Old friend turned new neighbor

Hooray, hooray! Guess who moved in right behind us? Liz, or "Wizzy" as she's so endearingly called by Eli, is now a mere staircase away from us and we could not be happier to have one of our favorite people in the world as a neighbor. She and her mom drove the moving van out from Utah only a week ago, but you'd think she's been here forever the way the boys walk into her place as if it's their own.

Since she's still waiting on her CA respiratory therapy license, we're taking advantage of her free time while we can. Friday we went to Hidden Villa in Los Altos, a 1600 acre preserve with hiking trails, a working farm, educational garden, produce stand (with community crop-sharing) and even hostel. We fell in love and now agree that Hidden Villa spanks Rancho San Antonio's over-crowded, mile walk-to-the-trails booty. And after taking a quick-climbing (and therefore heart-pumping), 1.5 mile hike with the boys, we've decided that we're coming back on a regular basis. Who knew my kids could hike that high or that far?



We even dragged her along with us Saturday for a very wet and muddy hike at Russian Ridge Open Preserve because I had a hankering to see some mountain wildflowers. (What cay I say? I was having one of those Maria Von Trapp days where I felt trapped in the abbey and just wanted to see the hills.) Good friend that she is, Liz patiently forbore the "crazy idea of a pregnant woman," as my loving husband so aptly put it, and then adeptly guided us down Skyline Boulevard and La Honda Road to the best sandwiches west of 280 at Roberts Market in Woodside.