Category Archives: Family

North to South – SF Day 3

Above – Atop Mt. Davidson looking east toward the city and bay.

There’s a park with trails running through it at the top of the hill from my Airbnb temporary digs with beautiful panoramic views of the city, bay and surrounding area. Here we are at the top. As you can see, it took a little while for Kando to warm up to me. But then again maybe it was just a poopy diaper …Below – Mt. Davidson looking northwest.Kando and Robb walking toward the cross.

Apparently the City of SF sold the land at the top of the hill to a private party to keep this cross up, probably for similar reasons the Mt. Soledad cross land was sold. This cross stands in memory of the 1.5 MILLION victims of the Armenian Genocide, something I knew little of until I Googled it. There’s a wiki-link below if you’re interested. Read more about the Armenian Genocide

Speaking of the south, meet Lulu …

Nate’s Butt Farm pony rides …

… and face painting.

I won’t get to see the kids of the north again until Friday when I head over to Walnut Creek for the weekend. But I do have a few more photos to share from our rail excursion after the Mt. Davidson hike yesterday.

I finished day 3 of the Manouso intensive today and in a few minutes I’m heading out to attend a restorative class taught by Manouso’s wife, Rita Lewis Manos. This morning we did intense twists, yesterday we did lots of intense upper back bending/shoulder blade work, and the day before we did about an hour of Parsvottanasana, followed by several very similar intense poses (it’s an intensive).

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from San Francisco with goose bumps and LOVE!

From the South to the North Again

Above – Breakfast of champions.

Here are the last of the block party photos from last weekend …

Maya & her friend Eva.Maya upside down as The Sparts watches on.Here comes the Man Bun.Cornbread…Siblings.Waiting for that annoying person taking the group photo, who for once is not me!And from the North, this afternoon I met up with Robb and the boys for a little time at the park just down the street from my flat.Alo made a friend.But Kando wasn’t feeling the love …Then off for dinner. These boys can pack it in!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone from San Francisco with LOVE!

From South to North

Above- Alo and an early start to a long month.

Below – Pappa took ownership of the visor his new friend left behind for me. Hey, I was going to wear that …On our way to the block party last weekend someone was copping a tude …Maya and her scooter before decorating it for the parade …Scooter decorating time …And after. Take a closeup of the lettering at the top and bottom of the scooter.Happiness is being in a parade!Where was the Sparts during all this you ask? Taking a long overdue, well-deserved nap!Fast forward to today – taxi drive from airport to Airbnb.View from the corner looking south.Decisions, decisions, decisions! This is one pretty well stocked kitchen for an Airbnb! I’ve spent most of the afternoon and evening trying to decide which cereal to have for breakfast.… or should I have yogurt? Or perhaps bagel?… and cream cheese, or jam or Nutella?There’s even a Nespresso machine and a milk frother so I don’t have to skip a beat getting ready in the morning. It’s almost like the owners got a tip from somebody on all the stuff I like!

One thing’s for sure, chocolates for dessert. Oh, and wine …I think I need to show some respect and eat everything before I leave!

& now, time for a little studying.

Blogged from Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

All Used Up & New Rain Boots

Above – the new kids table with Maya and Sparty after gymnastics. They were used up!

Below – a little rain and some big boots.All tuckered out.There’s nothing more cute than rain boots with a leotard!But really, there’s nothing better than new rain boots!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Waterlogged

Above – I love this photo of Ron and kids last month paddle boarding in Mission Bay.

This video will give you an idea how much these two love the water.

Showing some of my students how easy it is to take a timed selfie.Backbend in the chair (aka Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana).Siblings.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Empty Nest

Above – Selfie withh KJ just before she flew the coop yesterday morning.

KJ, my good friend since 7th grade, paid us a very pleasant visit from New Zealand.

She was here for a little over two weeks, and when she wasn’t off visiting family and her close friend, Connie, we had a really good time getting to know each other a little better and, as she said, she made a new friend (Bruce!).

A trip to Rancho’s in the golf cart…Dinner on the deck. KJ’s new friend took the picture.We met up for dinner in Mission Bay with another Jr high friend, Penny (Keenam), who traveled from Alabama to meet up with KJ.With our waiter …& enjoying a beautiful sunset!KJ likes her sweets … This was some sort of German chocolate cake on chopsticks. Yes, I had some too.Watching the sunset in OB.KJ’s youngest son, Jamie, flew out from Chicago for a few days and had dinner with us Saturday night. Ron stopped by later – a perfect photo opportunity!Beautiful!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with the fondest of memories, gratitude and empty nest syndrome!

Maya’s Gymnastics Performance

Above – After the performance, Maya with her medal and flowers.

Waiting for group photos which takes quite a long time getting all these gymnasts ready.Unfortunately, Sony restrictions on posting videos without permission prevented me from uploading this video with background music. With the help of GarageBand I removed the audio. It’s still pretty darn cute. Here she is, our little gymnast:

https://youtu.be/dN-yi7pEnsA

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Say it isn’t so …

Above & below – More birthday for Alo?

Robb sent these photos of adventures last weekend – a belated birthday train ride to Sacramento and train museum. A hike through purisima redwoods.There’s nothing better than bugs … Banana slugs!Here are a few interesting tidbits I found about the banana slug:

They can change colors depending on their food or environment,
can grow up to 9.8″ long, and
can move up to 6 ½” per minute.
If a predator bites off a tentacle they can grow another one.
Predators consist of raccoons, garter snakes, ducks, geese and salamanders.
It is the mascot of UC Santa Cruz.

Pony rides!!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

All-Dayer

Above – Go ahead and help yourself.

Below – Alo’s completed school project. I’m guessing it has something to do with his favorite things.Yesterday marked our first “all-dayer” with Sparty. We collected the curly headed critter at 8am.We got home and made the transition to Willy Nelson.The braids were a cute idea while his hair was wet but as soon as it dried even the braids curled up. I guess you can’t trick a braid …

He passed out in the car on the way home from gymnastics but not before insisting we take turns singing lullabies. I couldn’t figure out how it was going to work, getting him to fall asleep to his own lullaby, but finally after taking the long route home I won the battle and his heavy eyelids closed for good. Here he is out for the count after I carried him from the car to the sofa bed upstairs.After waking up and switching to the man bun. These are Maya’s sunglasses (she was at jiu jitsu).I took more videos of both of them at gymnastics I’ll upload to YouTube and post sometime.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Only in OB Revisited

Above – Bruce Ron Maya Sparty Me & KJ (a friend of mine since jr high school) just in time for the sunset. KJ’s staying with us (from NZ) until next Sunday.

Sparty sporting Maya’s goggles.Cuddles after swimming.Sunset.“Daddy, let me fix your hat.”And now, only in OB … Where else can you see girls in their pjs eating ice cream on the main strip?And this. Oh my …