Food, Rocks and risk aversion...

There are some really interesting/fun parks and playgrounds around us. Berkeley is built on a substantial rocky outcrop that rises about 2-300m from the surrounding Bay area. We explored 2 places quite close to us. The first, called Indian rock, is about 0.5 km away up the hill from us and is a prominent outcrop of hard  underlying volcanic rock called rhyolite. It makes for great climbing and scrambling for the kids and a teeny weeny bit of nervousness on the parental supervisors....

Where is Stella????

The second, Codornices Creek Park, has an amazing CONCRETE bum-slide. It was a bit of an revelation for us in this age of risk aversion that a city maintains (and promotes) the slide with its associated hard concrete edges and no sign saying "enter at own risk"...... It was refreshing to see this "give it a go" attitude. The girls, as usual, went hard at it and wore out several bits of cardboard and pants!

Another fun thing that we've been doing is exploring the great fruits and vegetables that are grown in California. Stella was the first to find Jicama.... a really fantastic root veg that comes from Mexico. It tastes like a cross between apple and potato with the texture of water chestnut. Sounds weird, but is fantastic when eaten raw.

mmmmmmm... jicama!

Lucia has been exploring new and interesting varieties of pears, avocados and mango.....

which one will we eat first?

This week we have our spring break, so we are off to Monterey Bay to see the best aquarium in the world and on the way back we want to visit some of the old spanish missions that are being restored in the San Joachim valley. We'll post as many pictures as we can. here are some more to satisfy Fletcher...

Easter

Easter here in San Francisco is a remarkably low-key affair. So low that we haven't managed to find the required number of goodies for our (secret) easter egg hunt on Sunday. The shops and supermarkets are  devoid of the usual myriad selection we have in Oz, so we'll have to make do with organic, fair-trade, decaf and compostable chocolate alternatives......

The girls have their spring break next week (1 whole week off) so we are madly trying to figure out where to go for at least a couple of days. Suggestions so far have been to go to Vancouver, BC to see some old friends (2 day drive there, uugghhh!), a short road trip up into Sonoma county on a wine trek, or go into the city for a couple of days to catch up with galleries etc.) Not too sure how will pan out but a drive into Canada is looking very long and uncomfortable in a small car. School is even more fun now that the girls catch a yellow school bus every day... (the wheels on the bus go round and ........).

The bus drivers are real characters, entertaining the kids on the 30 min or so trip to Rosa Parks school with car-spotting games etc., they love it, much more fun than driving with mum or dad!

waiting....

waiting.... waiting......

its here!!

oh mum!!!!!!!

As you can see its the social highlight of the morning (after tooth brushing...), but the nice this is that the stop is 50m away from our house and after the girls hop in, we grab our bike and have a lovely 10 min ride into work, Very civilised!

St Patricks Day Parade

Last weekend we took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into SanFrancisco for the St Patricks Day parade. Here are some of our photos. 

Aaarrrrrgghhhhhhh!!!

Enrolled at school.

Lucia's taken over the blog for now:
This morning we finally got to find out what school we are going to. We found that we are going to....... Rosa Parks Elementary [the school that I wanted to go to] my teacher is called ms Patty, Stella's teacher is ms Hinckley. Everybody was very friendly and we got a school bag each with lots of things like:glue,scissors,exersize books, pencils,erasers,etc,etc.

my school bag

this is not all i got.........

our school logo

I am a bit nervous but I am very exited about going to school. Rosa Parks has one huge grass field and an even bigger playground.  The classrooms are separate little houses that were built after the last earthquake, when the school was destroyed.
Thats all for now from Lucia (blogmaster) and Stella (potato chip eater).

Buses!

Excerpt from Stella's journal: In America we saw 2 squirrels. One came up to sniff me and thought I had food. My favourite part is the bushy tail. It didn't open its mouth. My other favourite part is the body. Mum saw it first. I thought it was a dead rat, but it was a squirrel.

Narrative from Lucia: Today we did more exploring and walking. We left home in early morning and came back early afternoon. We walked mainly but got buses as well. At some points I felt confused, lost and scared. One of the parts that I felt scared was on the bus sitting opposite some teenagers that I did not know. Lost was when we were at the marina and the jetty ended in fog, and looked like it went forever. When we went on buses, I felt amazed, lucky and excited.

Berkeley must have the highest number of Prius cars in any city.... As well there are electric only cars and hydrogen/fuel cell buses (lots of them)

Wonderfully ornate steel garage door in Berkeley

Hungry!

Lunch at Bette's diner.... mmmmmm

In Berkeley

 We arrived in Berkeley yesterday and have moved into Marla and Dan's house at 1965 Marin Ave, Berkeley San Francisco....

Today we went to the Point Bonita lighthouse at the Golden Gate National Recreation area. We walked through a freezing cold tunnel and saw Harbor seals and lots of very cold,wet fog. We saw and amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The girls really are very excited..... Tomorrow we start the process of finding a school and organising space in Marla and Dan's lab.

Sunny california...

Stella's story:
In the Los Angeles airport (thinks this is Las Vegas....mmmm).
Lucia's narrative: After a very long night on the plane the A380, we finally get to Los Angeles airport. We had to sit in the airport for 2 hours until our next plane was boarding.  I feel very hot and bothered, which isn't a nice feeling.
Parents narrative: Now we know what its like to have cranky teenagers as travelling partners! We need a drink....

We're off!

Lucia and Stella are REALLY excited now..... especially after seeing the Qantas A380 close up! Comments like my gawd... its huge!.... are we really flying in that?

Lisa and Rob are now starting to breathe a bit easier now, especially after the US consulate did such a sterling job getting our Visas all sorted, stamped, stapled (much to Customs' delight!) and ready for us. Lisa went to pick them up, started chatting to the US immigration clerk at the counter and was astounded when he said something like, "Thank YOU ma'am... its great what you are about to do".... a poignant yet honest appreciation for the research we are about to undertake.
OK, I think the natives are restless..... and hungry!

Ready, set.........

Well, its actually happening.... we are off tomorrow. The girls have a day to catch with their cousins in Williamstown and maybe some sleep!