Before the weekend starts all over again, I wanted to post about our fun last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.
Auntie Kristie brought her kiddos up to our house for the afternoon to play. What a great surprise that was for Gabriela. Caetlin rushed up to me, gave me a giant hug and said, "I missed you too!!" They had so much fun playing with the dress up accessories and the dollhouse. The girls kept coming out of the bedroom with different pirate ensembles (sword, hat, sunglasses, lei, pirate eye patch).
My parents were in town too, so we enjoyed a steak salad dinner together and then rushed out the door to see a theatrical performance of Charlotte's Web. Perfect for Gabriela because she knows the story and really seemed to enjoy when we took her last time. She was very engaged during the show and (quietly) asked lots of questions. After the show was over, she asked to go on stage. I told her she could walk up there and the next thing I knew, the kids were all rushing onto the stage, the dance music came on, and everyone started getting down! Gabriela was nervous at first, but a little girl grabbed her hands and they started spinning around and dancing together. She loved it, and I couldn't help but beam at seeing my little girl up there. I admit it.
Saturday we went to Off the Grid in Alameda. They close off part of the giant lot, tons of food trucks come, they set up chairs and have live music. That day there was Peruvian food, Filipino, Indian, Asian fusion, Cajun, the falafel truck, a cupcake truck and a few others too. We all got something different and everyone loved their lunch. Gabriela and I got up and danced to the music.
Next, she went to a birthday party at Lincoln Park with Daddy while I took my parents to the airport. I showed up toward the end of the party and it was also Charles Dickens day or something, all these people in period clothing and accessories having a picnic on the lawn. Some dudes were playing the violin and everyone was dancing. It was fun to watch while the kiddo party was happening.
After that, we had Heather, Serkan and Rowan over for dinner before the headed off to Turkey. Gabriela passed out right after they arrived and slept until the next day.
Sunday morning, we checked out some garage sales, and then Gabriela asked if we could all go to the coffee shop together as a family. How could we say no?? As soon as we finished up, she and I got our helmets on and rode our bikes over to Alameda Bicycle for their family bike ride and bbq. It was a stressful but good experience. Mostly because I never ride with Gabriela (at least not often, I just got my bike), and when she rides, it's always on the sidewalk. This time, it was all in bike lanes, and I had to make sure she stayed in it, but wasn't too close to parked cars and that she stopped when she was supposed to.
It was all great, until we went over the (pedestrian) bridge. Gabriela worked so hard to ride her bike up the incline, but then, as we were going downhill on the bridge, she picked up speed, totally panicked, and took her feet off the pedals. Forget about things like breaks, people. She whizzed past me, screaming, bonked right into a fence and plopped off the back of her bike. My brave girl got right back on her bike and kept riding, although she refused to ride her bike over the bridge on the way back. She walked her bike soooooo slowly. We were literally the very last people to finish the ride. I even told the organizers who stayed with us at the end to just go ahead and leave us, but they didn't. We stayed at the park where we enjoyed a barbeque and Gabriela played on the playground.
Later that day, we just got errands done, Lane washed and cleaned his car and put up shelves in our storage closet and I organized it all up, while Gabriela played with the neighbors.
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