Brown Family

St. Joseph's Hill

 

Yesterday we went out to look for the San Andrea's fault. I'd been given a clue that I might be able to find a visible spot up at St. Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve in Los Gatos, but no luck. We did have a nice walk up the hill and intend to go back soon.

St. Joseph's Hill is at Lexington Resovoir just off of Highway 17. I've lived in the Bay Area on and off for most of my life and never once have I driven off Highway 17 to take a look at the resovoir nor walk at the open space; I am certainly glad I have found it now. Starting at the parking lot near the water, we walked up the steep hill that marks the end of Jones Trail to the first marker where we could grab a map. We didn't walk all the way up to St. Joseph's Hill on this day, but plan on making it back for a longer walk. We did do a bit of a stroll, stopping to look at the views and pondering the rocks and mountain walls looking for signs of the fault line with no luck. The signs all give hints of potential encounters with Mountain Lions, which sounds dangerous but something I would like to see personally. We didn't see an Mountain Lions, but did come across what looked like large kitty tracks in the mud.

 

Probably a large dog, I know, but it after reading all the signs it is nice to let your imagination take it away a bit.

 

We went down to Los Gatos for lunch, wandering around the main drag and seeing it for the first time in what felt like at least 6 plus years. We ate lunch at Gilley's Coffee Shop where all things grilled were available; a nice American diner. Sunday ended with us trying to clean the refrigerator of leftovers from the week and I think I've had enough Japanese curry to last me another year now.

Soda day

On Saturday we did our soda explosion. Kana jotted down all the data and she'll have to put together the table. Short answer - kind of fun. Erik has suggested a more deluxe mentos dropping device for a future event, but we did it all by hand. Lovely fun. I made a small coke bottle holder.

 

Second Grade Science Project Reject

This past week Kana submitted a science project. The teacher of her class sent home a sheet which referenced on-line documents by the state of California and a local handbook which I downloaded and read diligently. But not well enough, obviously.

 

I suggested a project to Kana that involved the measurement of liquids as I mistakenly though the section on process was one of the areas to focus on. Not so. We needed to focus on something involving life sciences or what not. Sigh. We'll have to resubmit another proposal.

 

That said, we think our first project will be fun. We are going to measure the amount of liquid displayed by dropping Mentos in to Diet Coke and see if a change in the number of Mentos displaces more liquid. More later with photos.

Pretzel Sunday

Today's food project: Pretzels. They were good last time we made them, seemed like we should do it again. The whole process is really simple and fun for Kana, Kyoko and I. I highly recommend making pretzels at home - they are really tasty.

 

After making the dough you cut in to individual portion, lengthen and create. Here's Kana stretching like a Singaporean noodle vendor she saw once did - by spinning like a jump rope.

 

Adding a bit more flour, because the flour is right there.

 

 

 

Here are our pretzels rising a bit before their boil.

 

 

 

After a short boil (water and baking soda at home), you brush with an egg wash and salt.

 

 

The final product - I've eaten two already this morning. They don't taste as good the second day. I like mine with mustard, even though all we have is Grey Poupon which makes for a slightly snobby pretzel.

 

 

Christmas in the park and sunny days

 

Though the days have been overcast and a bit rainy and windy, leave it to our cat to find a sunny spot when available. Windam spent a good long in a warm spot upstairs the other day where Kyoko snapped a number of photos of the old kitty.

We also went to Christmas in the Park, a San Jose Downtown yearly event that includes decorations and skating and rides. Kana's class decorated a tree which we found and also went on a few rides. The day was pretty cold, but we survived by eating funnel cake - my first time.

 

 

Fun in the sun in the Sierra

 

Kyoko booked us a couple of nights up in Angels Camp as part of our efforts to visit more of California, and specifically get ourselves to the mountains! We hit on some wonderful weather driving up easily on Sunday and having clear skies for snow play on Monday.

Sunday we arrived and after stopping briefly for lunch in Angels Camp, we went to Moaning Caverns a 260 foot hole in the earth where we were able to walk to the bottom viewing he weird looking stalagmites and stalactites that make up the decor. Kana and I also took a try at their zip line which runs 1500 feet and drops about 200 feet in elevation. Great fun. Here is a photo with Kana and Smokey the local cat, and then the two of us dressed for the zip line.

