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Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Villa Montalvo

We tried a new hiking area and it was cool discovery for us.
The trails were a bit narrow for distancing, but it wasn't too far, lots of parking, shade, loop trail options. 
Her little legs were too cute dangling down.
We didn't have enough time to do the nature part, so we want to try that next time.
The freeloading hiker.
The signs along the path were fun to follow.
Someone loved the cherry snack.
There were also some ponds we want to explore and whenever the building opens we'd like to tour that, too.
It was a nice, quick, midweek hike. I did discover a few mosquito bites later, so it lost one star for that.

SIP Week 9: May 10-16

Jane just cruises along the furniture now. It's so cute to see her head pop up to say hello.
We made a huge fort.
Perry wanted in on the picture.
After its inevitable collapse, I created on against the wall with separate cubbies for the boys.
Jane wanted in on it, which I wasn't expecting. She doesn't usually like to have us out of her sight.
She did peek out to check on us from time to time.
But for the most part, she was just chilling in her room. Scott was reading in the one next to her, you can see his little socked feet.
Lots of reading happened.
Then we did some painting. Perry made this to mail to his friend Charlotte. I asked him what he wrote and he read all the letters. Then I asked what does it say? And he said, "I don't know, I can't read!"
Jonah picking his next adventure. Our wall of books and hardwood floors are two of my favorite parts of our home.
Making mischief while her brothers color.
Playing with their card game. She likes to be right in the middle of things.
Which would be fine if she didn't try to crawl through everything or stick it in her mouth.
A puzzle to destroy? Jane's there.
Tasty remote?
Laundry to fold? All day long it's a Jane tornado.
Jonah got a second bag of books from his teacher and worked his way right through them. These little ones he can finish in a sitting.
Sleeping on top of his bed so he doesn't have to make it the next day.
She can climb on the couch and open the laptop to wreak havoc. There is no safe place any more.
Night walk around the park. 
We're trying to transition Perry to a bike instead of his beloved scooter so he can keep up on rides with us.
We watched for the jets flyover for health care workers. Hand binoculars at the ready.
They weren't close, but they were loud and we could see them.
Jane just liked being outside.
Scott has gotten really good at drawing using a touchpad for his schoolwork.
Jane started being able to use some of the buttons on her pop up toy.
She still gets more attention than she sometimes prefers.
Little cutie. She really exploded out of her last size of clothes and mostly skipped over the next one.
We introduced her to chew-safe puzzles. She was moderately interested.
John got this hiking backpack a while back and was excited to see Jane is big enough for it now. It's much easier to use than the baby carrier for longer hikes and a lot cooler.
They both prefer it and can't wait to break it in.
We showed the boys the Parent Trap for family movie night because it's an old favorite of mine. They loved using their sleeping bags, but the sleepover was short-lived.
Jane is less interested in movies and more interested in climbing on people who are on the floor/her territory.
My cutie little love.
Her tiny teeth.
I am heartbroken when she outgrows clothes, but I'm soothed by seeing her in the new bigger ones.
Backyard time. I love when they play together closely like this.
Two outside, two inside.
Jonah was trying to help Jane get dressed, but she was not cooperative.
After seeing Jonah's Cardinals shirt in March, Karen sent him a much cleaner replacement. Incidentally, he was wearing the old one when the surprise arrived in the mail.
This is not the first time Jonah's had a second identical shirt because he wears them down before he outgrows them. He loves hard.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

New Van and Fruit Picking

Our beloved van started having some issues that John couldn't fix himself. The main one was the heater and nothing he tried got it working again. We researched cars back in February. We decided we needed a van with 4 kids in car seats and the only hybrid option was the Chrysler. We test drove them, but ultimately decided to stick it out a little longer with our old van. Maybe wait for fall when we'd need the heat again.
Then the prices dropped during the shutdown and we figured we should go for it while the price was right. Plus we did get a stimulus check that we figured should go into the economy like it was intended, so that helped with the down payment.
Since we already knew what we wanted, I just went online and found which dealerships had that model in stock, then called a few until I found one that gave us the price we were looking to pay.
The buying experience was easy other than a very pushy and dishonest paper signing/finance guy. We came home and refinanced with the company we have John's car loan with, so it ended up being fine, just annoying.
Cute little masked boys who were very patient and well-behaved waiting for that ordeal. Altogether it was just under 2 hours, so not too bad.

We traded our van in and it was so bizarre just leaving our car behind and taking a new one away. It was my first time buying a car from a dealership.
We broke in our new van going to pick blueberries and cherries. Jane was very antsy at the end of the appointment, then screamed bloody murder in the car. She crashed in the carrier and slept through the whole picking visit.
It was nice getting out and doing something as a family that felt safe but still mostly normal.
Perry always wears this shirt backwards.
Scott discovered he likes freshly picked blueberries despite not loving them from the store. Jonah already knew that about himself and helped offset the price of the fruit by consuming as much as he picked.
When we got home, John was setting things up in the van and Jane was happy to be out of her car seat.
I was feeling unsure about such a big purchase, but it's been so nice. The backup camera feels much safer with little kids around and it's great having everything working. With two newer cars, John will have more free time on Saturdays.
It's a plug-in hybrid, which means we get the state, federal, and power company rebates, plus the carpool lane stickers, and we won't need to use gas unless we go on a longer trip. It gets about 30 miles on a charge, which is perfect for all the around town driving I do in normal times. I told John our nice cars look out of place in our driveway, so we may need to get a new roof or landscaping done next.