john and julie plus 3: back to school = back to chaos

with the start of september, our lives feel like they became a million times busier! john started his new job, which he loves, but that requires getting into a new groove in terms of schedules. we're volunteering a bunch for the school and i'm at the peak of my marathon training, so we are both pretty much constantly exhausted.

the hardest part, though, has been the lack of weekday naps for jacks and livi!!! their class this year is from 1-4pm monday through friday, and three days a week they also go out on the little red school bus from 9am-1pm. they have such a wonderful time at school and do get through the week surprisingly well. however, by the time the weekend rolls around, they can be a mess, often taking naps on the weekends for 2-3 hours. the silver lining (thankfully, there is one!) is that they go to bed early at night and are pretty much asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

love that the teachers braved the beach on an incredibly hot day

quietly reflecting on a park adventure

trying out a new slide

a drought-friendly way to stay cool

this was john's cue to head to work

enjoying the preschool family picnic

jacks showed off his tree-climbing skills to his friends

poor guy fell asleep in the car at 4:30pm, but even the
sweet smell of his bus wouldn't wake him...

so we moved him downstairs while we cleaned up

lyla was excited to check out the new play area

even with lyla and livi chatting it up, jacks did not wake

he literally slept from 4:30pm to 7:15am without opening his eyes and came downstairs for the breakfast the next morning feeling like a million bucks

with no weekday naps, livi has also been sleeping in
past 6am, which has been just lovely

so happy to start ballet!

how cute is she!?

we couldn't resist a quick trip to ikea before a stanford football game

lyla enjoyed her first football game!

even though it was 8pm, she was quite peppy and
made friends with other fans

these two are finally old enough to be engaged....

although some sweet treats from ikea did help (best $0.60 i've ever spent!)

this was a surprisingly delightful saturday night

3 weeks in and john still loves his new job!

we even visited him at work and met his team

of course, the big supply of snacks was a big hit!

after our visit to lyft, jacks and i headed out
on a special adventure that started with dinner

the hotel bellman gave him a sweet gift
as we waited to check in

the view from our room

we then headed out to take a ride on the cable car
(we wanted to avoid daytime tourist lines for the iconic ride)

i think both of us could get used to this lifestyle

the next morning we headed out on a muni train

we had breakfast at frog hollow in the ferry building

we both visited the exploratorium for the first time

jacks loved it, but i realized john would have liked it
more than me (too educational for me on a saturday)

'trains, trolleys, and buses' was the theme of our adventure, and it ended
with a trip to a little train museum and some souveniers

while jacks and i were gone, john held down the fort
with his favorite girls

he did household chores

and entertained child after child after child

they headed to the jcc for a breakfast bagel

abuelo and abuela came down for a visit

livi was excited for the art projects they brought with them

the whole family headed to jacks' first baseball practice

auntie keet, uncle mike, and baby lyla cheered
jacks on from the sideline

the kids helped me make sprinkle cookies for a bbq

we brought the finished product to kelly and mark's
and the kids finally got to taste their creation

jacks even got to practice his baseball skills on a piñata

despite this loot and the fact they were the only kids old
enough to eat candy, they were perfectly content to choose
4 pieces (you know, because they're almost 4)