Jane

Jane with her Ahmpa - "I'm sad 'cause I'll miss my teacher."

We love Jane's school - Strawberry Elementary in Mill Valley. Jane's teacher, Bev Medynski, is so great and the programs they have there are the best I've ever seen in a grade school: music, dance ... they even have a full time naturalist and gardening program, it's just really cute. The Mill Valley school system has four elementary schools that feed into one middle school and one high school. She'll go to grade school and high school with the same kids for the next 12 years.

Tamalpais High - Laura went here and so will Jane someday

Jane and her friend Elizabeth

Jane's teacher, Bev Medynski, and buddies - Elizabeth, Keira and Emma

Jane and Keira

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Jane on her first day of kindergarten at the beginning of the year, she changed so much this year!

Another pic from Jane's first of day of kindergarten back in September of last year. This pic always makes me a little sad, the way she's running away from the camera ... before kindergarten her world was the same as our world, but here she is starting grade school and starting her life separate from us. So I guess that's why I like this pic and the reason it makes me a little sad, because it's like she's running off to start her own life; my little girl is growing up ...

Driving back and forth between Berkeley and Mill Valley while Linda and John wrestled with the MV plannbing department to get their new house built has made for a very difficult year for me and Laura and Laura's parents. The house was supposed to be completed back in December or so, but they've had a terrible time with the zoning / planning department and it won't be done until later this summer. So we spent the whole last year commuting to Jane's school which is about 40 minutes away from our place in Berkeley - living piled up on top of each other in Mill Valley during the week and then spending our weekends in Berkeley. Lots and lots of driving and logistical difficulties. But the thing that made it all worthwhile was Jane's school. We got her started off on the right foot and she really loves her school and had a great first year. She's grown up so much this year! Laura and I also love her school and have really enjoyed getting to know Jane's new friends and their parents who are just the nicest folks.

horse stable at the end of Myrtle Ave. near our new place

I can't believe how much I love Mill Valley - it's one of the nicest towns/places I've ever been to, and I'm kind of surprised at how much I like it. I mean, I sort of thought that because it is a rich town it might be a little snobby and uptight, but the people we've met through Jane's school are incredibly nice people. And I love the small town feel and all of the incredible hiking / outdoors opportunities. You know how I love to hike, and I can hike right from our house which is up on the mountain - endless trails through redwoods, oak woodlands, coastal ridges, meadows ... about 50,000 acres of wilderness and an incredible network of trails that cover the mountain and connect all the local towns like Stinson Beach, Muir Beach, Corte Madera, Sausalito, Fairfax ... it's just amazing. I've been living in and visiting Marin regularly ever since I lived at Green Gulch farm in Muir Beach 15 years ago, and all that time I've been steadily falling more and more in love with this area. Now that I have a kid in the school system and I'm getting to know the community ... I'm just really falling for this place. I feel connected to it in a way that I never felt about Berkeley. I'm so excited to stop all this shuttling between two places and move in with Laura's parents once their new place is done - I can't wait!