Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve 2015!

It has been a fast & festive end of the year.  Highlights from the past few weeks..... 


Embracing seasonal flair....
We tended toward the 'slightly over doing it' approach...

We turned to the Lego Advent calendar to spark our often hard-to-get-rolling kids. 
It helped for sure (but was no match for our 12 year old)

Making so many cookies, we're all on a serious sugar high...
Of course, gingerbread houses...

Mass quantities of pretzel candies...

And an old classic - Corn Flake wreaths...

...with the addition of SF flair - multi-color

We've eaten so many, we're beyond ready for those New Years resolutions


Attending a range of festive shows....
We saw a friend's daughter star in Velveteen Rabbit (Q quote: "this show is NOT for my age or gender")

We pushed more culture with a SF Symphony version of Charlie Brown Christmas.
The kids were open to the concept since it was described as a 'live action show'....

The first half, however, was all symphony & the voice of Ariel singing.....

(you can see Q's level of enthusiasm to that)

Once the Charlie Brown people came on stage, the mood recovered -despite the nose bleed seats!

We saw a HILARIOUS Harry Potter parody - Potted Potter...

AND, Of course, we had to attend the long anticipated Star Wars...

Costumes weren't the norm - but it's always good to be extra festive

(thanks EJAM for the flair!)

Trying to remember the point....
During the busy fun, we're trying to remember to take time for the 'big rocks'.

Sharing: We made no-sew blankets for a shelter with Xavier's class....

Simple joy:  
Celebrating the return of the Billy Goat Hill swing!

The kids are SO good at reminding us to enjoy the moment

And in case we all forget, our city (not surprisingly) is also pretty good at reminding us....

Merry Christmas - here's to simple joys, festive flair & of course - cookies!

Halloween & High Schools - The Price of Festive

Halloween might just be the most festive holiday in this city.  
After observing this last year, the kids insisted we up our decor game....

As if on cue, fog rolled in right in time for trick or treating...

Lucky came along as our 'pooping peacock'...

The enthusiasm for the occasion is contagious - kids here get way into it....

And given our kids' school is an art school, the tendency is to homemade & wacky...

A scary clown...

A duct tape tree...

And a flat apple...

(here's what happens when you make a costume without a pattern)

OK, maybe not ALL the kids got into it....Q walking among some less-festive 7th graders in the school Halloween parade 

Staff enthusiasm offset any 'too cool' middle schoolers...

(Zoe's 2nd grade teacher as Captain Underpants)

Out in the evening, it was fun to also see so many adults get way into it

Logan even ran into his Ninja Turtle family

We were excited that the 'come get your candy if you dare' lady was back at it this year

(lowered candy in a cauldron - but also spontaneously dropped a big spider and bloody head down onto candy takers)

And found a new, cool candy delivery system - a Plinko game

(candy dropped into the ~8' tall game from above & bumped its way down, making it a surprise where it would fall out)

Given the housing density, it took no time to collect some serious loot...

That said - one price of SF festivity is navigating SF schools....

The public schools are 'lottery based' - meaning you have very little control over which school they'll get into.  The schools vary wildly in size, academic performance & personality. 

Thus, in addition to figuring out which public schools to include on our lottery list, we need to explore other options too.  

• The good news - there are a lot of options 
• The bad news - there are a lot of options!

Quincy & I have already started the intense & time consuming high school search.  
On Halloween morning, he attended a 2-hour open house...

A day later, we toured a school with a massive campus I didn't know was possible in the city...

As well as one with amazing architecture...

Luckily, we have some time to figure it all out & plenty of sugar to fuel the journey.

Here's to finding our way & keeping it festive along the way

Short on housing, but long on tents

San Francisco housing has become a national conversation.  Rents are now as high or higher than NYC.  The conversation is top-of-mind & visible all over the city...

Lots of debate in the November elections...

(Propositions to put a moratorium on market rate construction & limit Airbnb type of rentals were among the hotly debated) 

Even seeping into school conversations....

...with a homework assignment graphing the 'impossible equation' of it all:
Average salaries barely budging + skyrocketing housing cost = the math doesn't work

Maybe a surprising topic for 5th grade - but, maybe not, given our school has already lost several teachers fleeing to a cheaper cost of living

Meanwhile homelessness is up & families end up staying in tiny starter apartments they moved into way back when & can't afford to move out of (rent control keeps increases well below market rates - creating a huge spread in prices)

It is a mess & I honestly do not know the answer....But this is not supposed to be a depressing blog.


Uncomfortably related, just days before the elections full of housing measures, Xavier's class went on a camping field trip...

Being that the campground was in the city, we took the city bus + walked there...

Got an ocean view along the way......

And later hiked around amazing surroundings

(I wonder if these kids have any idea how lucky they are?!)

We stayed in an urban oasis of a campground

(I think the big red ball won vs. scenery with the kids)

So while we may be super short on housing, we have some pretty amazing parks - with even a campground in the city.


Here's to brave teachers willing to sleep out & hoping we find a way to solve the housing problem - so camping out can be a 'get to' for everyone & a 'have to' for none.