A little over a week ago I returned from two back-to-back work trips. With one of them ending on a Thursday and the next not until Sunday, I considered flying from Atlanta back home to San Francisco, and then back out again to Minneapolis, but timing and cost-wise, even with additional nights in hotels, that […]
Archive for the ‘animals’ Category
Red Hat Summit 2026
May 26th, 2026 by pleia2
For the second year in a row, I had the pleasure of crafting the IBM LinuxONE booth presence for the Red Hat Summit. I went into this knowing that last year was going to be impossible to top, 2025 was a launch year and we not only had our own big activity space with four […]
Flora and family in February
March 10th, 2026 by pleia2
We kicked off February began by observing Tu B’shevat with the synagogue we recently joined, along with getting the boys started in Religious Sunday School. For Tu B’shevat everyone got together to plant a grape vine, which is added to a row of others they’ve planted in previous years. In the weeks since there’s been […]
Winter holidays in Philly
January 11th, 2026 by pleia2
We spent three weeks in Philly over the winter holidays. I already wrote about our bi-coastal Hanukkah which was definitely a highlight of our trip, but the fun really began the night we arrived and the boys got to enjoy a few minutes playing in the snow. We wouldn’t normally indulge in a nighttime snow […]
Local Fall Festival and old-ish computers
September 18th, 2025 by pleia2
A few people have remarked recently about how activity-driven we are as a family. It’s true, we have a lot of adventures! But the fact is, we also spent 2.5 years at home during a pandemic when our children are little, so part of it is making up for lost time. Another part is that […]
Zara
September 16th, 2025 by pleia2
On Sunday, August 31st, we welcomed a new member of our family: Zara the cat! Our adventure to welcome a new cat has been in the works for a while. At first we weren’t ready, then life was just incredibly busy with life with two young children. But the desire to have a pet again […]
Maine with the boys: trains and baseball edition
August 2nd, 2025 by pleia2
I grew up in Maine, so it naturally holds a special place in my heart. I spent a lot of time sitting by the ocean when I was a teenager, and I’m charmed every time I go back to Portland and see what new restaurants and shops have opened up in the Old Port. But […]
A couple days in Boston
July 30th, 2025 by pleia2
“Weren’t you just in Boston?” Indeed, I was! But this time, it was the first major stop in a road trip up through New England with our family. I’d say this was our first proper Great American Road Trip with the kids. They’d done an hour or two here and there, and three hours when […]
Parks, fairies, cars and airplanes
July 3rd, 2025 by pleia2
Last year we began spending summer vacation for the kids in Philadelphia, but I was a little sad to miss some of the California summer activities. This year we delayed our visit to Philly by a couple weeks so we could! Plus, MJ was traveling for a conference the first week of June, so it […]
A nature-full spring break in Philly
April 22nd, 2025 by pleia2
Spring break from school landed over the end of March and into April and we took the opportunity to add on a second week and spend the time in Philadelphia. We got in on a Friday night, and the next day the Churchville Nature Center happened to be having a day of activities for members. […]