First Day in Paris!

June 18, 2012 


We made it to Paris! And how beautiful this City is. The view from our hotel is lovely (as is our hotel!). The first afternoon here we went for a short walk. Our first stop was a Patisserie, where we picked up some eclairs. The lady at the shop wrapped them up in a fantastic pyramid package, which we opened up on the bank of the Seine. Turns out we were directly across from the Louvre, too!

Pictures:
girls soaking in the view from our hotel
the view from our hotel
the eclair pyramid
molly on Pont du Carrousel with the Louvre in the background
clara pushes the big red button (to cross the street)
clara and the shared bikes (which are everywhere!)

Flying through the Air

June 17-18, 2012


The trip on the airplane went surprisingly smoothly. The girls played games on the individual consoles. We took turns going to the bathroom, then being scared back to our seats by turbulence. We ate a surprisingly good (for airplane food) dinner. Nana brought the girls a pop-out paper doll book, which entertained them for a while. Then, they both settled down and went to sleep. Zach and I dozed as best we could, and before we knew it, we were waking up to a light breakfast and landing in Paris! 

Customs was painfully slow: one line for the hundreds of "all other passports". But between the four of us adults we all entertained each other and the kids. And then we enjoyed a personal tour of Paris on the way from the airport to our (really incredibly lovely) hotel.

Pictures:
girls doing paper dolls on the plane
girls on the airport tram

We are off! See you in a few weeks...

Father's Day in Berkeley

....and off to Europe, too!

Clara & Indy

The kittens are all grown up, but as patient as ever with the kids. Sometimes I almost wish the cats would set the girls straight so Molly & Clara aren't too surprised when they realize that all cats aren't this patient...

Paddleboats!

One of the things we were looking forward to on our cancelled camping trip was the boat ride to Angel Island. When it became clear we weren't going, I started trying to think up other fun outdoor adventures. And what better to replace a ferry boat ride than a paddle boat ride! So we zipped down to Lake Chabot and had a grand ol' time paddling around the lake. And, of course, enjoying a picnic and a short hike, while we were at it. 

Mollie (Tomlinson) Gabardi

We were looking through old photos tonight and both Zach and I were really taken with this photo of my mother's mother, Mollie, taken in the spring of 1941. Mollie died about 9 years later, leaving four young kids and her husband behind.