The Crucible open house

Yesterday we went to the spring open house to The Crucible, an industrial and fine arts non-profit located in a 54,000 sq ft. building in West Oakland. It's pretty much what we thought -- every imaginable art form tucked away in a different corner: ceramics, blacksmithing, glass blowing, neon sculpture, jewelry making, arc welding, wood working, robotics, etc. We wanted to see what struck the kids imagination, and while Julie seemed to jump right in, Nate was more wary until it came to the glass blowing exhibit where we saw a team blowing glass into a metal sculpture. I'm hoping they both want to attend a summer camp, but if not, Gina and I will try our hand at something there.

Anniversary #13

Dinner at The Peasant and the Pear.

Easter 2015

Spring Break

The calendar said spring break, but it felt more like summer in the mountains. Gina and I restricted ourselves to the lightest of work duties  on the first day(installed new light fixture, programmed new thermostat, set up new audio soundbar), and then it was all play: walking around the lake across the road, doing a walking tour at Moaning Cavern, hikes on the Arnold Rim Trail and Big Trees park, dinners out, tennis, wine tasting, and of course lots of pool playing. Few people were in town or on the roads, and the only crowds we saw were at the cavern. Even still, that was my highlight with the tight walk down the stairs, and then in the middle of the biggest cavern, the long spiral staircase made out of a WWI battleship. The kids seemed to like the picnic and hikes along the rivers in Big Trees park, even though Nate ended up taking an unexpected bath and Julie and I decided it was too cold to stay in for long. Caspian, as always, was the perfect car companion, albeit a little messy in the cabin.

Julie Field Trip

Julie and I woke up at 5:00am to meet her classmates at school and drive over to Redwood City for the Martine Science Institute boat trip for a 8:00am boat departure. It was the same as Nate's trip: we motored out to the middle of the bay, and the kids got to dredge mud to look at worms, take plankton samples, measured salinity, and threw out a net to capture and identify fish. Julie's team was the luckiest of the three -- they caught a baby shark!

Day with Nate

Gina promised Julie they'd go see the new Cinderella movie together, so Nate and I immediately decided on the only sane thing one could do: we drove 15 miles in the other direction. I gave Nate his choice of restaurants for lunch, so he chose Vik's Chaat House in Berkeley for Indian food (his favorite), then we walked on the Berkeley pier and walked around 4th Street to play with the shiny objects in the Apple store. On our drive home, we parked near Chabot Space Center and did a hour hike along the Sequoia Bayview Trail. 

Dry Ice!

Julie's 5th grade science experiment this year was done at the last minute -- but we still had fun seeing if she could make a soap bubble using dry ice and soap. Success (after a few tries). Subsequent experiments that didn't make it onto the science fair board included making soap bubble "brains", a huge cloud in the sink, and freezing mom's only two roses in a bath of dry ice and isopropyl alcohol.

Pi Day dinner

Our empanada pot pie to celebrate Pi Day on March 14 (3.14/15....)

New slack line in back yard

Snow!

With an Acura stuffed to the brim, we picked up the kids from school and drove straight to Arnold to catch the snow and see the projects finished by our contractor. Oh, and delivery of some furnishings (lights, paintings, bookcase, etc). Although there wasn't snow at the cabin any of the days that weekend, it was coming down pretty well just past Big Trees State park, and we were able to pull off Highway 4 for a few snowball fights and fort/snowman constructions on Saturday. Playing in the snow was the best part, but we also had a chance to get drinks in Murphy's and try out the pool table. On the way home, late Sunday evening, we had a chance to take few good shots of the setting sun. 

President's Day in Arnold

I guess we can call it official: we closed on the sale of the Eagle's Rest home (1060 Moran Rd) in Arnold, CA on January 30th. Wow. It's a surreal experience, "moving into" a home we've rented for the past seven years, and yet getting a chance to update and improve it as we see fit. We'll eventually put it back into the rental market to help cover our costs, but for now we're enjoying the process of going up every couple of weeks and making improvements along the way. For President's Day, we continued the work we've done the past few visits, and even paid a visit up to Ebbett's Pass to check out the minimal snow. The kids sledded down in their pants (yes, they regretted it later), and we drove by Bear Valley and the skiing area which still had runs open.  

Some prior rentals: 

November, 2013

February, 2012

August, 2009

February, 2009