CA Trip, Installment 1

[jedusor]

Because people seemed to like the way I did the Lawrence post, and also because I am taking pictures like a maniac and have to do something with them, here is the story of my California trip thus far, with pictoral evidence.




Always be prepared! Actually, I only brought two puzzle books. I had to buy another one at the airport because I needed to break a twenty to pay to have Clay's knife shipped home (the bright child forgot that you can't take them through security), and the other is the Spirit magazine one, which I actually quite enjoyed.



Veronica wanted a chemistry party, so the kids made their own ice cream by putting a bag of ingredients into a bigger bag of ice and salt and shaking it around. It worked very well. I even made some with soy milk. That's Tessie and Clayton in the picture.



Clay jumped over the wall. Apparently he didn't realize that the ground on the other side is lower than the yard. We teased him for a while before throwing him a chair.



This is, IMO, one of the coolest pictures I have ever taken. There were these things kicking around the party, little discs you look through to see rainbow thingies around lights, and I held one up to the camera, and Gerard held up his hand right as I was taking the picture. EDIT: On closer inspection, it appears that it's actually Clay's hand. :/



We went up Mount Diablo today. Not too much hiking happened, as we had small children, but we did take a few trails. This is the view from near the top.



Clayton and me, just hanging around at the summit.



This is what we were looking at.



A cool tree.



Taking BART from Dublin to Millbrae to meet up with juvernaz, I saw this on my iPod and thought it amusing.



Jen and I went to the beach, but I didn't get a good picture of it. This is without flash...



...and this is with. Isn't Jen cute? She's certainly more graceful than I am- I stubbed my toe on a rock, and I still can't walk without limping. Well done, Julia.



We found some dudes doing fire poi. One was from UCD, and I told him my mom was one of the founding members of Damento. He was suitably impressed.



I gave the poi a shot, and managed not to burn anything, including myself. Go me. Swinging balls of fire around one's body is an excellent method of taking the mind off an injury, by the way.



Whee!



We headed into San Francisco and ate at a sushi place. Jen is a magnificent conversationalist, by the way. Awkward silences just don't seem to happen around her. It was a very fun evening.



Dinner was delicious, and vanished quickly. Miso soup, salad, teriyaki tofu, avocado rolls, and ume maki (plum cucumber) rolls. After that, we wandered around SF a bit. Then Jen drove me back to Dublin, and we got hopelessly lost on the way. We ended up consulting both her husband and a gas station attendant for directions. It was quite an adventure. :P

Comments

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Looks like a fantastic trip. But what's Damento?
(Hathor braves the appearance of ignorance for the sakeof enlightenment)

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

No way you could have known. It's the name of the UCDavis juggling club (which included members from Sacramento, so we became the DAvis-sacraMENTO Jugglers.

There's some pictures from the first Damento Festival, lessee... over here. That first pic is of Fork and myself, seven years and about 100 lbs ago, sigh. Those first few shots just make us look like reprobates, but really there was lots of juggling going on, honest!

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I may or may not have convinced my mother to keep a stock of edamame in the freezer and replenish it whenever she goes to Costco. (Do you have Costco in England?) They are very tasty and an excellent healthy snack.

I look forward to that! :D

Hair Hair Hair!

[saffroncisco.livejournal.com]

This is great! The pictures of you on the beach turned out much better than I was afraid they had -- although, still, they really don't do justice to the whole fire-twirling thing. And I love it that we have a photo of the oh-so-delicious tofu teriyaki. It almost makes up for that totally goofball photo of me. (I feel compelled to mention to anyone who may see that picture that I really am cuter than that sometimes (http://flickr.com/photos/juverna/207774116).)

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

I love that psychadelic hand jive shot! Thanks for eventually taking pity on your brother. Mmmm, sushi!

More more more please! And thanks for letting us know you're alive!

Your cool thing patiently awaits your return.