Pepper
Weekend highlights
Posted by Pepper on February 2, 2021
On Friday, Mint and I drove to Santa Cruz. We did this in the first half of the day while the kids were in school. It turned out to be so refreshing. Time and again, I pause to admire the beauty of the place I live in. Bay Area is so gorgeous. We drove through the rolling mist amid the mountains and let our eyes take in all that beauty. Mint and I have our best conversations while driving so it was a great opportunity to revitalize together.
We also spent a large part of the weekend putting this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle together. Okay fine, it was Mint who did the puzzle. I think it took about 8 to 10 hours cumulatively. But what delighted us more than completing the jigsaw was the new milestone we have reached in our parenting journey. We were able to leave the 1000 pieces lying around and the incomplete puzzle fully accessible to the brats. We were confident that they would not pull it apart or mess around with it. They are now mature enough to understand and respect the process of putting it together. It is such a far cry from our early days of parenting where we couldn’t play a simple board game without them knocking down or grabbing pieces.
We took Cotton and Candy on a hike and that too is a new high for us. So far, we have only been courageous enough to take them on small hikes or ones that don’t have a steep incline. But this time, we decided to test their limits and were surprised to see that their little legs did a remarkable job with all the climbing and walking.
It’s only Monday today and I am so not ready to face the week.
A dash of Pepper... 
Visha said
Not moving the pieces around is Very commendable behaviour 🤩
I love how they are holding hands
Pepper said
They love jigsaws and are pretty good at them, so I guess that helped. They realized it was an adult version of their game. I’m waiting to see how they fare with board games and all those small pieces
I love how they choose to hold hands too … 🙂
Anj said
Beautiful trail, cute kids! If you don’t mind, could you post on kid-friendly hikes around the area? Would really help fellow parents of young kids in the bay area, especially during this pandemic time. Thanks!
Pepper said
Sure, I will be happy to keep writing about the trails that we explore. This one was the Tassajara Ridge Trail.
https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7048351/tassajara-ridge-trail
Also, if you don’t already, I recommend following Silicon Valley Family either on FB or Instagram. They share a ton of fun stuff for kids to do around Bay Area, especially South Bay 🙂
Anj said
This is great! Thank you so much!
Pepper said
My pleasure!
paatiamma said
Lol 😂. Good training with the puzzles
Pepper said
Haha, yes. Hope it stays
vishalbheeroo said
Such lovely pic. I remember the puzzle played at someone’s house since couldn’t afford it but then couldn’t piece them together. When you mentioned San Francisco, for an instant thought it’s Mumbai but then saw the Bay area. I am so happy getting to read your blog and those of few bloggers I knew in the time when we all were writing for pleasure.
Pepper said
Happy to see you here too Vishal.. Miss those earlier days of blogging.
And you thought it’s Mumbai? How I wish that’s where we were.
lifeslittletwists said
I am surprised that they realized not to mess with the jigsaw pieces. They are already well trained 😁
It feels liberating to be able to do these walks/hikes with the kids right? I remember reading madmomma years ago about how resilient kids are and mine keeps surprising me. I am sure yours will too… plan a trip to east coast when things get better, next 👍
Pepper said
I fully agree, kids are more resilient than what we believe. I can’t wait to do East coast.. it’s been so many years since our last trip!
freakyveggie said
Wow… 1000 pieces 🤩
Cotton and Candy look so adorable holding hands 🤗
Pepper said
The 1000 piece jigsaw is really a lot of fun, although a tad difficult and time consuming. We have another black and white one which is even harder cos the colors are all the same, so it is harder to identify the pieces and put them together. Waiting to do that one.
Chaithra Mailankody said
Such amazing kids! Not messing the jigsaw, hiking! Wow, Im impressed! Credits goes to the parents too!
Pepper said
Oh I keep thinking we are useless parents, not instilling the right values in them. We are lazy bums ourselves and we aren’t teaching them the value of hard work, etc. I can go on berating myself as a parent.. but your comment made my day. Thank you!
Bhavani said
Seems like a perfect weekend ! And 3 yr olds not messing up a puzzle is a big deal ! Very chamatthu they are 🙂
How fun you are introducing them to hikes this early on. Best outing for a family during these times in the Bay Area with beautiful trails around.
I have been on that trail couple of times !
Pepper said
Chammattu isn’t how I would describe them, but if you say so, okay 😀
Really? You’ve been to that hike? I am guessing you live in South Bay? Isn’t this one far for you?
Bhavani said
I live in the East Bay. But our hiking group spans from East to the tri valley … our fav ones are ofcourse Las Trampas, Finley , mt diablo.
So yeah we pick randomly within that range 🙂
Pepper said
You live in the East Bay? We do too. I always thought you are in the South. We should connect and meet someday 🙂
Bhavani said
Yessssss we should ! Would love to meet you and your kutties 🙂
MysTri Mum said
Love the puzzle and loved reading your weekend recount 😊
Pepper said
Good to see you here! And thank you 😊