A run, a movie, and the photo shoot....

While we were under the threat of rain all week, it mainly occurred at night. Just the way we like it.

It was pretty much an uneventful week. The typical going to school, meeting, craziness at work.

The when the weekend came we were ready to go. Then again the threat of rain cropped its ugly head. At least it was more mist than anything else.



As we do almost every weekend, it started off with the field service. On the first Saturday of the month we meet at the kingdom hall.




Since it wasn't raining we were able to do door to door, which is the kids favorite. In fact, they get pretty disappointed when it is raining and we are doing return visits.


It was another productive morning with Emma and Sophie both able to go through their presentation and Emma even placed some magazines.


Then off to Sweet Affair......





With Bubba's favorite Red Velvet cupcake and Sophie's chocolate chip cookie.




Not to be outdone, Emma had her burrito from High Tech next door.

When we got home, it was time for our long run. The Napa Valley Marathon is on March 7th, so this weekend meant we had a 22 mile run planned. We thought the rain might squash those plans; however, it turned out to be a beautiful day a few minutes after this shot.



What was fun about this run was that it went quick. Beth and I have been running a couple of days a week during lunch. So have definitely been building our speed.


We completed the run in 3:50.


Myles and Sophie liked their "Bubble" carriage ride.


Emma, as usual road her bike the full 22 miles. Of course we stopped and got a snack at the Alamo Safeway.


She did take a nasty fall when she took one of the side trails. She even has a war wound to show it.


So we run along the Contra Costa Canal trail in Concord, near the kids school, follow the Iron Horse trail to Danville, then come back.

We came home tired...and hungry. We had Emma's favorite dinner: TACOS!!!.

The next day, we decided that after meeting we try something different.

We thought it would be a treat and watch a movie on the DVD player in the car. Sort of like a drive-inn. We got a pizza on the way home from meeting. We ate popcorn and  licorice while we watched Mall Cop.

Of course, a time to relax.

It has been kind of fun coming up with new ways of doing things. I think this past year we have seen maybe four movies in a theatre.

The kids have really enjoyed it to, with them coming up with many of the ideas to have fun.

The kids had Monday off also. We have a young sister in our hall that is a very good photographer. She has been using Emma and Sophie as her models. Beth and the girls meet her and her mother in different areas in the hills around here. On Monday they went up to Mitchell Canyon on the north side of Mt. Diablo.

The young sister had requested Beth put the girl's hair in braids and had the girls dress in a ballet outfit.

Since we have had a lot of rain, the hills are really green, and muddy. She got some really good pictures of the girls.






Between shots, Beth got some good pictures of the kids.

Something else now happens every time we go into the hills, we are constantly looking for Newts and Salamanders. And every once and awhile we get a bonus:


Another scorpion:

This was much thicker, and was probably a female. They actually found two that day.

Here are some more pictures from this day.

Myles is just happy to be outside in the sunshine. He is a pretty fast runner now and is at times hard to catch.

He has really keeps up with with his sisters.














Latter in the week, we got a surprised gift from grandma Jackie, cake molds for the kids.

We had some blueberry muffin mix and used it for cake batter.




Thank you very much!!! The kids loved them.




That is the update for this week. Remember, this is only a sample of our pictures. You can see the complete library on Our Picture Site.

Break and the Beach, Let's Go Fly a Kite!

So Saturday was a beautiful day. The first completely blue Saturday in weeks.

So important things first, we went out door to door and then later in the afternoon went to John Muir Beach, our favorite.

The waves were pretty impressive, with some very massive swells off in the distance towards the San Francisco Bay and the Marin Headlands. We also found this little guy hiding in a boulder!!! More about that latter. We like this beach because it is secluded, the kids can look in the tide pools, hike the headlands, look for shells and stones, and play in the sand.

But first service. We worked in a territory near Shell Ridge. The kids really enjoy our Saturday mornings.

Myles found a pile of wood chips and called it his mountain.

Emma did very well, as usual, and placed a couple of sets of magazines.

Sophie worked with Micaela and got to use her presentation at a couple of doors.

Myles enjoys just going to every door, ringing the doorbells, then leaving old issues of the magazines under the doormat. In fact he gets pretty upset when we are done; then realizes it is time for break!!!!

So we were off to Sweet Affair!! Myles favorite is always the cupcake. Sometimes it is the Red Velvet, or the one with the white sprinkles.

Sophie normally only wants the chocolate chip cookie. I say only, however these cookies are great.

Emma is at the point that she likes a bean burrito from High Tech Burrito next door.

It is so funny seeing the kids enjoying service as much as Beth and I did as we were kids.

So after service, it was time to go home, pack some sandwiches , clothes to change into, and the beach toys.

So after getting our beach blankets laid out, it was time to explore the tide pools. We had to cross a shallow creek with a swift current. Beth and I helped Myles and Emma while Sophie trudged through like the sure foot she is.

Right now, Bubba is all about castles and kingdoms. Because we had to cross the creek, he looked at every boulder as his own little mountain and castle to climb.

One boulder in particular was the size of a house. This is where we normally find starfish, sea anemone, and this is where we found the crab at the beginning of this entry.

We were amazed at the colors in such a small creature. Mind you, the above crab was in a crack in the "Castle" no more than 3 inches. The crab was no more than two inches.

The waves were crashing all around, but the kids were looking under every nook and cranny. Then Myles decided he had found his castle.

Then we were back to have our picnic and FLY KITES!!!!. This was the first time Myles had ever flown a kite.

By this time, Myles was having allot of fun!!!

And of course, what trip to the beach is fun without playing in the sand. At the end of the day, we took a hike up the Headlands and looked down at the beach. The end to a perfect day.