A Visit to the Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga

Thomas & Eleanor love playing among the Bamboo

Gaye singing an extract from the Mikado in the garden and Thomas finds this fascinating.

The Bamboo gets taller and taller

And in the pond there are small Turtles

We actually visited a wee bit too early in the year as in another 2 or 3 weeks there will be a lot of blossom on the trees and shrubs.

Every Japanese garden has to have a bridge

She nearly fell in

Another week and this bush will be a mass of red flowers

San Jose valley in the distance

These also will be a spectacular display in a few days time

A Mac Cafe Breakfast and a Los Gatos Walk

Our morning started with another visit to Apple Inc. at Infinite Loop so we could take advantage of the Mac Cafe's fantastic breakfasts. The cafe is both indoors and outdoors and the photo shows the lovely outdoor eating area in the centre of these beautiful buildings.

This guy was fantastic at making omelette and had at least 6 on the go at a time. You could get anything you wanted in them.

My Breakfast and prior to this we had porridge with every possible dried fruit and honey added to it.

As it was a cooler morning we sat inside for our breakfast but later in the day this area will be very busy.

Our afternoon walk took us to Los Gatos Creek Park and a 3 mile walk beside this Lake and Creek.

The water is strictly controlled and according to Fraser is as low as he has seen during his 2 years in California.

A set of weirs controls the water level in the creek.

And this is the man made lake which is extremely low as the water is usually up to the top of these island tree bases so you can just see two small tree islands.

And to finish the day Gaye and Elliot enjoying some time together.

A Walk at Blackberry Farm in Cupertino

Elliot is 12 weeks old today and celebrated by having a bath

After my morning walk to take Eleanor and Mallory to school we headed off to Blackberry Farm in Cupertino where we had a lovely walk with Tommy on his Balance Bike. In the background is an orchard of Orange trees.

Fraser having a rest. The Orange trees are now past their harvest for last year and are starting to come into blossom for this year.

Not a lot of Oranges left on these trees but there must have been a lot a while ago.

On the way hope we stopped at a Bagel Cafe and had various filled Bagels. I enjoyed my Blueberry Bagel but its not something I would get terribly excited about. Tommy loves a Bagel and soon finished his.

After all the weekend rain this flowering bush in Fraser's garden has suddenly flourished and there will soon be a profusion of flowers on it.

Two Museums in the Rain

The weather this weekend has been awful and there has been more rain here this weekend than the total of the last few months. It is however very welcome and the reservoirs will fill up a little. We decided to visit the Museum of Computing on Saturday and this brought back some very happy memories for me from my early days in Reid & Taylor & R.G.Neill's when I used a teleprinter and an electronic calculator for the first time. This photo above is from the display of Google Earth and shows a 3D map of Langholm that is over 6 feet tall.

This is Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No 2 dating from 1849. It consists of 8000 parts and can calculate to 31 digits of precision.

This is a ZX Spectrum and was the first computer we bought for Fraser in the early 80s when he expressed an interest in computers. The rest as they say is history. We used to get so cross when he spent hours on this and later computers but it has proved to be very worthwhile and has led to an interesting career with him working for Motorola, Microsoft, Disney, and now Apple.

On Sunday we headed for Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to visit the California Academy of Sciences. This is a Foucault Pendulum which is a simple device to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. These pegs in the circle take 39 hours to be knocked over due to the position of the museum in California.

This is a Butterfly in the Rain Forest Biosphere.

The Aquarium in the basement of the building. We also visited the worlds largest Planetarium to see a fantastic digital film. The museum was great but very expensive and Fraser said it just as good as the National Science Museum in Edinburgh which the family visited last summer and was FREE. We are very lucky in the UK to have so many fantastic museums that are all free. Anyway the weather is set to get back to normal from tomorrow so it will be outdoor activities again and a visit to various places in the san Francisco Bay area.

Soccer Coaching with Thomas

Last night Thomas had a 45 minute coaching session and he loved it. From our experience in Utah and now California the USA have certainly got their act together with Soccer for children. Maybe in the future they will win a World Cup.

If somebody had said to me that Gaye would spend an evening sitting watching kids play soccer in February I would have said they were mad. But here she is enjoying the warm winter evening.

Dinner at Mac Cafe

Having looked forward to this for almost 2 years I was worried I might be disappointed but it was everything I had imagined and more. It was very busy and as we did not know all the best food at the many food stations we maybe did not choose the best. It was however superb food.

Outside one of the many entrances to Infinite Loop. We will eventually get a photograph outside the main entrance but it wasn't possible today.

Free Apples after the meal.

As it was dark we did not take many photos and in some areas of the building photographs are not allowed. It was however a very enjoyable experience and we look forward to eating there again but during the day as we can eat outside.

Settling in to life in California

Day 3 of our Californian experience and we seem to be getting into a routine. I started the day by taking Eleanor and her friend Mallory to school at 7.45 for an 8.00am start. 

They were very well behaved and talked non stop for the 10 minute walk to school.

We then headed to the nearby town of Campbell for a walk in the park and a chance for Thomas to play. This was a superb 2 mile walk beside a canal.

The trees in blossom were attracting loads of Humming Birds like the one at the top of this picture.

And plenty of Squirrels like this one.

Gaye enjoying time with Elliot. After this it was back home for lunch and a sit out in the garden as it was lovely and warm.

We plan to have dinner tonight at the famous Cafe Mac at the Apple HQ where Fraser works so this will be a real treat as I have been looking forward to it for a long time.