Down by the sea

The central coast of California is, as previously reported many times, beautiful.  Unfortunately Monterey, where we're spending 4th July weekend with the southern ex-Haas contingent, sits permanently under a bank of sea fog.  The higher the temperature is, the more fog appears.  "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco," Mark Twain apparently said, because he'd never visited Monterey.

Which is a shame, because if he'd taken the Pacific Coast Highway down here he would have passed through Santa Cruz.  This is the real California - beaches, boardwalks, bars.  And lots of sunshine.  I'd been to the Mystery Spot here before but never ventured down to the seafront, which is dominated by the Beach Boardwalk theme park.

Hannah and I stuck to the park's sedate Skyglider, while Amanda and Jack took their lives in their hands on the 1924-built wooden Giant Dipper.  It also turns out that Claire is an adrenalin junkie, asking to go on the mini-roller coaster and loving it (Vince looked a lot more scared in the official pic than his daughter).

After the parents and kids went home the rest of us sought out some ice cream.  Turns out that Santa Cruz has the best ice cream in Northern California at Marianne's.  It was certainly the busiest ice cream shop, with a ticket system to deal with the line out the door.  But our waiting time was well spent trying to decide from the 60+ flavours on offer (cardamom pistachio?  Lavender?  Cinnamon caramel?)  Although we still crumbled under the stress of being asked "what would you like?" when our number was called.  Luckily you can have unlimited free samples.

What's the perfect way to start the day?

Breakfast made by Jack!

Quickly followed by Lava Flows in Santa Cruz.

Claire entertains.

Ladies on the beach.

Hmmm.  This guy has apparently announced that he is running for President in 2012.

I want to go on that one!

Up and away on the Skyglider.

Looking down at the beach.

Looking down at the people.

But even up here, business never takes a holiday.  Hannah checks on crude oil prices.

Yum.

Artillery office Vince sees if his skills are still up to scratch.

Walking home through the Santa Cruz surf.

Later, trying to make decisions under pressure.  The MBA never prepared them for this.

Hannah, happy with her choice of Heaven and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough.

Start with a Hawaiian cocktail, end with a Hawaiian cocktail.  Jack enjoys his double Zombie at the fabulous Hula's Island Grill.

Big Basin

Big Basin Redwood State Park is California's oldest, and true to its name is full of the big trees.  They haven't survived this long without learning a few tricks, one of which is how to grab the maximum amount of sunlight before it gets to the ground.  Which makes camping underneath them somewhat chilly.

This didn't deter us!  Having visited once before, this time we enjoyed a fun night under canvas with the Singers.  The place has a fantastic history and, before the loony lefty liberals and their anti-Chevron environmental craziness took over, it was a Dirty Dancing-style summer getaway for families in the 50's.  You'd pack up your car and come here for a month, and ancient trees were regularly chopped down to make way for tennis courts, a dance floor, and a swimming pool.

Nowadays nature is allowed to run its course a little more, but despite the promise of raccoons from the many warning posters (they're apparently smarter than the average bear as they've worked out how to open the food lockers) the fauna of choice was the mosquito.  We all came away with the bites to prove it.  We also came away with more knowledge, having attended Ranger Dan's survival talk - it's 80% attitude and a Swiss Army knife, he said.  I applied his techniques to spending time with the Singer girls, and mostly survived...

I left the MBAs to sort out the tent...

...while I conserved my energy.

Feeding time (for humans and mozzies)!

Sofia does an impression of a chipmunk.

Hannah does an impression of a Hannah.

Elliot can make even the most gentle afternoon stroll look challenging.

Yet to make their mark on history.

Sisters together.

Winos together.

What would his dentist say?

Breakfast time, and the children are put to work again.

Elise literally wakes up and smells the coffee.

Elliot leads the morning exercises.

Look who visited overnight!  He was very tasty (banana pancakes!)

Not sure what Ranger Dan is thinking, but my 72-hour survival kit includes several Starbucks grande chai lattes and the Internet.

Smoke and mirrors

I've always wanted to be a fireman.  Mainly because of this:



Today my dreams almost came true when I got to visit Contra Costa County Fire Station 6 on a trip with Concord Children's Center!

Instead of one big fire station, which I think is how we do it in England, they have lots of small ones spread around.  There were only six people stationed at this one, and two fire trucks.  We were shown around by Fireman Palo and Fireman Tom, and although we got to see all the bits of the station I didn't get the chance to dress up or turn on a siren.  And you were only allowed to use the fire hose if eight or under.  Most disappointing.

My walking partners, Brian and Rodrigo.

Off we go to the station!  If you see a group of blue-clad kids around here, I suggest you cross the road.

Fire Station 6.

A video about fire prevention before the tour.  It was good, but not Fireman Sam (who's Welsh!)

Fire fighter Palo introduces us to the map room.

Fire fighter Tom gets to dress up (unfair!  He does this every day).

Glistening.

Hosing down.

Class photo - 38 kids in all, and it sounded like it.

Lunch in the park, and then...

...why not fill them all up with hyperactivity-inducing ice cream?!

Tough choices.

"Wild 'n reckless" was a (grammatically questionable) favourite, and it certainly had its desired effect on the kids. I'll be bringing my nephews and nieces here when they visit.  Then running.

Satisfied customers.

Baby update

We got to see baby Josefina today!  She is almost as tall as her parents already, in the 95th percentile for height, and was 7.1 lbs when born.  She is definitely in the 100th percentile for cuteness, and as the first grandchild on either side we had quite a time wrestling her away from her grandparents.  I'm not sure Pete and Fini have managed to hold her yet.  She has lots of hair and dark brown eyes, and is already looking directly at everyone as if to say "there's a new Queen in town".  We'll see if Fini agrees with that!

Fed, warm, asleep.

Tall is beautiful.

Heritage

I've long noted the similarities between Israel and Wales.  Both are small countries surrounded on all sides by enemies, everyone is related to everyone else, and each has a language that, if you don't know it, sounds like someone's spitting at you.  Israel has Moses and Jesus, but then Wales has Shane Williams and Neil Jenkins.

So when we were invited to Shauli and Anat's for Friday dinner (the start of the Jewish Sabbath), I thought I would indulge in a little cross-cultural heritage by baking some challah bread.  This is the bread that you traditionally make lots of before the Sabbath so that you don't have to do any work on the holy days.  As in modern Christianity I don't think shopping counts as work, but chores such as cooking and cleaning certainly do.

The result wasn't too bad.  You have to roll the dough out and braid it. My loaf looked great before it proved, but unfortunately the top braid slipped off the bottom one and left everything looking a bit lopsided.  Still, it tasted great and I used the leftovers for a sausage sandwich this morning, which breaks so many kosher laws I don't even want to think about it.  שבת שלום, as we say in Wales.

It's not what's on the outside but what's on the inside that counts.

New citizen

Josefina (Pepita) Kudrnac has arrived!  She was born at 5.30am on 13th June, and everyone is happy and well.  Shoe manufacturers the world over have been put on alert.  As Pete's email announcement stated: "mother and daughter are dressed in animal print, wearing sunglasses and feeling perfectly well".

So cute (the baby and the hat).

Very happy families.