Join the Adventure!
Friday was our Mission day for a tour of murals, tasty treats, and of course Mission Dolores! Although we contemplated starting our day with an amazing breakfast at El Mil Amores (saving it for next time), instead we opted for a quick coffee from Coffee …
So far we have been in 3 Waymos and after the first ride, Raquel exclaimed, “Humans should never drive again!” The Waymo can see people, bikes, animals, vehicles, and all obstacles 360 degrees – in front of you, behind you, to all sides, around buildings! …
One of the valuable life lessons we have learned on our sabbatical is:
If you have a beautiful, sunny day, enjoy it because you never know when the winds will change and bring in the fog!
We also learned: “Push Through the Fog to the Sunny Side”, as we kept driving to the Marin Farmers Market where it was a sunny, beautiful day with delicious produce and yummy food!
We embraced our inner tourists on a warm, sunny Saturday in San Francisco by hopping on the Sausalito ferry at Pier 41. After wandering through the streets of Sausalito, having brunch at the Lighthouse Cafe, randomly stumbling across a chili cook-off contest, and watching a …
Asher is loving the start to his freshman year at Bowdoin! From a smooth check-in to landing the best roommate and suite mates, Asher is loving the life of freshman year! As we were leaving Bowdoin on Monday afternoon, Raquel was reassured when she saw …
Hard to believe 3rd year has already begun – time flies when you are having fun (and learning, too)! One of our favorite texts from Aliya so far this year is: “I love it here!!!” attached to the following photo . . . which says it all.
We are on the sabbatical road again, but this time we don’t have to find schools for the kids and our travel plans and apartment hunting are more “just in time”. So you never know, we might be coming somewhere close by you (or somewhere …
After riding on elephants, it was time to go higher . . . up to the sky . . . to fly with the gibbons! So we hopped in a van and travelled about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai to try the 30 various sky …
When in Chiang Mai, ride elephants!
On our way out to the Blue Elephant tour grounds, we stopped at a market on the outskirts of Chiang Mai to buy some exotic fruits for our snacks.
Once we arrived about an hour outside of Chiang Mai, we changed into our formless, blue Blue Elephant dungarees and sat down to eat the treats we bought at the market.
Our little picnic was tasty and beautiful beside the lush green landscape that we ride around on the elephants. 
After our tasty treats, it was time to meet the elephants. We were each given a basket of bananas to feed the elephants so that they would be happy. We had a Mama elephant, a baby elephant, and an Aunt.
Asher got some good elephant kisses
while Raquel got some good hugs
and a few too many kisses too!
Aliya really liked the baby elephant
But Ben was eager to ride!
Although he was very nervous at first, after a while Asher was really into elephant riding
After a good ride, it was time to wash the elephants
Now that the elephants were clean, Raquel decided to give it a go too!
Asher was so comfortable by the end that he was feeding bananas from on top of the elephants
Raquel too!
We had so much fun with our elephants that it was hard to say goodbye!
We were so excited to finally be off the bus, out of the back of the pick up truck, and in the peaceful refuge of the Amata Lanna hotel in Chiang Mai. What Aliya was most excited about was finally seeing her good friend, Sofia! …