Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sabbath Adventures: Berkeley

Once a week, I'll be posting about how we spend our day off each week. Most weeks, Friday is our Sabbath, and we try to incorporate something fun and out of the ordinary to celebrate our day together. (We also almost always take family nap on Sabbath, but that won't be nearly as exciting for y'all to hear about.) So without further ado, our first Sabbath Adventures post:

Berkeley: Steam Trains and Injera


We started out our morning with a hike in Tilden Park. It was cool, sunny, and a perfect morning to get in a little family hike. Maddie is getting to the age where she is a great hiker and adventurer, as demonstrated above. There was quite a bit of poison oak on the trail, and so as she marched behind us we heard her chant over and over, "Leaves of three, let it be; one, two three, let it be."


Our turnaround point was a gorgeous, damp Eucalyptus grove. We stopped for pictures and then headed back down the trail.


Our primary destination last Friday was the steam trains. Sam is obsessed with planes, trains and automobiles these days and so we were excited to see his response. Poor guy fell asleep between the hike and the trains (a five minute drive) and he was also fighting a cold and working on a couple of molars, so the response was thus:


He wasn't nearly as into it as we anticipated, but he watched in quiet concentration as we rounded the curves, whistle sounding, kids laughing.


When the ride was nearly over, he started breaking out in spontaneous applause, which we took as appreciation and excitement. All in all, the best $2 entertainment around, fun for parents and kids alike!


After the trains, we headed over to Berkeley to an Ethiopian restaurant where we feasted at an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet: injera, lentils, greens, cabbage, yum! Maddie especially loved the cabbage and making conversation with the college students sitting next to us. Only later did we consider the ironic nature of an all-you-can-eat Ethiopian buffet (only in America, people, only in America).

And tomorrow we get to celebrate Sabbath again! So stay tuned for future installments.

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