Lake Anza

Alia and Kian tend to sleep from 2-4pm so we if we go out, it's either before 2 or after 4pm. It's hard to do a big thing before 2 since Kian gets up late at 10am and if we run into 1pm, he can fall asleep in the car but wake up again, screwing up the extended 2 hour nap which Tim and I both need for the kids to take to recharge mid afternoon.

 Luckily, we have a ton of nearby spots where we can still feel like we've done something major, but really have only driven 15 minutes from home. Case in point, we visited Lake Anza which is a neat little lake off beautiful Tilden Park (which also has a merry go round, petting farm, botannical gardens, which we've been other times). This was our first at Lake Anza and it was only a short 15 min away.

We headed there on a sunny afternoon around 430pm, perfect sand playing for an hour and a half for the kids. At this time, nothing is too crowded so it feels like we have the place to ourselves. I remember the first time we took Kian to the beach in Hawaii, he wasn't scared of the sand since he was only 9 months. Then around 14 months, we took him to a nearby beach and he wouldn't even put his toes on the sand. A second time at the beach he was okay with it. Now, as you can see by the lake photos, he's fully enjoying the sand (and eating it again). He even ventured into the lake water, running actually and fell head down (Tim was right behind him) but didn't cry a peep! The lake is only open during the summer, wish we had found it earlier in the season.