Californ-eye-ay

I spent the last week in Albany, California. Since I'm not working, I thought it would be good to spend some time with my nephews (just as I did last year), and they randomly got a week off of school in February. I don't know why, but they did.

Now that my nephews are older (14, 11, and 9), they remain essentially the same from visit to visit, at least more than they used to. It's also only been two months since they visited for Christmas.

I boarded a plane on Monday morning, and it had to be de-iced. I had never seen them do that before; it involved them spraying the wings with some kind of solution.

The boys have things they do every day. They would play video games constantly if they could, but they are limited to only an hour a day (at least when they are off school). They also have to exercise each day, so many days we went to their school playground to play "handball" (wallball).

My brother's family lives in a tiny apartment, but it is conveniently located a short distance from a large variety of stores. My favorite of these is See's Candies, which is currently selling my all-time favorite holiday candy.

Nathaniel has been coughing and therefore sleeping in the living room, so I slept on his bed. These boys love their "fluffies."

On Tuesday, we visited an Asian supermarket near their house. It is the season of Lunar New Year (unlike our American holidays, the day kicks off the festive season, rather than being the culmination). Since the Bay Area has a high population of Asian people, I thought Lunar New Year would be a bigger deal, but it didn't really seem to be. (But we didn't go to San Francisco's parade or any other special events). I had to laugh that the only white guy I saw in the Chinese supermarket was buying fortune cookies. Tells you something about their authenticity.

That evening we saw The Lego Movie 2. I don't understand why people have been so disappointed by it, because I found it appropriately hilarious and charming—not as good as the first, but that's a hard act to follow. It was better than Lego Batman, and it resolved the thing I disliked most about the first Lego Movie. It started a little slow, but it made up for it.

I only went running one day on the Ohlone Greenway, a bike/pedestrian path underneath BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). It's not as good as a trail, but there were lovely plants and random orange trees, and most of the cars at crosswalks were very courteous, and they stopped long before I reached the crosswalk. It whetted my appetite for springtime.

On Thursday, they had a friend come over who is a national champion at badminton and whose uncle is a billionaire. I had to apologize to my nephews that I'm not a billionaire. But they aren't national champions in anything, so we can both settle for mediocrity.

On Friday, we went to Mount Diablo State Park, specifically to a portion called Rock City, which has uniquely eroded sandstone formations. The boys love climbing on rocks. As for me, I get terrified on slick and steep surfaces, so climbing's not for me. Nathaniel (9) does the most climbing. Franklin (11) used to do more, but he gets headaches and other health issues that prevent him from being very physical.

Preston (14), Nathaniel, my brother, and I climbed up Sentinel Rock. I didn't enjoy coming down, but it was a pretty place.

On my last day, we went on a walk up a local hill called Albany Hill. I ran up parts of it with Preston and Nathaniel, but Franklin's head hurt. Though I don't like the Bay Area's traffic or graffiti, I love all the plants that grow throughout the year.

Albany Hill has a cross that lights up, which (unsurprisingly) has been part of lawsuits.

I liked these tree seeds that look like buttons.

Then it was time to head home. It's nice to be back, but I miss the boys. But the good thing is that they remember us now that they're older.