The Wonderfully Exciting Adventures of Last Monday

So I have barely had time to blog about dinners, let alone the other more interesting and fun things that have happened recently. I should at this moment be be a) cleaning, b) doing yardwork, c) getting Smiley down for his nap, d) making a snack for my family who have been busy doing yardwork for a while. But I am going to take my only chance of a quiet, peaceful house all day and see if I can finish this post I started a week ago!

Last Monday we just had the most fun, family 0riented day of adventure. We drove up to Marin county, CA which is just north of San Francisco Bay. We visited a couple of historical sites notable in California history (homeschool--check!), stopped in Novato for a quite delicious lunch at the Moylan's Brewery (one of DH's favorite brewers, so it was a treat for him to sample a few on tap), and then drove home over the Golden Gate Bridge and down scenic Highway 1 along the ocean, which we had never done before. This list of places does not at all describe the magic of the day. Some of my favorite things:

--Sunny and Merry going on their own little jungle adventure, hiking a quarter of a mile down a dry creek bed (while the rest of us kept an eye on their progress from above on the bank)

--Friendly critters everywhere: little lizards scurrying in the brush, and a mouse, and a deer (his shadow framed in the brush like a tableau, before our approach sent him bounding over the meadow), and horses and dogs to pet.

--The kids all being so good all day, even when hiking around in the hot sun instead of eating lunch. And when we finally got to the restaurant--in the middle of naptime--Smiley was amazingly good, so sweet, and devouring whatever food I offered him. Is there anything cuter than a baby gorging himself on roasted vegetables? The garlic fries (and I mean with chunks of real roasted garlic!) were his favorite, though. : )

--Sunny noticed there was an enormous rainbow halo around the sun! I don't recall ever seeing one before, and it made the day seem all the more magical.

But the thing that truly made my heart sing that whole day was also the whole reason we drove all the way up there to begin with :

image from homeportfolio.com

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lavatory faucet! (Please insert your own "oooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" here!)

For any of you who have not been reading for long: this is a huge deal, as we have been living without any bathroom faucet for about a year and a half. It is a long story, which you are welcome to read the beginnings about here if you are so inclined--the rest of the story will come in my next post!

So, until then,

YAHOO!!!

All in all, one of my favorite days so far this year. : )