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Father’s Day weekend “down the shore”

The boys love the beach. I’ve had this little fact tucked away in my head since we brought them to their first beach in San Francisco last year, but it’s tricky in northern California. Even during the summer, it can be quite cool on the California coast, and the water is not good for swimming. […]

Philly summer begins! Settling in, trains, and dinosaurs

We’re in Philadelphia for 8 weeks this summer! I know it’s going to fly by. Indeed, a week has already gone. But it was a bit of a settling in week, and our au pair took the traveling opportunity to take a vacation and MJ spent the week in NYC for work, so I was […]

Lego, cherries, a railroad museum, room-sharing, and a boat ride

On May the 4th we stopped by a Lego store. It was a total coincidence, aside from wearings Star Wars gear, we didn’t really do anything to “celebrate” Star Wars day. The Lego store was though, they had paper R2-D2 hats! Naturally, we had to go in. I walked out with an R2-D2, and a […]

Loss, Passover, and our anniversary

The day before I left for my trip that took me to Austin and Seattle, MJ’s aunt Sherry died. It was unexpected, and in addition to the shock and grief, left us all in a troubled state about what to do logistically. Should I cancel my trip? Should we all drop everything and immediately fly […]

Spring break 2024 in Philly

For spring break (and an extra week) we decided to head out to Philadelphia to visit with the family, and have me do a couple side trips for Poughkeepsie and CPOSC. Unfortunately, for the first week a stomach bug swept through our house. First, Adam was sick for 24 hours. Two days later I came […]

Hamantaschen and flight delays

Following my trip down to Pasadena for the Southern California Linux Expo, I had three days of work and then a couple days off which I spent with the kids while we prepared for a visit to Philadelphia. Having worked through the weekend, taking a couple days off the following week was the most logical […]

Another refrigerator, the Exploratorium, and a movie

Valentine’s Day this year was pretty focused on the kids. MJ was traveling for work and the kids have really been getting into the idea of holidays lately, so it’s been fun to decorate with them and talk about what each holiday means and how we celebrate it. In the case of Valentine’s Day, that […]

“Just ride around in buses and trains and cable cars”

Aaron and I recently went to San Francisco to see an aunt who was in town visiting, and he was really disappointed about not being able to go on a cable car. Adam was at school at the time, but hew knew that we went and that planted a seed that made him beg to […]

Health, trees, San Francisco, and the zoo!

A couple weeks ago I entered a period of depression. It’s something that I’ve written about before, I’ve had bouts of depression since I was a youth, and there doesn’t seem to be a pattern or rationale to when they strike. I do think these bouts are made worse by life circumstances and stress, mostly […]

Adam’s 5th birthday and a museum rainforest

We concluded 2023 in Philadelphia and got back to California late on January 5th so we could celebrate Adam’s birthday over the weekend. On Saturday we decorated and settled back into our usual routine, with an added bonus of a trip to Adam’s favorite restaurant to enjoy his favorite food and then some birthday ice […]