Author: Abe Darais

Today we left by around 7:00 from Jere’s place in San Francisco. It was so nice of him to host us, and we so enjoyed staying with him! He’s still working for Dexterity doing exciting things with robots.

We were driving all the way to Tacoma which is a 12.5 hour drive. Lily was an absolute warrior. She drank two coffees and then drove for 10.5 hours!! She was on such a role and just didn’t want to stop. She didn’t even want to stop for lunch (which we didn’t), but I went with it because of the incredible time and effort she was making to get us to Portland. Lily said it really helped that we had an awesome book to listen to which was Where Did You Go Bernadette. It was an outstanding book, and very gripping. We finished the book before the night was over.

We did stop for food in Portland. We went to a Lebanese place which was disappointing (Nicholas), but we had great ice-cream afterwards and a trip to Powell’s books. I read to Ammon and Clarissa (and played an eye-spy Dark Crystal book with them) while Lily and the girls browsed for and bought books. Lily especially is in love with that store and cherished her time there. She loves how curated the book suggestions are and also felt happy that every shelf of staff picks had at least one book on it she had already read. She’s such a reader!

After Powell’s I took the wheel and drove to Tacoma where we put our kids to bed and hung out with Clark and Swathi until it was past midnight. It was so fun talking to them!

Today, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and headed North to Point Reyes National Seashore. On the way, we read about the Golden Gate Bridge and learned its construction was controversial and many groups were against it.

The drive to Point Reyes National Sea Shore was so pretty.

Once we arrived at the Point Reyes visitors center, we watched a very interesting movie about the area and then ate a togo lunch we purchased at a picnic table.

Then we did the most wonderful nature trail. What made it so great was there was a booklet that taught us things at different places along the trail. Lily read the information to us and it made the whole hike so interesting. It was one mile which was perfect given our time constraints.

These Bay Laurel trees bend and bend and bend to get to where the sunlight is.

We then drove to the lightouse, but we didn’t walk to it because we were very short on time. Our parking reservation was 4:30 – 5:00 and we were meeting Liem there. Still, the drive there was gorgeous and we walked to an overlook and had an incredible view of the ocean and surrounding landscape. We weren’t feeling too bad about not doing the longer walk to the lighthouse because Clarissa was asleep and it was so cold and windy! Also, the views we did see were amazing!

After seeing the view near the lighthouse, we drove to Muir Woods. Again, the drive was gorgeous (including this awesome tree-flanked road below), but it was also so winding. Mary got so car-sick, but fortunately she didn’t throw up.

It was so fun to meet Liem and Luan at Muir woods. It was great catching up on each other’s lives. We also were so happy with the weather and the fact that we had the park almost to ourselves because it was late in the day on a weekday. By the end, I think we were the only ones in the park.

We then went home and got some much needed rest after our big day!

In the morning we went to delicious cafe called Zazie. We ate every morsel and completely filled us up. Lily and I especially loved the gingerbread pancakes.

After breakfast, we walked through a small park and found ourselves in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Lily read up on it and shared education with the family about the significance of the neighborhood. In short, it was the focal point and starting place of the international Hippie movement.

We LOVED the houses in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. They were Victorian row homes.

After spending time walking around Haight-Ashbury, we finished listening to Mr. Penumbra’s 24 hour bookstore (amazing book) and then I put on some Janice Joplin to commemorate Haight-Ashbury. I’m pretty sure I was the only one in the car into her music. I discovered her around 6th grade and loved her so much I bought an album that I listened to growing up. I still love her music and get excited when it comes on. That raspy rock-n-roll voice is so great!

We then went to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. The first noteworthy thing was their monochromatic bathrooms.

After all going to the bathroom, we started our tour outside.

We loved the colorful tunnel.

We really enjoyed learning about German modern artists like Sigmar Polke, Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter.

Here is art from Elizabeth Murray and Morris Louis, two great American modern artists.

