Mother's Day Hike at Bon Tempe Dam

 We had a great day in Marin County yesterday. The boys gathered up delicious picnic supplies on Saturday while I was working: salads from Summer Kitchen, Silas's favorite Kettle chips, homemade egg salad with truffle oil (made from eggs so local we can hear the chickens from our living room), and adorable ladyfinger sandwiches filled with apricot spread and pistachio cream from Crixa Cakes.


After homemade waffles for breakfast (can you detect a food theme to my day?) we drove out to Bon Tempe Lake (a reservoir) and hiked the perimeter (3.5 miles approximately) stopping for a picnic, animal sightings and scat identification opportunities along the way. 

Western fence lizard on a rock

tree sap crystallizing on moss

redwoods

enjoying a log seat, just his size

All the boys were there (except the cat)

the smaller but lovely Alpine Lake

 We brought all our hiking gear: water bottles, dried mango, laminated animal identification cards, raptor silhouettes identification card, sun hats, warm fleece (the temperature ranged from warm in the sun to shivering cold in the shade), binoculars, camera... we were ready.
We saw lots of wildlife: dragonflies, fence lizards, ospreys, red-tailed hawk, seagulls, ducks, turkey, ravens, bass, deer, and this snake on our way back to the car... possibly the highlight for Silas, although we couldn't positively identify the species. (feel free to offer ideas in the comments)

And after that great day my friend and wonderful mentor/boss, Sylvia, who lives just a few miles from the lake made us a delicious dinner while Silas "hiked" up and down her hillside back yard. He just couldn't get enough of the beautiful outdoors.  Sylvia was kind enough to say that she thought Kevin and I were doing a great job as parents, something that is always so nice to hear. Of course some days are harder than others but generally I enjoy the job, especially since Silas does like to do so many of the same things I like to do: reading, hiking, laying around in bed, drinking tea, eating dessert, learning new things about the natural world, saying "I love you". 
And having Kevin to parent with... well, I can't quite explain it.  But it might just be perfect.

The more we get together... Philadelphia visit

Diego, Penelope and Silas compare heights

For spring break we flew back east to visit NY and Philadelphia. Silas had fun in Brooklyn and Manhattan but when we started considering staying another night in NY he became misty eyed talking about how much he was looking forward to being with other children... and boy oh boy were there children to be with in Philly.  

From dawn to dusk, non stop fun was had by all the little folks in the Schwarz Madrid house.  And the grown ups often extended the party late into the night, because midwives can stay up late even when they aren't working when wine and fabric and other midwives are involved.  It was a nearly complete reunion of my midwifery class from Penn and we had a blast. But this is Silas's blog and I hardly photographed the grown ups at all... so here's the photo record of our fun in Philly in the daylight hours.

Most of our time was spent walking the neighborhood of West Philly, it's a nice place to be and children en route to a playground and/or burritos are generally happy children.

Claudia, Silas and Penelope

Jessi with baby Adrien and Antoinette in charge of big girl Claudia

Silas and Penelope are quite the pair, they go way back...Penelope was at Silas's birth (in utero)

Antoinette came all the way from Singapore and Talisyn and Cyra made the trip from Minnesota.

Silas wishes he had a big brother, and Diego is happy to provide a few days of this reality. Wrestling and video games were the main events for these dudes.

Claudia (aka Claude) gets in on the wrestling action

Silas almost never holds hands with other children, so this is some true love

this milkshake contains Tastykake krimpets and caramel sauce. Only in Philly.

Sorting his rocks and sticks...

within sight of Independence Hall.

We did leave West Philly briefly, we toured Congress Hall (next to Independence Hall), got a quill, peeked at the Liberty Bell, the boys went to the Franklin Institute, the girls had ice cream at Franklin Fountain, and we even got to see Susy, Nancy and Jacob for a quick weeknight visit (not everyone was on spring break that week :(
Well, Claudia certainly was...

We got to finish off our visit with a trip to the Farmer's Market at Clark Park, the heart of the neighborhood, even before the peaches come into season. The kids got pinwheels, seed bars and apples.

I love this look Penelope is giving Silas, looks like the one he gave her a few years back...