It’s all whizzing by us in what seems like a flash… Hanging on to each twinkling for an instant longer.

Back at his happy place on an early release day from school.

Showers found us indoors, building and making for quite some time.

A tempting buy since it’s a rarity finding his name on a mass produced item.

Legoland’s 20th birthday {cake}.

A natural foods eatery not far from the park — he devoured those tacos!

And a newly opened culture cafe with lotsa interesting fermented/probiotic goodies — coconut froyo, kombucha, fresh sourdough and more. LOVE all the independent and creative food places here.

Science Night @ school.

The PTA and volunteers did such a great job with all the stations.

Open House SD celebrates architecture and urban design by opening nearly 100 sites on a single day for people to visit. We only got to see 2 this year on a Sunday afternoon but hope we’ll get to visit more in following years. This was at a residence in Point Loma with beautiful mid century design and lovely views. (No actual house pix — can’t remember if not allowed or we just felt awkward w/ the owners around).

Then we went to the SD Chinese Historical Museum. Gotta get edumucated on how our peoples got to this city, right? :)

It was small but peaceful with some good reading commentary.

A book and a bowl after school one day. Our favorite acai place opened a new location and of course we had to check it out!

SDSU, one of the local colleges, hosted a Science and Engineering Sampler for all ages so we went to check it out.

Got to chat with enthusiastic students and faculty.

We also walked through some of the halls, classrooms and labs. University seems like several lifetimes ago for us but sooner than we think, our little boy will be on one of these campuses. *sob*

BUT not yet… not just yet. :)

We had some Southwest vouchers to use up before they expired so for spring break, we decided to fly to our new state capitol and then drive to Tahoe/Squaw and see how the snow was up there. :) First time flying out of (and back into!) SD.

Straight to Tahoe. Everything was so GREEN!

Geared up and rarin’ to go.

The first day, a huge snowstorm hit. E still had his lesson but only a couple of lifts were open. Then they closed the whole mountain early due to lightning. :(

A little bummed but we got to walk around the village a bit and found a cool coffee shop.

Jumping in the snow. :)

Obligatory oversized-wooden-chair-at-ski-resort pic. Not many people were out so we didn’t have to wait. :)

Played Jenga and ping pong back at the lodge.

It snowed even more overnight so the next day was a glorious blanket of white!

E had lessons again so it was a mad dash to ride as much as the mountain as we could to make up for lost time. :P

See Lake Tahoe in the background?

Nature has a way of just leaving us speechless at times.

Then we boarded awhile w/ E towards the end of the day.

It started coming down pretty hard as we were walking back so these two decided to make a HUGE snowball and snowman.

We considered extending our time in Squaw another day but unfortunately couldn’t cancel our Sacramento hotel so it was bye-bye for now. Another round of drinks for the road. :)

The next day, it was time to explore the California State Capitol.

Inside was what was considered their museum. They had informative displays for each county in the whole state. Ours!

Met @ the Reagan statue for our tour guide. “Free” tour (paid for by our taxes, they joked).

The green Assembly Chamber.

And the rose Senate Chamber.

The guide was pretty entertaining with lots of interesting tidbits.

This bear was apparently purchased by Arnold Schwarzenegger as a gift to CA.

We strolled the park and gardens outside.

From the World Peace Rose Garden.

Vietnam Memorial.

E had lots of questions about war, why people fight and soldiers dying. Difficult but good conversations.

Memorial Grove, a tribute to the those who lost their lives in the Civil War.

Found a Taiwanese place for lunch.

“Bing”, of course!

We then wandered over to the Old Sacramento State Historic Park.

This riverboat on the waterfront is actually a hotel.

We still had quite a bit of daylight left so found a nearby park to run around. He requested hide and seek.

This monkey loves hanging and dangling.

They call this sculpture the alien tourist trailer. :D

Mommy got up early AM to run on the American River Trail.

It was enjoyable until…

The wild turkey that almost gave her a heart attack. :D Then a homeless old man comes cruising on a bike, right past the turkey without a blink of an eye. Said turkey wanders back into the wild, whew!

Beautiful Saturday morning to check out one of the area’s farmer’s markets. Not as big as some of the ones in SD but lots of fresh goodies. We saw these lion’s mane mushrooms we wish we could’ve brought back.

Our return flight was that evening so we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Powerhouse Science Center.

Fun challenges like build a structure to withstand a simulated earthquake…

Or tornado.

These digital sand maps are making an appearance at many a museum.

The museum seemed kind of small when we walked in but there was actually lots to keep us busy for a few hours. We also saw a short planetarium show.

Airport for our first flight “back home” to SD. We used to be super sad to go home after trips. Now, not so much. :)

Let the King of [our] hearts
Be the mountain where [we] run
…
Let the King of [our] heart
Be the wind inside [our] sails
The anchor in the waves
Oh oh, He is my song

‘Cause You are good
You are good, oh oh
You are good…

Oh yes, we see Him in these mountains, hills we run… and bike and hike. Our ‘hood from up high.

Spring has sprung!

Found this on one of the slopes behind us. How did they get that thing up there? But perfectly located to watch a sunset or sunrise.

The extra rains this year have turned everything GREEN!

Bloomin’ everywhere.

We decided to take a day trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to catch the superbloom (which apparently only happens when it rains more than usual).

Stopped for a little bit in the historical, mining town of Julian. Also well known for their pies!

We’ll have to come back for their popular apple picking when in season.

In Borrego Springs, there were fields and fields of flowers with tons of folks frolicking in them. We found a quiet one to snap some photos.

However, we expected to see more of a variety — thinking the flowers around our parts might actually be prettier!

E was more interested in all the little insects we found.

On the way back home, we stopped at one of the trails in Mount Laguna to catch a delish sunset! It was incredibly wiiiiindy and nippy, though, especially at the fairly high elevation.

Went to the Japanese Friendship Garden Cherry Blossom Festival on a Resident Free Tuesday. :)

Zen!

Must point out that he is getting a hole in EVERY single pair of pants on only the left knee. Is he crawling around (one-legged?) at school??? :D