San Jose, Day 2

Ah, a routine of the first morning of a California trip: the kids waking up insanely early.  4:30, to be exact.  No worries: since they're older, they know to not wake anyone else up, and to busy themselves in their own room.  Which they did, to a large degree, although not without some whining and sniping.

We breakfasted at 7 finally, and then I went back to my bedroom and took a much-needed nap (I had been running on fumes for the past two weeks without such a reset) before my sister and brother-in-law arrived later in the morning.  We took a stroll to a local playground and then returned home, from which the kids and I headed out to meet some friends in San Jose that I went on a study tour with in Taiwan some 20 years ago.  It was a really fun time of kids frolicking in the backyard (there were 9 in all, and plenty of room and toys to keep occupied) while grown-ups caught up over barbecue.

We returned home, ate dinner all together as a family, and watched some Olympics trials on TV before retiring for bed.  The kids are still adjusting to East Coast time and to not having school the next morning, so even with the freedom to stay up later, they were out by 8ish.  I need to stretch this out in the next few days so they will be able to stay up for fireworks on the 4th.