Saturday in the East Bay

We headed up to the East Bay on Saturday to hang out with John's brother, "Uncle Matt." We enjoyed ice skating at Oakland Ice Center, which is a nice big rink. Alex really enjoyed skating with John and Matt since he could hold both their hands and jump while skating. Crazy kid! I am still practicing after taking about a ten year break from ice skating. I will have plenty of opportunities to practice since there is an ice rink near us in Cupertino.

After that, we drove around Downtown Oakland and stopped at Lake Merritt at sunset. It is a beautiful area of the city.

Alex does not stand still for long!

Then we headed to dinner in Berkeley at one of our favorite restaurants, Indus Village. John and I both love the Indus Combo, which includes Chicken Tikka Masala and spinach.

It is about an hour drive, but I am glad we have opportunities to explore the East Bay.

Grateful for you

Yesterday we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving in California. We had a low key day since we are still moving the last of our stuff from the apartment to the house. (It is easy to forget how much stuff you have in your kitchen until it is time to move it all!) We enjoyed lunch and time with John's brother. We bought prepared food from Trader Joe's, so we did not cook a whole turkey this year.

I am still setting up my craft space, but I did make a digital layout with some of my favorite pictures from 2012. I upgraded my Stampin' Up! digital software to MDS 2 since it is currently on sale.

I am also grateful for the long weekend (and so much more)!

Happy Chaos

We moved into a house at the beginning of the month, and it is a great fit for our family. We are renting but still hope to be here for a while. We are near John's work and Alex's preschool, and they walk to school and work some mornings. We can also walk to the library.

The house has about 500 square feet less than the house we bought in Texas, but it works well for a family of three. Mostly, we are happy to have a yard again. Alex wants to play outside even when it is dark or cold.

John, his brother, and a friend moved all of our big furniture with 2 pick up trucks in one afternoon! Since then, we have been moving more stuff from the apartment to the house. We are starting to get settled in, but we are still in transition. I think of it as happy chaos.

The backyard

Alex in the hammock

The front yard, which is Alex's favorite place to play

The garage, which John is taking over as an office/man cave