Thinking Allowed: California

I'm writing from the backseat of a white Suburban with Aurora nestled on my shoulder. Volcanoes and surfing are behind us now; we're driving through California's breadbasket - row upon row of orange trees, grapevines and wheat seedlings. We've just spent a glorious week in SF with three other INSEAD families: seven parents and eleven kids altogether! We visited Alcatraz, which was much less forbidding and more picturesque than we'd expected; had the world's best coffee at Bluebottle (it was very very good); visited Chinatown, Berkeley, Pier 39 and other sights...it was really a special week and so nice to see old friends after a few years! The last hurrah was a lovely night with the Powers, aka Gottawalk, our very first hiking friends. It's been ten years since our last stay with them, under rather different circumstances, but it was just as easy to relax and have fun together.

Life has been very social since we reached the mainland, especially as we've been spending lots of time with Tamar's brother David, who is something of a chatterbox, and going on hikes and to the beach with friends. The rings at Santa Monica were a highlight for the girls, who were flapping their palms in pain by the end. Avi has taken Jakob, Aurora and Sophia to three Lakers games, and the grandparents showed Sophia a thoroughly good time in SF, taking her to the aquarium, hiking on Angel Island, and letting her stay up late in the Marriott.

We've been too busy to write much, so the last few days of Hawaii will have to fade into the past: our super steep hike to Waipio Valley, Jakob's epic journey up Mauna Kea, the world's biggest mountain, the girls' noisy invasion of the staid club lounge at the Sheraton, and a wonderful Shabbat dinner with some new friends featuring mulberries from their orchard.