Got the fam out of their PJs and off their pandemic butts for my first foray to this preserve, which until last December, was open only to Palo Alto residents. Glad that the pandemic forced the lid off of that entitlement, elitism, and snobbery. There's a reservoir, easy and difficult trails, docks, a campground, meandering meadows, and places to picnic. We'll be back!
We managed to throw on some other than PJs and attend Sarek's school 8th grade photo celebration and gift bag pick up. We hadn't seen teachers for 15 months. The gratitude for their Herculean/Xena like efforts this year burst out in the form of hugs (for the vaccinated ones). Silly small things, including a Tootsie Roll table, photo booth, and graduation cap made a huge difference in marking this rite of passage.
Sarek celebrates his last day of middle school and the end of almost 15 months of distance learning with pie for breakfast. He is starting to resist my requests for pictures of milestone moments. You can see the clash between his developmentally appropriate ambivalence and his nature to be a good sport in the pictures.
