The Duck Pond

Right near our place, on the way to and from school, is The Duck Pond. Since we aren’t in a rush on the way home from school I let them play there almost every day. This pond has the trifecta- ducks, pigeons, and chestnuts. What more could you ask for (lol)?! The girls cannot help themselves- they MUST chase the ducks and pigeons- no matter how many times their Mama reprimands them.

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At the slightest sign of rain, even a light mist, the girls insist on wearing their rain boots and umbrellas. After living in San Diego for their whole lives rain is such a novelty to them. Wait until they experience snow!! I am LOVING having GREEN around me again- when you live in a desert climate you don’t get much of that either.

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EVERY day Kiera asks to climb this rock, so we call it “Kiera’s Rock”.

The girls are AVID collectors of feathers, flowers, rocks, chestnuts (Quinnie’s specialty), and bottle caps (Kiera’s specialty). I’ve had to start carrying extra bags with me wherever we go. Simon and I laugh because we are always finding mangled feathers and wilted flowers in all of our jacket pockets.

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I LOVED collecting chestnuts when I was a kid. Makes me happy to see that Quinnie loves it also.

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Every vase in our house is being used

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The kids like making “Rhino horns” out of these leaf pods. They stick great to the bridge of the nose.

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Because everybody drinks bottled beer here, Kiera is in bottle cap heaven. There are SO many cool designs and pictures on the bottle caps. Kiera’s favorites are the ones with crowns.

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This is at a kiosk near the duck pond that has a bottle cap collection- Kiera LOVES it

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Kiera bringing home her treasures- a stick, a chestnut, a feather, a rock, and a leaf.

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Kiera wants to do everything that Quinnie does..

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Kiera is FASCINATED with this movie advertisement for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” that is opposite the pond.  She would look at it for an hour straight if we let her.

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Quinnie likes it too

Subways, Trolleys and Escalators – oh my!

According to the girls, one of the best things about living in a city is that they get to ride subways, trolleys and escalators EVERY day to and from school. After almost 3 months here, it still hasn’t gotten old.

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Oma is teaching Quinnie how to knit, so Quinnie was fascinated with this woman knitting on the subway (Kiera not so much!).

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They have huge TV screens in the subways so you can watch the news, etc. while waiting for your train.

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The girls ride their razor scooters to the subway station every morning (speeds things up during the morning rush since it’s a 15 minute walk to our closest one). All the other kids do the same thing- scooters and bikes everywhere!

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They are always looking out the window watching the world go by