Public Safety Notice

We never use the home security system.
I never felt unsafe in San Ramon neither in Walnut Creek before. I know about certain neighborhoods you should avoid but this seems so far away.
Our neighborhood is so peaceful and friendly…

Though within a few days I received several warnings which reminds us that you should always beware.
The danger may just not be that far away:

There has been a rash of 4 armed home robberies in the Bollinger Hills
and adjacent neighborhood in the last two weeks.
One unsuspecting home owner walked in on the robbers at 2:45 p.m. and
was seriously injured during the robbery.

According to the San Ramon Police, there is a suspected gang from San
Jose who are believed responsible for the robberies.
They drive SUVs, Mercedes, Lexus so they seem to blend in.

Please be on the look-out for any suspicious activity or people who
don't belong.

In response to two recent assaults on women walking on or near the Iron Hose Trail after dark, the San Ramon Police Department has issued the attached Public Safety Notice for local residents. In both cases the victims drove away their attacker by shouting and physically resisting...

'Mikulášská Besídka '

It’s already a pleasure driving the Crow Canyon Road to Castro Valley where the St. Nicolas Party takes place. Just around the corner indeed.

It’s a shame there are no devils at the party according to the Czech tradition but it’s still a lovely gathering.

Maarten gets a bonus teddy bear from Mikuláš as the youngest one and enjoys himself so much. All the children are performing! Most of them are playing piano or trumpet and there are two girls who sing so nicely. Each child sits on Mikuláš’s lap and receives a gift from him and from the Angel.
While singing the Czech Christmas carols I'm completely lost in emotions. It is so beautiful despite some very falls parts ;-) Everybody has a wonderful time.
Besides of that I finally come in touch with some very friendly members of the local Sokol and hope to join them soon.

Yosemite Valley

2 December

I know it is not that smart to go on vacation shortly after moving to a new home. Though it makes also some things easier… for example packing your stuff straight out of the moving boxes.
To be honest I’m not in mood going for vacation at all. There is still so much to do here. And our new home is so lovely. Anyway we pack and go.
We hope to enjoy some snow despite we know you never get much of it in the Yosemite Valley, our today’s destination. And the sky is cloudless as usual.

There is a half-mile detour around Highway 140 in the Merced River Canyon just few miles before the park entrance. Not because of the snow but there is a huge rockslide. Looking at the mass of rocks, dirt and boulders we consider our self lucky not driving here last spring when it all fell down.

Driving through the valley Rob spots a wolf at a forest path but this is most probably a coyote since there are no wolves in this park.

I’m not much impressed by the Lodge we are staying at. Do I have such high expectations or am I spoiled by our comfy tent? ;-
) This room is really not clean. Just look at Maarten’s socks!

Even there is indeed no snow the atmosphere is wintry, people are friendly and all in the holiday mood: the staff and the guests wear the Santa hats and holiday sweaters, the trees are lighted…

3 December

No snow means more opportunities for hikes! And because it is winter and off season we can enjoy the valley and especially the trails with no crowds. That’s why we dare to hit the very popular Mist trail to the Vernal Fall.

As you would expect Maarten is looking for his ‘snuggli’ at first. And the reality is hard. There is not any. Luckily there is a group of school girls on the trail whom Maarten tries to impress. He is almost running up the rock stairs to the top of the fall.


We have to watch him all the time since the steep trail is quite next the waterfall wall. Luckily there is no mist this time of the year so the stairs are not slippery.
It is pretty cold today.

The waterfall is partly frozen and so is the Emerald Pool with Silver Apron just upstream from the waterfall. I wish we can continue to the Nevada Fall we see in the background of the he Emerald Pool. But this would be far too much for our little hiker even he is doing so great.

4 December

The weather forecast promises rain and snow for the end of the week. Who knows we may experience the valley with some white décor.
This morning starts with clouds and some rain. I feel guilty I was complaining about the blue sky.

The views of the valley from the trail are still beautiful even with the grey sky.
On our trip uphill to the Old Inspiration Point Rob sense we are followed by ‘someone’. As usual we encounter some mule deer but any bears like the many summer visitors.

What once used to be considered one of Yosemite’s scenic highlights is now a quiet and desolated place. Present times the views from the Inspiration Point are very much obscured by trees and brush.

It seems Rob’s sense was righ. Is this really the bear scat (poop) what we see everywhere?


5 December

Any snow today either. It means that the Glacier Point Road is still open despite the winter time. It takes an hour drive from the valley.

The place is even more amazing than all the travel guides suggest. Can you imagine a hotel at such a place like that? There used to be two beautiful houses but they both burned to the ground in July 1969.
I believe we are lucky that the National Park Service decided to reduce development of this place so everyone can enjoy these stunning views.