I really enjoyed Ellsworth Kelly. He was one of my favorite artists in the museum.

After the art museum we went to the Presidio where Mary and Ammon played while Lily sat in the car with napping Clarissa. Lydia played a little and hung out by me a little.

We them met up with Jon and Shirley again at their house. It was so fun to see them again and the kids had so much fun playing with each other. We traversed both fun topics and deep topics like racism, security and neighborhood dynamics. All in all it was both fun and very meaningful to spend time with them!

I snapped this as clean-up started to give a sense for how much fun the kids had while the grown-ups talked.

Today had a lot of pictures, so brace yourself. In the morning, we watched The Princess Diaries because it features San Francisco. It was a hit for kids and grown-ups alike.

Then we went to a delicious breakfast Jere picked out at a place called, “The Grove”. On the way, Jere and I had fun launching Ammon and Clarissa.

Breakfast was superb, and the great weather made eating outside really pleasant.

I had a leaf bug in my salad!

Then we went to Alcatraz. Jere was excited to go too because he has never been. He almost went on a date their, but when his date tried to buy tickets she accidentally didn’t press the button to purchase them, so he hasn’t gone yet.

Alcatraz was amazing. Everyone except Clarissa had a audio-tour with a handheld device. We learned about famous prisoners, sad stories (one prison went to Alcatraz for stealing $16 when he was broke and hungry, and also there were segregation and racism issues), crazy stories (the time prisoners caused a ruckus over declining spaghetti quality, and people who had escaped their cells), living situations of the prisoners (cell was about 5’X9′, there was a field for sports, prisoners often had hobbies) and more.

We saw a lot of seagulls on the island. Here are a few shots.

Right after the prison was decommissioned around 1964 (due to deterioration from the harsh elements on the island and the great costs associated with keeping everything in good repair), Native Americans occupied the island to assert the rights of Native Americans. They painted the message above on the water tower. The occupation eventually ended and the writing on the water tower was removed, but the National Parks Service recently had family from the originally occupying tribes write the message a new so people can remember the occupation of the Native Americans on Alcatraz.

So now for my favorite part of the entire trip to Alcatraz, and I apologize I went overboard on the photos. I LOVED the brick and rock walls at Alcatraz. The colors and textures were all so fascinating. I went to a Modern Art museum the day after and commented to Lily that as amazing as the museum was, no modern art there was as impressive to me as the amazing art I saw in the walls at Alcatraz. See below for what I’m talking about.

Lily was our tour guide outside and used her map/guide to help us all learn.

View from Alcatraz

After Alcatraz, we got to experience the hills of San Francisco first hand as we walked almost a mile to lunch. Clarissa fell asleep I ended up carrying her up a super steep hill.

We ate at Tony’s and it was incredibly good. That restaurant has won awards for pizza even in Italy. Clarissa slept through the whole thing and has no idea we even stopped for lunch.

After a late lunch, we drove down Lombard street, a crazy steep street that zig-zags all the way down (and has a Bill Cosby bit about it), and then drove to another delicious restaurant to have dinner with our friends Jon and Shirley (and their two kids). We were pretty full from our late lunch, but still the food was super enjoyable and it was so fun to catch up with our friends. We love them so much. I talked with Jon about our jobs among other things and Shirley and Lily also caught up. Also, the kids (especially Ammon) had a lot of fun playing with their adorable girls.

Drove to Lake Tahoe last night and got in late. In the morning everyone woke up early, except for Clarissa, who was dead to the world for a full hour after everyone was awake and active (Ok, I was in bed and not active).

We rallied (especially Lily who did the lionshare getting the kids ready), packed, and headed out the door and we were off shortly after 8:15.

We then explored Lake Tahoe. I’ve wanted to see Lake Tahoe for a long time just because I hear about it so much. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it definitely over-delivered. After driving around where the State Parks are on the Lake, we stopped and hiked Eagle Falls. It was a perfect 1-mile loop. It it was a little tricky with some of the snow still there, but all-in-all it was the perfect pace and length for everyone. It was so beautiful!! It was hard to know what pictures to cut, and I know I left way to many. Sorry reader!

