Exploring

I think I've pretty much figured out the city streets and how to get from here to there without directions! We found Walmart, Target, Safeway, Trader Joe's, Costco and all our usual pit stops.

Sunday, Ryan and I each tried a church (we don't want to drag the kids along until we figure out where we are going to be). They seem to be a little different here, encouraging the kids to go to the service....not my idea of a productive listening experience. They have a separate time for Sunday school. Ryan didn't even make it to the service because he went at the Sunday school time and the parents were attending classes and no one was in the sanctuary. My experience was just as strange. The church was huge (probably could hold a few hundred) and I was one of 15 people there, including kids. I also had a surprise when I took communion and discovered it was real wine and very strong! Needless to say we were both dissapointed and missing our home church and missing our friends and family and all the activities we were used to. At least we were able to get on-line and listen to a sermon from Scott :o).

Last night I decided to look up the Mother's group in Livermore and they meet at a local church, one that didn't come up on any of my yellow page searches. The church had a great website and you can actually watch the service. The music, format and speaker were great, so I think we found a church! Maybe that's why no one was at the other churches!!!

Yesterday, Reggie started swim class and as usual struggled to participate (he has to observe awhile before feeling comfortable). He is in a relatively small class, 6 kids with 2 instructors. Half the kids were very comfortable in the water and the others not so much. So, today, they split up the kids and he did everything they asked!!! One of the boys won't even get in the water, so he and one other girl had the teacher's full attention. It couldn't be a better environment for him :o).

Today, we visited the local library and it is awesome! I guess that is one good thing that came out of my church visit, I passed the library on my way, so it was fresh in my mind to check it out :o). They have a huge wing just for kids, so we didn't really have to be that quiet. They had several computers and rooms for crafts and story time. We are going back tomorrow for crafts and Monday for a story.

We've had more fun exploring the backyard...Ryan and I have been trying to figure out the sprinkler system and we tested it again and realized none of the fruit trees or planters were getting water. They came and fixed it, but I wonder how long it has been going on. Ryan planted a couple watermelon plants and green beans last month and they shrivled up and died. Now that we have water, I think the beds will take off. The trees are somehow producing lots of fruit, so I guess they must be o.k. Reggie really likes to water and since we weren't sure they were getting water the past week, he has a big job to do. Now we'll have to find something else for him to do. We have a lemon tree, plum tree, orange tree, peach tree, some grape vines and a mystery fruit tree. We thought it was a yellow plum tree, but the fruit is fuzzy, maybe apricots? Anyone know what it might be? Here's a picture of the mystery fruit:

If the plums and things are ready, we'll bring bags home when we come :o)!

The weather has been beautiful these past few days. Low 80's, so we've been outside a lot. We went to the park last night and the kids are spending lots of time in the sandbox.