 

Monday morning we started our trek to look for snow. We were totally unprepared, having never visited the snow as a family. No snow clothes to speak of, and no snow ready shoes for Kana. We stopped first in Murphys for a nice breakfast at Grounds and a bit of stroll. Here are Kana and Kyoko making face showing how they can see their breath in the cold. For a girl who spent most of her life in Singapore this is still a novelty!

 

Our original plan was to just go to Arnolds, rent some gear, and go to the local state park. But at the gear shop we got inspired by the staff and decided to drive up to 'Spicers' where the plow the parking lot and have a sno-park area. We must have misheard the staff on the distance as it was quite far from Arnolds and very close to Bear Valley, but in the end, it was all worth while. The weather was fantastic, we didn't need chains, the snow was fresh and we had a great time. You can tell by how much snow Kana had hanging from her scarf that we didn't get all the clothes right, but we did OK. Next time we want to find a location with better sledding. Maybe we'll try ski lessons some time.

 

All and all a great couple of days and a first step to learning how to take a local vacation. Who wants to go to the snow? We're in!

Visiting Angels Camp

Today we drove up to Angels Camp in the Sierra foothills. A beautiful drive through the Central Valley. We visited Moaning Cavern and Kana and I did a 1500 foot zip line ride together too. More later...typing with an iPad is painful.

Chestnut Gathering

 

Last Sunday the family went to Skyline Chestnuts to gather chestnuts along with other friends. Located in the Santa Cruz mountains, the day turned out to be wonderful with oddly warm temperatures and, although very windy, about as beautiful as we could hoped.

 

Though I am unclear on how the guy at the gate got this position, you grab some gloves and a bucket and go out to the chestnut tree grove. It appears that the trees are on public property so I wonder how they can charge for all this, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyhow, a short walk later you are under some very large chestnut trees and you gather what you can find on the ground. We all trudged up the slope a bit anticipating larger nuts higher up, but in general medium and small chestnuts are common.

 

I smartly took my hiking boots to change in to when we arrived, but unfortunately after many years in storage and disuse they disintegrated soon and the sole fell off one boot. Luckily I had some trainers in the car to change in to. The bad part is thin shoes allow for the spikes to pass through and stick you so Kana and I and others all got chestnut spikes through our socks at one time or another during the day. At the end of it all, and about $40 lighter for the nuts we collected, we all had a picnic together. A great Sunday.

Halloween 2010

 

Halloween in California! This year was the first time in five years we've been fully engaged in Halloween and enjoyed all the fun that goes with it. In Singapore Halloween is not one of the big holidays and hasn't picked up any momentum which is really surprising to me. On occasion we did meet with friends and have small Halloween get togethers but nothing like the planned chaos that you can enjoy in America. Kana's school had a Halloween parade on the Friday before, we went to a Halloween party at friend's house, and then trick-or-treating at night - all great fun for all. In Singapore I would think this would have picked up more, if only for shopping and partying aspect. I can imagine all the merchants along Orchard Road offering trick-or-treating at their shops on Halloween and parents bringing their kid for a walk and shop. Themed costume parties would make a killing at all the night spots. I am just not sure why this is such a missed opportunity for a country that revolves around shopping centers and malls.

 

As I mentioned our Halloween was pretty busy. We carved pumpkins in the morning, attended a classmate's birthday party in the morning, and a Halloween party in the afternoon. The Halloween party was with our Japanese friends and families and included eating too much for lunch. I'm not sure how it works generally, but for some reason it seems like the buffets at these parties have too much good home made food and it is hard not to try a little bit of everything. In short, a Happy Halloween. Next up is Thanksgiving and a turkey. I am not ready yet to host our families at our home but would like to maybe another time. We'll see how this year plans out.

Feels like Fall in California

It is a little odd to be back and feel the weather. I've had to wear a jacket more than once this week and even turn on the heat in the truck in the morning. I haven't done this in four years. The only time you needed a jacket in Singapore was a movie theatre! The weather yesterday felt like Fall. A slightly windy afternoon with crisp clean air and blue sky with puffy clouds. The day was great for baseball also with the SF Giants winning the second game of the world series and partially making up for how bad our other professional sports team functions. Windam spends his time bathing in the sun. This is a photo from last week, but not uncommon to find him lounging around getting warm.