The year is almost over, and while I love blogging about our travels and adventures, I also want to document our day to day life in Redwood Shores. I cherish the simplicity of our everyday lives as much as I cherish our adventures around the world, and I hope Bridgette feels the same. No matter how much fun we have during our travels, we always yearn to come home to the familiarity of our lives. As the saying goes…home is where the heart is.
Most days start off with the three of us eating breakfast together, which sometimes is engaging and peaceful while other times, it’s a mad dash to stuff food down our throats to make it out the door in time. Alan then drops Bridgette off to school before he heads off to work. I try to take at least 15-20 minutes of quiet time to myself after they leave, to pray and to read, before I jump on the computer to start my work day. I usually get a good 6-7 of hours work in before I hop on my bike to pick Bridgette up from school. From that point forward, I try to spend as much time with Bridgette as possible. We share tidbits from each other’s day, snack together, and then read on the front porch if the weather is nice. When Bridgette is busy with homework, I may jump back on the computer to check email, or catch up with chores around the house. When 6pm rolls around, we start preparing dinner, and we almost always eat together as a family. During the busy wedding season, we eat out more often, but still try to do a family activity together in the evening. Monopoly deal was a favorite for awhile and now, playing jump rope and having tickling fights are at the top of Bridgette’s list.
Bridgette has minimum day every Wednesday, and we declared it to be our mommy-daughter day a few years ago. I try my best not to schedule any work meetings on that day so we could have the afternoon together. Our favorite spot is the Town and Country plaza in Palo Alto, where we would lunch at either Gott’s or Douce France, followed by ice cream at Tinpot, and then an hour or two reading at Books, Inc. I love having this routine, with just the two of us, and though we do the same thing week after week, it never gets old for me.
Weekends are often spent with families and friends, though occasionally we’d have a weekend to ourselves where we would hike, hang out at Off the Grid, or find a local activity to check out in San Francisco.