This is the third day of our vacation and as we always say the third day is the ‘crisis day’ in ones physical performance. I don’t know if this is true but Maarten’s behavior today confirms it for sure. Even the today’s trip is such an easy short level walk through beautiful forest it is so difficult to keep Maarten moving forward. I realize I can forget about the Sentinel Dome.


As we approach the Taft Point we meet another hikers and the friendly lady shouts out in fear when she sees Maarten running in the direction of the fissures. We were already warned it’s not for kids and for those with acrophobia either. Maarten is not allowed to do a step by himself. Most of the overlooks at Taft Point have no railings and than you have the five fissures.










Those are straight down cracks in the granite beneath you that offer incredible views of the Valley. I’m still a little dizzy thinking of this scary yet magical place. Even despite the sturdy railings at the ‘safest edge’ of Profile Cliff I do not feel safe at all.





And I’m absolutely not happy seeing Rob with Maarten up there.

Believe me I’m relieved only when we finally leave this place even though this was indeed the most beautiful hike of our vacation.

Friendship Soup/Holiday Tree-Lighting

It smells so nice when I enter Maarten’s classroom this morning. At the same moment I realize I forgot about the Friendship soup today. And I even forgot that Maarten should have brought celery. Miss Robin asks if I will join them for the soup at eleven but I still have so much to do at our old address.
I’m finished earlier than planned and I arrive on time at the school. The teachers made the classroom so cozy. All the little chairs and tables are decorated with pumpkins, muffins and crackers. The soup is indeed delicious and Maarten can’t stop to eat. He eats his muffin all the crackers and tree cups of soup. And he wants more but we are already the only ones at the table for a while. I can experience their story time and part of other activities and their class routines. We are so lucky Maarten attends just this preschool. I speak to another mom who commutes almost an hour to bring her son to this particular school. I wonder if I would do the same. Luckily for us it’s only a 5 minutes drive.

Today is a big holiday celebration with Santa at the Bishop Ranch, the place where is Rob’s office situated. I’m not sure if we should go there. It is in the evening, I’m so tired from the moving hassle, Maarten protests to meet Santa, Rob has to work late …
We go anyway since everybody promises it’s going to be a spectacle. When we arrive Maarten is already in the holiday spirit.

He loves everything: the spectacular lightning, the children from local schools singing Christmas songs, the beautiful illuminated Christmas tree and the refreshments of course.

And beside of all this we meet daddy there for a while who has to work late tonight.
We are waiting for the Santa. Than there he is. He arrives in a horse drawn sleigh. When Maarten spots him he shouts out: ‘Mikuláš!’ and pushes himself through the crowd to join the holy man. Together with one of the security ladies we catch him just at the staircase to the stage.

He doesn’t mind to sit at Santa’s lap even he looks a little stiff ;-)

New Home

We have moved!
It went very fast. We are already enjoying our new home since this Monday.

Till now I can’t say anything negative about our new home and I’m so in love with the beautiful views in all directions.
The size of the house also suits us better. We actually downsized almost 400 square feet.
We are still far away from unpacking and settling down.
And this will not happen very soon either since our December agenda is oooh so full...

PS:
This is the last picture of our former home.

Thanks for the Thanksgiving!

'We' are already at the Craigs List (the local ‘Marktplaats’ for the Dutch). And there is a ‘For lease’ sign in our front yard. In secret I hope there will be not much visitors the coming week of course.
Another surprise is that our landlord has even raised the rent price starting December 1st. So we are just in time.
Even we are already ‘experts’ in the moving process this will never be my favorite activity. We are so lucky we found a new house just before the Thanksgiving weekend! I admit I would prefer to celebrate the holiday and gorge myself on turkey and mashed potatoes but we won so much time for packing by this long weekend.


It’s tough to work with a toddler around but he still has got some fun with all the boxes in house.


He was already fully potty trained since a month and something ago but since a few days he decided 'to be a baby' again! I believe the moving has quite an impact on our little boy. This is going to be his 5th home in his not even 3 years life! But please, let’s don’t make it that dramatic.

We still try to keep up with our ‘back home’ traditions. Tonight Maarten put his shoe with a carrot in it for the Sinterklaas’ horse, according to the Dutch tradition. If Maarten is lucky and he was good enough he will find a little something in his shoe in the morning. He was very excited and even more scared. I guess that’s the age because you should know that since a couple of weeks there live bears and raccoons in his room and we have bison’s in the back yard ...

New address is coming soon!

I’m getting so many phone calls today. Even during our next Czech date in Walnut Creek.