Everyone did a really good job walking and when Clarissa got cranky, she was cheered up enough by her walking stick and stepping in puddles with her puddle jumpers that she was able to pull through to the end.

After the amazing hike (my personal favorite part of the day), we saw an incredible overlook (Inspiration viewpoint) nearby.

It was amazing driving around Lake Tahoe and seeing all the damage from the fires from last year as well. Enough was untouched by the fires that we got to see really gorgeous scenery. But we also saw a ton of dead burnt trees that told the story of last year’s fires. It was very dramatic to see.

We then left Lake Tahoe and drove to San Francisco (eating delicious Chipotle on the way.

Once in San Francisco, we went straight to see the sea lions at Fisherman’s Warf. Mary had a stomach ache (we think from the car ride) so she missed the first 15 minutes of watching as she relaxed with Lily, but then she got feeling better and still got to see a lot. It was so hilarious to see one super lazy doc with a bunch of lounging sea lions and then another doc where there was a lot of fighting action. Pictures and videos below!

This big fat black sea lion was quite a site to sea and also had an impressive bark

After seeing sea lions, we went to the carousel which, of course, Clarissa was dying to do.

After the carousel, I took Mary to “Lefty’s” the store for left handed people and she picked something out. Then we got some yummy mini-donuts and went to Boudin Bakery Restaurant (famous for sourdough bread). Mary got noodles, but everyone else got delicious soup in a breadbowl. The whole experience was so nice and a good rest from all the walking and activity.

After dinner we went to the Ghiradelli chocolate square to get desert. Clarissa was having a hard time walking there especially when we got to the grassy hill just before our destination (the grassy hill is in the picture below). I threatened that she would not get her chocolate desert if she did not walk, and then she pointed her arm straight ahead, salute style, and said, “chocolate” and commenced walking. It was so funny.

We learned how chocolate is made while we waited for our desert to be served.

After Ghiradelli’s the kids did an amazing job walking all the way back to our car. It was so fun looking into all the shops along the street in the wharf area on the way to our. One store was a candy store, and we all got a kick out boxes of candy they were (jokingly) advertising as breakfast cereal.

Then we drove to my brother Jere’s house. On the way, we listened to Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore which Lily and I are absolutely loving, and especially like because it is about San Francisco. We are almost done. When we arrived at Jere’s we put the kids down and then chatted with Jere for a solid hour about Utah Lake, the Great Salt Lake, Cromwell (who he’s reading about), books Lily is reading and other topics. I was reading Jere’s Far Side (Gary Larson) book in the back ground, and I got a great laugh from everyone when I shared the comic showing two mosquitos with one of them being puffed up like a balloon and attached to a human and the other one saying, “pull out Betsy, pull out you’ve hit an artery!” I also chilled in Jere’s room while blogging and we chit chatted. It is so fun to spend time with my brother.

Today was completely magical and I loved every second. More adventures tomorrow!

Lily talks periodically about how she is not all-to-impressed with Basil’s appearance. Others in the household disagree, but our case was not helped by Lily’s chat with a doodle-enthusiast who called Basil “unique”, commented on his stubby legs, said she shouldn’t have brought kids with her to pick him out (hinting that way should would not have brought him home), and even thought the spots on his paw might be a disease (we have no reason to believe it is). Anyhoo, Basil went to the groomers today, and even Lily has to acknowledge, that our little Basil is looking mighty fine.

In other news, Lydia has enjoyed playing with camera settings and also working on her ever-increasing flexibility.

It’s now Monday, and this morning I thanked God for an awesome weekend. The weather was absolutely exquisite. With the warm weather after a long winter, a part of me felt like it was waking up after a long hibernation. I felt alive and happy this weekend.

