Sunday Picnic at the Oakland Temple

 

As I sometimes do when Erik is out of town, I over-planned to avoid disaster and ended up having a much more productive, patient, super-fun four days than I would have in our normal routine. My fears of a long, stir-crazy Sunday led me to pack a magnificent picnic (cream cheese, tomato and cucumber sandwiches highly recommended), load up my lovies in the mini-van, and drive 45 minutes to the Oakland Temple to spend the afternoon walking around the grounds and the visitors' center. The adventure when I almost ran out of gas on the freeway, then coasted to a stop at a gas station in the heart of gang-banger Oakland (the girls in the car saying "we're praying that we'll be safe, Mommy!") only intensified the joy of arriving at that castle-like white building atop a luciously green hill, looking out over the entire bay. It was a clear, perfect day and the kids were overjoyed to run around among the flowers and visit their home temple for the first time.