Yes, today we are going to sign the rental agreement for our new home. How exciting! They even agreed with the famous Ch. clause.
Now the real work can start. Thinking of another moving makes me quite nauseous. But I have to agree the new house is much nicer and above all – it’s smaller! Also the location is great. First time when I saw the views of the rolling hills I was already sold. All kind of shopping down the way and the beautiful Las Trampas Wilderness just around the corner.
Let’s hope we will stay there for the next 3 years!

Home Staging

“Would you mind to take away all the artificial plants and the silk flowers?”
“Ehmmm… sure. They are just a part of the staging.”
Oeps! Of course! Like the smell of hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies that we were already looking for.
I should have known that from watching the HGTV again and again.
The real estate agents would do their best to make a house feel as homy as possible. And there is a whole encyclopaedia of tips how to make a house look bigger, brighter, warmer, loving and, best of all, it makes you want to move in!

The Bubble Lady

I wish I could announce here we have already found a new home. The contrary is true. We have seen already so many houses we know almost all San Ramon neighborhoods. Maybe was this search just good for us to recognize we can’t find more suitable house than we already have?
We found 'an almost perfect' ranch style house and also a perfect land lord but there is always something what doesn’t work out.
And... our house is really quite nice ... We still want to move out of here, right?
Anyway there are still more showings to come and who knows we may have a new home for the holiday.
The house hunting is greatly time-consuming though I try to keep up with all my other (social) commitments. The walking group once a week is a great opportunity to combine my favorite outdoor activity with a good conversation ;-) Besides of that we hike local open spaces where I would probably never look for a good trail. Like the Sugarloaf last week. It’s just next to the freeway but even from there you get such unexpected nice views.

And there is also my little treasure of course who always asks so much attention.
Maarten didn’t go to school today since there was a parent-teacher conference there. I understood this is something what not every preschool schedules. It’s a great opportunity to discuss child’s development and behavior. I wasn’t expecting much surprising since the teachers update me every time I’m there. But still it was good to hear that compare to many not English speaking children Maarten doesn’t hit or bite the others from the language frustration how the teacher used to. He is rather an observer who is pleased by any attention of the other children.
Well, as I have already mentioned last time he probably practices the misbehavior seen at school first at home with me.



This afternoon there was an event in the library: The Bubble lady! We were there just coincidentally since if it’s up to Maarten we would go there every day. But this was something unexpected yet a lot of fun. It was so busy and just when the bubble show was finished I couldn’t get straight to Maarten through the crowd and when I finally got there he was gone. Trying not to panic though I was getting really nervous. A very unpleasant moment.

Than finally I spot his blond head in the puzzle corner!
I should have understood that he had to finish his puzzle he had started before the show!

Anyway this afternoon was so much fun but also so exhausting to him that he ‘crashed’ in the bike trailer on our way home.

House Hunting/Shell Ridge/Las Trampas Ridge

The Halloween evening was a big success! It was so agreeably busy. And even though our Halloween decoration was pretty poor (just one pumpkin ;-)) we had at least 150 visitors! I’ve bought a lot of treats but before long we almost run out of everything. Soon I had to mix the sweets with some ‘cuties’. This Czech way was not always appreciated by the little trick-or-treaters but most of the parents liked it.
Maarten was not very happy about the constant visitors flow and absolutely not about the sound of the door bell. His dad had a better time ;-)

Despite the nice Halloween happening we are still not very excited about our neighborhood. (You may have noticed that?) There is also not a specific reason why we would dislike it here. Anyhow we decided to look for another home. We are looking already for several days and our house hunt is quite disappointing till now.

In the meantime Maarten is doing very well at school but it makes him even wilder than ever. His stunts are beyond words. A couple of days ago he chipped another of his front teeth. How can I keep him injury free?!

Last Tuesday I hiked the Shell Ridge in Walnut Creek for the first time. An easy hike just to catch enough breath to have a nice chat with all the ladies of the Ch. walking group.


The weather is still so nice even too warm in the afternoon. We could experience that while hiking the Las Trampas Ridge trail yesterday. It was a little bit hazy but we could still enjoy the views of Mt. Diablo and the valley in all directions. We saw floating hawks at eye level and a small air planes flying low above the valley.
Maarten recognized the forested creek trail and was looking for the ‘cranberries’ like the last time.

When the trail started to climb up to the Vail Peak however Maarten decided to strike. I believe all hikers in the surroundings had to know that. He would insist to be carried in his ‘Snuggli’. Up on the ridge trail he was full of energy again.

The ‘Snuggli’ is far too tempting to Maarten when we have to gain some elevation. Therefore this was the last time ‘Snuggli’ joined us on a hike ;-)