In the morning I blogged and worked on the budget. Then I washed and vacuumed the Subaru and talked to my aunt Andrea. Lily was listening to an audio book for a lot of the morning. She also took Basil for a very long walk and let him play with some doggy friends they found along the way. Lily said she chatted with a very charming doodle enthusiast, who was also direct and said that our dog was a bit unique, especially with how short his legs are, lol.

Clarissa and Ammon played all morning together or by themselves. I bought them some sticker books last week and they have absolutely loved them. Here is Clarissa happily stickering:

Then we all cleaned the house. Ammon had asked me to play Ninjas so at the end of the family cleaning session, we did one final chore, “ninja style”. All four kids and I had to empty all of the trashes in the house into a large plastic garbage back and take it to the green trash bin and put the bin on the curb all without Lily or any neighborhood people seeing us. Ammon especially was into sneaking around going from place to place to accomplish the mission. We pretended the trashes were crystals to power our space station and once they were on the curb, our friends could pick them up for the space station, but if anyone saw us, our cover would be blown. Everyone was really into it (even Lydia to some-extent, who joined late). I loved playing with everyone. Lily played along perfectly. She pretended to be busy on her laptop and not see anyone, which delighted the kids (even though she obviously could clearly see people at multiple junctures).

After that, I took Ammon and Clarissa to home church at Whitney’s house. Lydia and Mary got a pass since they attended the funeral yesterday. I spent most of the time helping watch Ammon and Clarissa, but I also got to chat with various people which I loved doing just because I love that community so much. Ammon also got hit in the face with a softball and his nose bled and he cried, but he was fine after ten minutes.

After church I got Subway and then I took everyone biking. I practiced learning to bike with Clarissa and chatted with Emily and Matt Kahler, and even Adam and Lydia Barlow and their kids who showed up at the end. Lydia, Mary and Ammon loved biking all around. The Kahler’s brought a ramp and wrestled with whether or not to let Ammon try. It was a stressful decision, and Lily said she trusted me to make the right call. I eventually let him try (thank goodness for the Kahler’s idea to move the ramp by the grass because I was about to let him try on the asphalt), and he took a tumble and hit himself in the private parts. He was back to biking within a minute, but told him no more ramp after that.

Below Ammon is expressing his inner ninja. He intentionally dressed like a ninja for our ninja game earlier and then wanted to keep wearing the outfit even after the game was over.

Neil Giles came over in the evening to give Lydia some birthday brownies, and Ammon was so excited to tell Neal about his adventures like the bike jump and also running and jumping off the bike ramp etc. Neil was so sweet to let Ammon effuse.

It was a really really fun day.

My uncle Norman passed away last week and today was his funeral. I took Lydia and Mary, and Lily, who’s back is still hurt, stayed home with Ammon and Clarissa.

I loved catching up with my Darais relatives. They make me so happy. The service was so beautiful. There were flowers, memorabilia, and pictures of Norm everywhere. After a viewing and family prayer, we had the funeral service.

I love funerals so much because they always help me to reflect on the beauty of life and what is most important. I feel I always leave a better person, and that was especially the case because of how inspiring of a person Norm is. Below are some of the highlights of the funeral for me:

