summer at stanford

Summer is an almost magical time at a university. It sounds a bit ridiculous, I know, but summertime -- when the school is emptied of most of its students -- makes the campus seem larger and calmer and even prettier. It's the perfect time for a family of five (5.66?) to traipse about, anyway.

We seized a summer afternoon a few weeks ago and met Jim for a bit of a snack at a cafe on campus. He treated the children to ice cream. He had a soda, and I opted for an iced (decaf) coffee. We took our treats outside to a lovely little garden behind the cafe. We probably couldn't get away with that during the year, but during the summer we had the place all to ourselves.  And that meant that the littles could wander about as they pleased.  Which they did.  Extensively.

Of course, the garden's biggest selling point is the (rather extensive) fountain/waterfall.  It draws our children like a magnet.

John David really wanted to go in the water.  Every time we turned around he'd taken off his sandals and  was inching toward the water.  By persistence and sheer luck, we managed to keep him out of it.

The girls loved the garden's walkways.  Because of the greenery, they felt like they were really exploring.  It was cute.  They wandered around all over the place.

When they tired of "exploring," the girls and Jim used the ball we'd brought to play catch.  They perched on benches and tossed the ball back and forth.  And then they jumped off the benches, practicing "safety landings."  Neither of those activities could possibly have been permitted during the school year, when the garden is full of professors and students, meeting and studying!

We've been back a few times since then, enjoying the campus' quiet.  We love summer at Stanford!