As you should know, the boys all went camping last week. Parker had a great time.
Our campsite featured many ameneties, includes a range of logs for walking on.
And, of course, jumping off of.
There were also fences to climb.
And short, shallow hills that let you run like the wind.
I spent some time with the gals tonight, while Rachel went to the store and to get Parker. 
The girls are a mighty force these days. Miranda is intent upon eating leaves, and will manage it when you're not looking. 
Elizabeth is as strong a crawler, but is more easily satisfied with a toy. With Miranda, it's all about the leaves.
They are both standing constantly, if they can find a convenient nearby structure.
Then Parker came home to join in the fun.
We've finally decided what to do about Parker's day care situation. Starting on a week from Monday, he'll be joining the Long Family Day Care facility. It's a small family center *very* close to our house. They only have one teacher (and even she doesn't have much experience), but she limits her small guests to three. We think Parker will like it a lot and the transition will be much easier this time. The best thing about this day care is that it is free (if you don't count the long term therapy costs for the teacher who is bound to go a little bonkers from time to time.) The down side is that he won't continue his spanish education. Maybe his teacher can teach him really bad fake french. 
After just hearing the news, Miranda is very excited but Dad isn't quite sure yet...
Today's twin group (from Doubletalk class) met at Melissa's house in El Sobrante. Five mommies and ten babies, all even more cute then I remember then.
From Miranda, clockwise...
Clayton
Jacob
Payton
Jordan
Hudson
Candace
Jen and her babes arrived later and god only knows where Eli was hiding.
And is it me or does every single baby in the world have more hair than Miranda???
The girls are becoming quite the little standers. They are pulling up on everything. Which is fine when it is the couch or intellitainer, but not so good when it is diaper pail or eachother.
Today Miranda discovered the famous latch wall that Michael built for Parker. We left it up after Parker was done playing with it and now I know why.
Went to Monika's house today for our Wednesday Oakland Twin Mom play date. She lives in Orinda (ironic isn't it), a gorgeous house with beautiful views. With the exception of the mess I let my girls make on her couch, everyone had a good time. Moms were Leslie, Susan, Monika and me. Kids were Miranda and Elizabeth, Sammie and Charlie, Sebastian and Fletcher, and Owen and Issac (identicals). My apologies to Susan for the shot of her eating. But I just couldn't resist it since all the babies are eye-balling her. My girls wore actual clothes today (rather than onesise or jammies.) Plain shirts and jeans. That Amy must have gotten to me. 
I got these play tunnels when Parker was about 9 months old. He never played with them. Now, he loves them. And so do the girls! This morning, Parker got the blue tunnel out and everyone, including Ted and Lion, joined in on the fun.
Eli is quite the little musician. Today she picked up and started playing the cymbals.
The gals are crawling!
Not sure if it was Julia's influence this past week, their continued frustration at not being able to get around, or just time, but they are 100%, absolutely, no question about it...crawling.
Yikes!
The Martin/Marcus clan left today. It was a good visit. Sure, 10 people in one house for 10 days is a bit much, but short of a couple episodes by each of the children, it was a relatively smooth time. Here are the kids before they left. We are already looking forward to next summer.
Well, the evening went off exactly as planned, all the kids went to sleep without incident, and Eran and I spent the evening playing Scrabble. We were dead even much of the game, but Eran pulled ahead in the final few rounds and won 341 to 319. I only managed to avoid an embarassing rout by playing strains/weans for 75 points.
Rachel and Amy have gone to Anastasie's wedding, so Eran and I are caring for all six kids. It's 5:55pm and all is well.
Elizabeth and Miranda are playing in the living room.
Parker is making numbers on his calculator in the kitchen.
Peter is playing marble game in the kids' room.
Oliver and Julia are playing Candyland on the deck with a little help from Eran.
The timeline looks more or less like this:
6:00pm Elizabeth and Miranda to bed
6:15pm Julia has dinner
6:30pm Julia to bed
6:45pm Pizza for all the boys
7:30pm Parker to bed
7:30ish Peter & Oliver to bed
Sounds easy. Too easy?
This blog was created and written by Peter Alexander Marcus, age 7.
Pictures from our camping trip to Samuel P. Taylor State Park:
This is Oliver in a tree at our campsite. Parker found the big slide on it and one day Parker and I played a game because of the log in front of it. 
This is the log that Parker and I used for the game. Parker would slide down the big slide and go over the log and while he does this I walk across the log. Then Parker goes up the big slide and waits for me to come around the other side. When he sees me at the top of the big slide, he slides down and goes on the other side of the log. I jump down, and the game starts over.
At the end of the game (Parker was going over the log too early), he played around the two trees that created the big slide, and got his hands a little messy!
This is Oliver scooping the Tomales Bay water (for some reason it was black...!) into the bucket to make the Sand City lake. 
This is the river next to the campsite, and the many logs that created a Good Bridge to go across the water. First you have to cross the log that I am standing behind, then jump into the water and walk to the sand. There's another muddy place in the sand, so go in the water again. Then there is a little peninsula. At the end of the peninsula, there is a small stream, and on the other side of the stream there are four logs that create a "4". Go on the log that is closest to the other side of the stream. Then scooch along the log that looks like it is poking Eran. There's a huge rock at the end of it. Jump onto the rock and then onto the large sandy area next to it. The way to get back is exactly the same—just be careful when you step onto the first log.
Another good day for the ladies. We went to costco in the morning and since the girls were dressed in the same jammies, we got lots and lots of attention. I'll have to get a picture of them in the shopping cart one day soon.
In the afternoon, we went swimming. I hired a college gal to help with the twins and we all had a great time. Julia seemed to enjoy it the most. I took some pics with a disposal camera, but we'll have to wait for the film to be processed to post them here.
The boys come back tomorrow. It's been quiet and calm around here, but it will be good to see my guys.
The babies woke up right on time today after sleeping through the night. (yay!) Eli chatted with herself and then with Miranda until I went up to get them at 6:30. Amy and Julia came in shortly after. We all played and ate for a while. The girls took a short nap, but I pretended I was Michael and "made" them go back to sleep for a bit longer. Then Shayna and Christina came over to chat about the work and see the babies. Then lunch and another nap. Mine for 2 hours! Then a trip to Target. Back home for some play time and a bath. Babies were down by 6:10. And now we have dinner. Yum.
The boys left for their 3-day camping trip today, leaving Amy, Julia, Elizabeth, Miranda and me at home. The girls were off sync today for napping but when we found a moment when they were all awake, we went out to one of the three farmers market's in the area. The fish and squash we got there were delicious and the girls enjoyed the peaches too.
The rest of the day we tried to soothe cranky babies. First Elizabeth, then Julia, then Miranda and then Elizabeth again. Amy is still trying to get Julia asleep as I type.
At one point today, they were all standing against the previously mentioned blue chair. It was a super cute moment. Too bad the boys took the camera for camping blog worthy opportunities. But here are some other pictures of Julia looking extra super cute.
