We’re in the midst of the busiest trimester of the year. The Jewish High Holy Days typically land somewhere in September, then my birthday pops up, and we’re immediately plunged into Halloween season, which is our favorite time of year, the boys as all year how long it is until Halloween. My birthday was a […]
Archive for the ‘life’ Category
Building our first Sukkah
October 19th, 2026 by pleia2
In practicing Judaism with MJ for over a decade, I had a passing familiarity with Sukkot, but much like Purim, it didn’t have much meaning until we had kids. Which is not to say they’re kids holidays, it’s just that Judiasm has a lot of holidays and these ones just weren’t on my radar. But […]
Movies, festivals, and holidays
September 24th, 2026 by pleia2
I had a wonderful welcome from my family upon my return from Australia. First, I was welcomed with a dozen 3d-printed roses! And the next day we were able to do all our regular weekend things together, plus enjoy Castro Valley Cruise night, were hundreds of locals bring out their classic and fancy cars to […]
Upon our return from Philadelphia
August 18th, 2026 by pleia2
We flew back to California from Philadelphia on the last Thursday of July. It gave us several days before the kids started school, and just under a week before I left to go on an international work trip. On Friday morning I woke up for work with a little shortness of breath. Sometimes that happens […]
Pools, visits, and house projects
August 10th, 2026 by pleia2
The weekend after we returned from our trip to Atlantic City epitomized why we spend our summers in Philadelphia: the ability to spend casual time with family. On Saturday we spent the evening with some of MJ’s older cousins at their apartment in New Jersey. We ordered pizza and had a nice evening of catching […]
Atlantic City Waves
August 6th, 2026 by pleia2
While we’re spending our summers in Philadelphia, we try to do one east coast adventure where we take some time off from work. Last year we took a road trip up to Boston and southern Maine. This year we went back to Atlantic City! The last time we went was a couple years ago over […]
Cars, camp, and celebrating the 4th of July with Big Boy and where it all happened
July 22nd, 2026 by pleia2
The 4th of July weekend sort of began on Friday, July 3rd when I had the day off from work. Aaron was concluding his Nature-based day camp, and MJ and I had a rare Adam-only day on our hands. Unfortunately, the weather had been scorchingly hot, with temperatures reaching 100F and the heat index soaring […]
Philly Typewriter and a Minecraft museum crawl before Father’s Day
July 7th, 2026 by pleia2
Our Philly summer began on Monday, June 15th with our cross-country flight. We brought Zara long, since six weeks was much too long to leave her with a pet sitter, but I was really nervous about how she’d handle the flight. Most cats do just fine, Caligula even made the journey when he was quite […]
Cherries and a Northern California Safari
June 30th, 2026 by pleia2
The final weeks we were in California before heading to Philadelphia for the rest of the summer was spent cherry picking, going on a safari, and checking out a local beach! But first we had a visit to the vet with Zara. She’s been doing great! But hadn’t been to the vet since concluding her […]
Kicking off California Summer
June 22nd, 2026 by pleia2
I returned from the Open Source Summit just in time for Memorial Day weekend, which was also the beginning of the last week of school for the boys before summer break. Saturday of Memorial Day weekend was spent doing errands, but one of those errands was going to REI and buying a couple cots that […]