April2006

April 1 (Saturday): In the morning, Eiche cleans up his trains and builds a house with his blocks. He spends most of the day with PapaEd and Nonna and then goes with Dad to Shoreline Park. We spend time at the kite-flying field. There's a jackrabbit in the grass nearby. There are girls with simple paper kites, and men with fancy spinning kites, and kites in between. Eiche watches the kites and walks on the logs that mark off divisions of the big field (used for parking on Shoreline Amphitheatre show days). He runs around in the long green foxtail grass and lies down to hide in it. A spinner kite gets tangled with a big ripply white banner kite and we watch them getting untangled. Then we ride along the lake to the "cargo schooner" playground, which is a pretend ship surrounded by sand. We ride back when it's getting dark, then watch people practicing golf for a little bit before going home.

Eiche has some new toys -- lace-and-trace shapes of construction machines. While he was visiting New Mexico, he was learning to play "Go Fish" with GrandmaJune and GrandpaGeorge (using a deck full of different kinds of fish). He also got a haircut during his visit.

15-April (Saturday) Eiche and Mom are back from visiting GrandmaJune and GrandpaGeorge. Dad and Eiche go to pick up some milk and laundry soap, and we see a woodpecker hammering on a telephone pole. Slightly rain-showery today, but sunny in late afternoon.

16-April (Sunday) Eiche goes to church with Mom and AuntieDar. In the afternoon, Eiche and Dad go on scooters to see the flowing rainwater in the Matadero Creek culvert and continue to El Carmelo School. Someone has painted a rainbow in a street near the school, and many spring flowers are out in the gardens. We take our scooters to the paved school grounds and scoot round and round, braving occasional drizzly rain. On our way back home we see a rainbow.