The episodes of spring rain last month made for an impressive show of flora and fauna. Last weekend, we took Westley to UC Davis’ own Jepson Prairie Preserve for a Wildflowers & Critters docent tour through grasslands that featured “eggs & butter” wildflowers and vernal pools filled with fairy shrimps and frogs. Back home, we also took the opportunity to plant some tomato plants and herbs in our new planter, as well as the aloe plant that my lab technician Iris gave me. Unfortunately, the blooming flora also brought my allergies back in full force, which I had to battle with a daily regimen of Zyrtec, Flonase, and Patanol. The humidity also led to mosquito infestations returning to our front and rear porches, requiring more rounds of bifenthrin spraying. Melody’s new chicken pho recipe thankfully soothed our souls, and we were able to enjoy the warm noodles in our new backyard. For this 3-day weekend, we journeyed to Elk Grove for soup dumplings, scoped outdoor furniture at Scandinavian Designs and the RH outlet in Vacaville, and took Westley to our cousin Pamela’s place to get acquainted. Because we both have out-of-town conferences this week which overlapped by a day, and neither of our in-laws were available for childcare, we turned to our extended family for help. It took only a few slices of take-out pizza and the promise of watching the Cars movie to convince him to hang out with their family next weekend.