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We retuned a few hours ago from a great weekend up north, where there are no katyushas, only beautiful California nature. We spent 2 days exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park, situated about 4 hours drive north of San Francisco. We drove up on Friday night as the kids were sleeping in the car, and arrived in Redding, a sweaty town which serves as the base for nature exploration in the far North of California. With us came the Weisses. On Saturday morning we drove 45 minutes to Lassen and began the day with a nice 1.6mile hike around Lake Manzanita which Ron completed successfully without being carried even an inch of the way. Way to go Ron!!! Daddy carried Shir and Orr while Mommy took care of the backpack and the camera. After a nice lunch overlooking the lake, we drove to a campsite where Dana and Lior were going to spend the night. We set up camp and then Lior and I did a quick 4 mile hike to a dormant volcano called Cinder Cone. It was raining and we heard the rumble of thunder as we started the climb. Luckily when we got to the top it cleared up and we had a great photo session. When we returned to the campsite, Ron and Yoavi (1 year older) were playing together very nicely, which got both families to the conclusion that hikes and trips are always better when your little ones have someone of comparable age to hang out with. This reduced the number of nags, cries and temper outbursts dramatically for both families. After fumbling with wet wood, we managed to get a fire going and cook some meat on the grill. Towards dusk we said our goodbyes, leaving the Weisses to their tent and returning to out motel.

Today we continued to travel in the park, hiking briefly along Summit lake, before heading up to the highest roadside point in the park. This vista point overlooks Lake Helen, which is still partially frozen. Take a look at the great pictures of Ron tasting snow. After driving a bit more, the kids started to get restless and our lunch was set up in an impropmtu meadow near some sulfur steam vents (stinky). After that, we started the long drive back home, and unfortunately the kids did not appreciate the long commute. Lesson for us is to always do long haul drives after 7pm. All in all, this was a great weekend trip, for most of it the kids were terrific, and best of all is that next weekend we will be up north again…

It has been over 35Celsius for the past few days, with today reaching almost 40!!! This is very rare for the Bay area and Foster City. We don’t have air conditioners in our homes here, so everybody was trying to figure out how to stay cool this past week. Click here to see how we kept cool over the weekend.

Basically we kept ourselves wet. We went to the PJCC swimming pool on Saturday morning. My first time in the pool with Shor and Orr. They had a blast. Both took to my training very well, and by the end of an hour long session in the water, both were doing underwater dives. Ron elegantly refused to be subjected to such abuse. After napping in our sweltering home, we took off to San Francisco, a city where Paola has yet to wear short sleeves. Finally she was able to be comfortably warm, even at 8pm in the evening. We visited Japan-town and had a bite to eat, before returning home via night views of the Golden Gate bridge.

Today was the hottest day of this Hell-week. We were invited to a noontime BBQ which proved to be very hot, even whilst sitting in the shade, and then went to other friends for an even hotter afternoon meal sitting in the sun. Luckily all had kiddy pools for Ron and the girls to enjoy.

Now it is almost midnight and finally the weather is bearable. The house has cooled down and there is enough of a breeze to feel comfortable. Veterans here say that this type of a warm spell comes once in 10 years. It’s a good thing we took alot of pictures of the kids in the various pools. This way they will have souvenirs when the real Foster City weather rturns.

This site is for family stuff, but we can’t ignore the reality of the world we live in. To all our family and friends in the mediterranean, we hope you are well and will soon get back to normal.

We just got back. Trip was great. Lots o fun and good memories. The kids were as well behaved as can be expected and the traffic was more merciful than on the way down. Pictures and details to come…

Update July 16:

Finally I have some time to write. Our trip to San Diego and area was great. Hard to call it a vaction though. With 3 small kids, away from home, you work hard to maintain their daily schedules as much as possible. Mostly this is a hat’s off to Paola. Click on the pictures below for some images from Legoland and the drive up the coast back home.

Legoland

Drive back home

This afternoon we strolled the streets of old town, which is a tourist trap remake of life in San Diego 150 years ago. Still, it is pleasant and not too much “in your face”.

In order to keep Ron excited, he got to take some pictures with Daddy’s camera. he’s actually quite good. Since the camera weighs more than Ron does, at this point, I’m in charge of holding the camera, Ron is in charge of shutter release. We are negotiating additional responsibilities down the road…

The artistic composition below was suggested by Paola and flawlessly executed by Ron as can be seen by the shadows. Click on the image for more pictures.

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In the evening we strolled along the harbor not too far from our hotel. Shir and Orr fell alseep in the stroller as the sky turned dark, and I waited for the pefect moment of light to capture some nice pictures.

This afternoon we strolled the streets of old town, which is a tourist trap remake of life in San Diego 150 years ago. Still, it is pleasant and not too much “in your face”.

In order to keep Ron excited, he got to take some pictures with Daddy’s camera. he’s actually quite good. Since the camera weighs more than Ron does, at this point, I’m in charge of holding the camera, Ron is in charge of shutter release. We are negotiating additional responsibilities down the road…

The artistic composition below was suggested by Paola and flawlessly executed by Ron as can be seen by the shadows. Click on the image for more pictures.

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In the evening we strolled along the harbor not too far from our hotel. Shir and Orr fell alseep in the stroller as the sky turned dark, and I waited for the pefect moment of light to capture some nice pictures.

We took the kids for a day at the beach which lasted a whole 2 hours of fun in the sun. We knew in advance that a whole day is too much at this point, especially as this beach where there are no facilities. It is just several miles of sand right in front of a residential neighborhood.

At first we were apprehensive of putting the girls into the sand, as we knew they would start to eat it, but then we decided, what the heck, they need to learn…

The results are before you in a great set of pictures that Paola took. She was torn between the love of the photoshoot experience and her motherly instinct to clean off their mouths.