Pictures: hiking with Tim and Joyce, hiking in Muir Woods-a redwood forest, Rusty the Rat Tracker showing the kids the rats' injuries, Rusty and Cam proudly displaying the catch of the day, birthday time.
We've been in California now for 4 months and we've seen lots of changes - especially in the weather. It's gone from really hot to really quite cool. For those of you who still think we're in shorts, sandals and sitting on the beach, those days are long gone and there's never been a beach nearby. It's now long pants, long-sleeved shirts, sweaters, sometimes coats and gloves and occasionally hats. Two weeks ago it was the coldest it's been in 35 years. That said, for those of you who think I'm complaining, bike rides and runs on a 12-degree day in the middle of December aren't all that bad.
We live in the Central Valley of California. It's a strip of prime agricultural land that is as flat as a pool table and runs down through California between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Coastal mountains. On a clear day on the edge of town you can see both ranges. In the winter the Sierra Nevadas, which are up to 9,000 or so feet, get a lot of snow. So as a result, while we sit in relatively comfortable winter temperatures there is great skiing within two hours. Right now there's a seven-foot base of snow two hours away.
We thoroughly enjoyed our long weekend with Tim Snider and Joyce Richardson. We did a great hike atop cliffs overlooking the ocean just outside of San Francisco. They got to spend a day of x-country skiing near Lake Tahoe. A number of our neighbours are avid skiers and ski every single weekend throughout the winter. We didn't bring our gear but hope to get out with the kids at least once this winter.
Cam ran the California International Marathon the beginning of December. We're thrilled to say that he achieved his goal: to break four hours. He did so with a whopping 9 seconds to spare. As I was getting updates on his time I thought that something had gone wrong (for those of you who understand such things I was getting clock time, not chip time reports) but then the kids and I saw him about a quarter mile from the finish line and I knew at that point that he was going to do it. He felt great, albeit really sore, and thoroughly enjoyed the well-organized run. He has since been nursing his black toes.
So, yes, the rats. I'm happy to report that five of them have left the premises, thanks to Rusty the Rat Tracker. After our first rat man shrugged his shoulders and gave up, and we thought we were now dealing with squirrels, we contacted the city and they told us if we have a really bad problem we needed to call Rusty. Rusty is a bit of a local rodent-catching legend. He seems to have a bit of a pied piper effect on rats. We had sleepless nights listening to the scampering, gnawing, furniture moving above our heads and in the walls, and then the odd bang and squeal as a rat got too close to the bait box. Believe it or not as Rusty removes the day's catch and shows us what he's got we've actually come to the point of seeing them as cute little DEAD things. Fingers crossed, we're sleeping like babes again.
Reuben had his sixth birthday a couple weeks ago. Lyle and Wenda joined us for a skype dinner and they even had candles in their dessert. We had a joint birthday party for Gabbi and Reuben a week later and invited a few of their friends from school (yah, they have friends, but we still don't). For the first time since we've been here, we had neighbours over for some wine and cheese, which was fun. We've also got a great French tutor for the kids. Elisabeth is from France, her husband is from Portland, Oregon and they have three children - the oldest of which is in Reuben's class at school. We don't want to speak too soon but we're thinking of inviting their family for dinner when they get back from France and then we may actually be able to say we had some 'friends' over.
We're trying to get into the Christmas spirit but it's not coming easily. We have a Christmas tree made out of construction paper - it was created for the pin-the-star-on-the-tree game at the birthday party. I have to say it has been nice receiving so many packages at the door and lots of cards from home. We're planning a road trip over Christmas to Disney and the San Diego Zoo. Apparently it's the busiest time of year so we're not too impressed about the lineups we'll have to face.
We wish you all a happy and safe holiday and wish we could be there with you to celebrate in some small way.
Other tidbits of info:
- Gabbi got her hair cut off - Cam now calls her "Bob"
- We're finally close to hiring another employee here in California - this will relieve Cam of much stress
- Reuben spent a frustrating, tearful evening learning to tie shoelaces so that we could go back to a 4th store to finally buy him shoes he liked. He's still a very 'determined' child
- We're still enjoying our bikes
- We love the weekly trip to the farmer's market and all the local fresh and exotic produce
- While I am feeling somewhat disappointed by the lack of fashion sense in this little granola town, Cam is feeling newly liberated and actually leaving the house in sweats and Crocs. . .
