It is a treat for our kids since we don’t have a Wii ourselves (nor are we ever planning on getting one).  It just was a nice relaxing day.

On Black Friday, we didn’t do our normal up at 3AM tradition, but again slept in.  We did go to Target later in the day for the Lorax movie.  I got busy in the yard, bagged up the leaves before they got out of hand and we had Papa Murphy’s for dinner.  We also had some pumpkin left over from Myles visit to Smith Family Farms, so I made a couple more pies.

On Saturday we went to Rock City on Mt. Diablo.  As we have blogged before, this is a wonderful place for the kids to explore.  It is on a section of exposed sandstone that has been carved by the wind and rain into tunnels and unique formations.  And since it is like walking on sandpaper, you have tremendous grip.   There was no stopping the kids, they were off in a second, climbing everything in sight.  It was really busy though so we went further down the trail where we knew there would be fewer people.  After we were done there, we drove to the top of Mt. Diablo.  The observation deck was closed; however, you still could see the snowcapped Sierra’s to the east, Sutter Buttes to the north, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge to the west, and Mt. Hamilton and the Tri-Valley area to the south.  

Finally on Sunday, we made turkey.  Even though we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, you can’t go this time of year and not take advantage of the prices.  I have also learned the secret of roasting, including moist white meat, a lot of juice for gravy, and fall off the bone dark meat.  I will post this secret sometime on the recipe site soon.  So now we are on the fourth night of turkey leftovers and loving every moment of it.

Emma returns on Friday, so I will post her water logged story shortly after.  I can only imagine how much fun she is having even though it is raining.