• Norm was generous. I list this first because it was the most common theme throughout the whole service. The following examples were mentioned of Norm’s generosity:
  • Norm going to work in grubby clothes so he could go straight to his brother Chris’ construction site after work and help him build his new house.
  • Norm buying a piano for his granddaughter who wanted play piano, but her parents didn’t have money for a piano.
  • Norm letting a neighbor kid do yard work for him as a way for him to pay for his fly-tying class with his son Danny.
  • After Norm’s brother Mark suggested crossing the street to avoid a fundraising booth, Norm said, “No Mark, I know how hard it is to raise money, let’s go see what it’s about” and they went to the booth and donated.
  • Norm helping his little brother Chris learn how to be a good student in college and taking him to the library early to study with him.
  • Norm taking a class that Chris was in as an elective just so he could help tutor Chris in it.
  • Norm sharing vegetables in his garden with so many people and even driving long ways to share them.
  • The list of kind and generous things Norm did in his life goes on and on an on.
• Norm was a complete perfectionist. He was both an editor (eventually chief editor) and son of Alex Darais (who was an intense perfectionist) so it was no surprise. He would correct he kid’s usage of words and also sometimes had a hard times making a decision due to his perfectionism. There was a hilarious story about how he went shoe shopping and couldn’t decide on a pair of shoes to buy. There was a shoe-salesman helping him and after a long while with shoes and boxes strewn all over the floor, the sales-person said to Norm, “Norm, can you tell me who sold you the pair of shoes you are wearing right now.” Norm looked confused and said, “why would you like to know that?” The salesperson replied, “because I’d like to shake his hand”. I got a great belly laugh out of that story.
• Norm was funny. He loved making puns, and he loved making sure other people understood them even while his beloved wife Judy rolled her eyes.
• Norm was a true intellectual. He had memorized poems, Shakespeare and quotes and he could brilliantly weave them into conversations. He was incredibly well read and attended the Shakespeare festival every year.
• Norm was competitive. There was a great anecdote about how Norman and Chris were the kings of ping-pong on BYU campus, and how people tried to beat them in doubles for 10 years, but nobody ever could.
• Norm loved the beauty of the world. He loved art, and he could even just admire a black piece of glass and would show others how in the sunlight it was actually purple. One of the things that touched me most at the funeral was something that Danny, the closing speaker said. He said that his dad, Norm, saw the beauty in everything around him, but he struggled to see the beauty of the most beautiful thing of all which was himself. Dan expressed remorse for not having had told his dad more often how much he loved him and how beautiful he was, and he asked the audience to memorialize Norm by making sure we are telling the beloved people in our lives they are beautiful and that we loved them. I was so moved by Danny’s words.
• Lastly, I just want to mention how touched I was by the palpable bond between Norm and Judy. Her pain and loss was so vivid, and it was a testament to the deep love she shared with Norm. At the end of the viewing, she got up one last time before they closed the casket to kiss his forehead. She completely broke down in those final moments of the viewing and I just thought about every day they shared together. The life they created together. Just the sacredness of being a part of each others incomings and outgoings and ups and downs. How special love is. I was so moved at what they clearly shared together. I don’t know the details of their relationship, but what I saw was enough to know how deeply they loved, and continue to love each other.

After the funeral was the burial and my dad gave a wonderful grave dedication that was heartfelt and moving. It was preceded by Mark playing “Blowing in the wind” by Bob Dylan on his harmonica. Then we all returned back to the church for a luncheon.

At home I took Georgia home, chatted with her and picked up Spicey Thai. Back at home, I relaxed and spent time with the kids. Ammon and Clarissa did a really cute dance to the Gummy Bear Song:

In the evening, I spoke with my cousin Alexander for almost two and a half hours. He’s going through a really hard time, but the conversation was meaningful for both of us and I’m glad I was able to talk to him.

We got our family photos back today from Sarah Severson. We love them! Here are some highlights:

This whole week was incredibly intense for me at work. I even lost my cool and got mad on a call, which I rarely if ever has done before. I’ve been working into the nights working on two deals that we are trying to get before the end of the quarter. I’ve also been doing a lot of self-reflection about my tendency to jump in and make things happen instead of coaching my reps to execute at the level that I expect. It has definitely been a week of stretching, learning and growing.

I took a break from work to help get the kids ready with Lily for their dance performance. We arrived at the mall on-time and I was able to get some chicken and fries before the show. Ammon and Clarissa played on some of the kiddie rides while we waited for our food.

And as always, we loved watching the kids perform. Tonight only Ammon, Mary and Clarissa performed.

Clarissa announced she wanted a playdate with Hawthorne today and Lily had her repeat it on video (and Ammon put in a plug for playing with Casey!). I love how they love their friends!