Visiting Marlnela

Babies, kids and a dog. We went to visit a high school friend who had a new baby and a 3 year old. This is Ronnie with Olivier.

There's big brother Colin, who was not good about looking at the camera.

Getting them all to look at the camera was a challenge. Colin is on the left.

They look like a couple in this one!

Ronnie loves babies.

Poor dog!

They really loved the dog, Allegro, perhaps a bit too much. I put up this many pictures so that Marinela can copy what she wants.

Revels and Palo Alto

Saturday the 19th was busy. I have these photos in the wrong order. I went to the California Revels show with my sister and her husband. I then drove down to Palo Alto where Barbara had some friends over.

I hadn't seen Alipin in over 20 years. He asked me when I was coming to California and he explained he flies over here a lot since his son is now studying here. We were able to slightly overlap our trips so that was the crucial date to see him.

We also had a couple of friends of Barbara's as well as Ysabel, Alipin's son Malvin as well as his cousin Ruddy in the picture.

The Revels is an organization my brother-in-law used to belong to. Through Facebook, it turns out that two of our classmates are now in it. They didn't know each other but knew a lot of the same people, one of whom made the connection.

Here is the "Revels-Las Lomas" picture. Me (class of '82), my sister ('83), Will (English teacher), a former student of Will's, Dave ('83) and Tom ('82). The theme was Celtic/British and the story was of immigrants waiting for their ship around Christmas time.

http://californiarevels.org

Arriving and Seeing the Nutcracker in S.F.

When we arrived, my parents had a birthday cake waiting for Talia. Even though it was over a week late, she was happy.



Pictures the kids took of the dog. They were really happy to see her again!






We took BART into San Francisco. We arrived early and were meeting Barbara. There was a playground nearby so we took advantage (plus the fact my active little girls would have to sit still).

City Hall in the background.

Looking pretty good, even with jet lag!

Mother managed to get good deal for the matinee because school was still in session. It meant going the second day we were there but we actually were okay (westbound jetlag usually hits in the evening so the afternoon was alright).

Barbara with the girls. Ysabel couldn't come this time.

Bad picture of me but here was the gang, yes, with Davina! It was her first time. She really wanted to see it. Ronnie stayed home with my parents. He's not into ballet.

Me & my girlies at the War Memorial Opera House.

Then in true post-ballet tradition, we went for Mexican food nearby.

This was taken while headed back to the BART station. That's City Hall in the background (featured in the film Milk).

Holiday Season in Alsace

Candle lighting at home. It looks so pretty but less so the next day, running them under hot water!

These are pictures from the Hannukah party in Strasbourg with the Hebrew school.

I love Davina's face in this one.

This is just the Christmas Tree at the Strasbourg Hilton. It's oddly suspended from the ceiling.

For the 4th year in a row, Talia and I went to the Strasbourg Water Ballet show. My friend Hillary's daughter is in it so we snapped some photos at the intermission. This year, it was a circus theme. Taking pictures is a little difficult so this was all I managed (plus not wanting to annoy those around me).

Rose & Talia. Two pretty French-American girls!

Notice all the goop in Rose's hair to make it look good in the pool.