Thinking Allowed: Weekends are easy

Our helter-skelter nomadic lifestyle has some great fringe benefits. For one thing, our surroundings never have time to get stale. We spent the weekend doing 'usual' things for Sydneysiders: Saturday at the climbing gym, Sunday at Bondi beach - but even after half a year, Australia is fresh as ever. The gym had a beach-themed competition where kids were scaling walls with flippers and snorkels on. Tamar made a delicious Cabramatta-inspired Vietnamese salad piled high with mint, basil and cilantro. We met one of Jakob's old McKinsey friends for brunch in Bondi and took in the endless beach views; the sunny gaps between rainstorms lit up the foaming waves and ominous black ocean stretching out forever. The tide had brought in masses of leaves and seaweed which twisted around Aurora's ankles as she ran screaming to and from the waves. Three teenagers on the train listened raptly as we read "Pippi Longstocking on the South Seas" aloud. Tamar went for a trail run along the Parramatta River, the grasses swishing as unseen creatures slithered out of her way - she ran up past the prison, the detox clinic, the Female Factory, and the psychiatric institution, then looped down near the footy stadium. The girls made the ever-popular matzo ball soup for dinner, then Aurora retreated to her room to read while Sophia and Tova danced like dervishes to Sojo Sojo's 'Cantico' which Jakob is learning to play. Our hair is gritty with sand, the girls are speckled with freckles, Tova is flaming red in patches where we underdid the sunblock. That was our 27th weekend in Australia, and we can't wait for the next one.