Sunrise over San Francisco...

Jimmy and Veronica headed out early on Easter morning to watch the sun rise over San Francisco. They got some pretty impressive photos.

While they practically had the roads to themselves that early in the morning, they clearly weren’t the only ones trying to capture that perfect shot.

Sweet Friendships...

Usually the girls spend most of their time together in the pool, but since the pool was too cold, they found other ways to entertain themselves....

 ...and to entertain us. Monique brought her ukulele along and played us a few tunes.

She and Veronica also took turns playing the piano.

Old Family Friends...

Our guests were Dad’s old MIT buddies, Arthur and Suzanne. We’ve spent time with their son Michael during his two recent trips to Holland and were happy that the timing worked out to get together while we were in California. After a big lasagna dinner, we took some more photos.

Our four girls have always gotten along really well despite their age differences: Sarah is 10 and Monique is 13.

Our Family...

Luckily, we did get some nice family photos with my parents.

Family Pics in the Garden...

On March 24, which happened to be Jimmy’s 51st birthday, Ashlynn and Jimmy finally arrived. The following night, he and I spent a fun night at Leigh and Mike’s. The next day, we prepared to host a party. Before our guests arrived, we took a bunch of family photos in my parents’ beautiful garden.

Unfortunately, we failed to get a photo of the four of us. We didn’t, however, fail to get some goofy pics.

Gardens of Filoli...

Surrounding the house is 16 acres of gardens.

The reflecting pool was especially lovely.

Ann is a member of Filoli and visits several times a year with friends to see the changes in the gardens. She enjoyed showing me around, including where a jazz band my father plays with has performed occasional concerts.

There was also a regular swimming pool...

...a vegetable garden and several ornamental gardens. This one was my favorite.

Filoli...

While Dad took Veronica to a MIT luncheon and lecture on climate change (which Veronica found fascinating), Ann took me to Filoli, a historic house in Woodside. It was built in 1917 in the style of an Irish country estate for the owner of one of California’s richest gold mines and the water company that supplied San Francisco. It was a private home until 1975 when it was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. If this view looks somehow familiar, it’s because it was featured in the 1980’s TV show Dynasty.

We were limited to visiting the ground floor, so couldn’t see the bedrooms which are now used for offices. My favorite room was the kitchen, which retained equipment from several eras. On the left is the silver vault.

The name came from the first two letters of the owner’s motto:

Fight for a just cause,

Love your fellow man,

Live a good life.