California Trip

I flew to California last week to celebrate my sister, Maia's, graduation from UC Berkeley. It is almost a year since we left California and I hadn't been back. It was definitely nice to see everyone!

Left to right: Leor, Maia, Ima, me, Etai, Abba

I arrived mid-morning and the fog had not yet cleared: sunny California!

"Sunny Cali" from the airplane.

My taxi was waiting for me and I gave my driver a nice tip.

Ima

We went straight to Emeryville to meet with my old coworker and very dear friend, Josephine. Here she is in the building where I used to work. It's changed since I left, we never had such cool seating! I was able to chat with some other old coworkers and it was wonderful, as always, to see Josephine. Next time you come visit me, lady!

Then on to my parents' house.

This lemon tree gives the best lemons ever!

There I found two very excited and sweet pups.

Petel (aka Petelovich)

Mishmish

We did a lot of this while I was there:

Over the next few days I enjoyed a lot of good food and company.

Brunch with Ima and Maia in the garden.

Made another GF cheesecake.

I also made some gluten free Challah bread:

It was such a big hit, I made a second batch:

On Wednesday Maia graduated with honors and was given a place to sit on the stage at the Greek Theater. She was then surprised to learn that she had won the departmental citation in her field. The rest of us were not so surprised!

Maia

The Greek Theater

There she is (the last name)!

Que graduation music.

Walking to her seat on the stage.

See her? 

Surprise! You win the departmental citation! 

Graduated — Congratulations!

Afterwards the grads and families were treated to a reception and we took some pictures around campus.

Maia

Abba, Ima, Leor, Etai

We made Etai hold all the bags while the girls took pictures. He's a great sport!

Cal is my alma mater as well, so I took a few pictures of my old stomping grounds. Jacob and I met in this building!

Evans: the math building

Campeneli

Go Bears!

And some other shots of Berzerkley:

Berkeley people.

My high school.

Oh, and don't forget the Bay Area traffic! I definitely do NOT miss this.

Friday morning I accompanied my mom to her classroom where she teaches Hebrew to nine kids. She's a great teacher!

The Classroom 

The Teacher

On Saturday Maia had a graduation party in my parents' backyard. We made a lot of food and it was a gorgeous day, perfect for a garden party.

The Graduate 

The Gardner

The Spread

Check out the hot house my dad and Etai built for their tomatoes.

And speaking of Etai, doesn't he look nice for his prom?

Sunday morning it was time to head back to the airport. I tried to say goodbye to the pups, but all they heard was "Treat!"

I snapped a few blurry pictures of San Francisco on the way over too.

The Bay

San Fran 

Golden Gate Bridge

Bay Bridge

San Fran and Coit Tower

The flights home were mostly fine, but the hopper from Chicago to Detroit was a bit delayed. First they couldn't get the air to work properly (and it was sooooo hot in Chicago) and we had to sit on a sweltering plane. By the time they fixed it, though, a storm was rolling in and we were detoured mid-taxi. This is the lot where we ended up. I think it's for the really slow planes...

Get it? Escargot???

Before I knew it I was flying high over beautiful, green Michigan!

It was a fun trip, but it's wonderful to be home again!