It's spring outside — if only it would stop raining.

I used to climb with Pája in Czech Republic several years before I married to California. She then somewhat followed me (by marrying to California) three years later, alas, they live near Los Angeles, which is some three hundred thirty miles (and about seven hours by car) from our home; we don't get to see each other often. We both wanted to fix that and so we kept for about two months planning and selecting a suitable day for visiting — our choice fell on a weekend after my birthday. Still, our children have decided to cover all our plans with their illnesses this year, hence on the Wednesday before departure Lisa went down with a fever.

Lizards spend all sunny days warming up.

I was hoping for a one-day virosis, no luck — when she complained about pain in her left ear on Friday, we had to journey to our clinic. Besides having an ear infection in her right ear and not in her left one, nothing surprising happened. However, the doctor was worried by the fact that this was the third case in three months, and we are likely to go through another loop to test whether repeated infections are a coincidence or a chronic problem.

The canceled trip made us feel down — last time we tripped was after Christmas and then for four days only. Our proper vacation (more than an extended weekend) took place over nine months ago — in Czech Republic — and in Utah after the Christmas before. To somehow utilize another long weekend spent at home, we decided to go shopping for a new bicycle for Tommy. His old one is a 16 inch and we feel he's outgrown it. We had promised him a bike for a nice report card, which he had brought. He has been helpful and shows initiative at home, being a very pleasant child with whom one can talk reasonably, and we would like to show our appreciation of that.

Fremont Peak Panorama — one of the few sunny days.

After a day spent in department stores with the cheapest bicycles, as well as specialized bike shops, we had to declare that there was no such thing as a bike for our Tommy. Eighteen inchers did not seem to us much different from the sixteener, which he already has; twenty inch bikes had frames too high for him. We ended up with a disappointed junior and with own sour feeling of complete vain. We promised Tom that we would try to set up his old bike as best as could be done so that he could ride it well, and when he grows up to the frame, he'd get his new bike — but we're feeling sorry.

Lisa resolved to reach the top all by herself. Peer pressure made Tom climb, too.

An unusually chilly weather and our kids' illnesses logically led into my new baking experiments. Having had such a success with my diamonds, I decided to bake an Easter scone. I have never tried it (or Christmas braided bread for that matter); I have a recipe from my mom, but I had to improvise — beginning with dried yeast to flower (you can normally only buy fine one here). One can spot thousands of recipes online, but they diverge a lot, and so I eventually opted to combine them somehow. I got a few hints from my virtual emigrant friends (who face same problems — how to convert Czech recipes into American ingredients and units), and other things I chose to eye-ball. I kept adding flour until the dough seemed just right; I simply guessed how much yeast may be needed. It seemed that the dough was not rising much, but after baking the scone looked rather well. Still the inside did not turn out as puffy as I was used to. And then my Hippo (who otherwise happily munges on anything) declared that he is not eating scones and fancy breads (and since he was not going to eat this one, I lost my motivation for another try). Well, maybe next year.

My baking experiment — in the end was quite edible.

Friday before Easter was the first Friday that month and hence it was the day we could bring guests to the climbing gym for free. Just like the previous three months, we took advantage of if and brought in our own children, Tom's schoolmate Bryce, and his mother Rumiko. Until now these events mostly consisted of juniors chasing each other inside an upholstered artificial cavern built into the climbing wall, jumping on soft bouldering mattresses, and running about. This time Lisa declared that she wanted to climb all the way to the top like Bryce did last time, and so she did. This had apparently motivated her to try more and more new routes; she kept scrambling up. It surprised me how natural some techniques came to her; she managed some (really) small overhangs. This had enticed the boys and Bryce began wanting to climb as well. Tom is usually scared and gives up half way up, but now he found himself in a trap — he did not really want to climb, for he felt being worse than Lisa or Bryce, but then again he yearned much to climb "all the way up". I talked him into trying, and when he was about to give up in the middle again, Bryce began cheering him so wholeheartedly that sonny overcame his fears and really made it to the top. I'm very grateful for Bryce's help — Tom won't let me convince him, but a friend succeeded, and in the end made Tom very happy too. My only complaint would be that I had a feeling like having my arms all worn out from all that belaying — as everybody demanded to climb all at once, instead of just running around, I had spent two and half hours pulling ropes. Next time we must come earlier — thanks to the unexpected enthusiasm we stayed till seven thirty, and with dinner and driving home I put juniors to bed by nine thirty, totally exhausted.

Boys playing with laser pointer.

On Saturday, our neighborhood party organized an Easter Egg hunt in a nearby park. I had written here many times that these events now happen almost spontaneously, everybody brings something to eat, plus eggs for the kids. Daddys hid the eggs 'round the park, moms release the children, and it's accomplished. Naturally, before the actual hunt, one hangs around, talks, drinks, eats; meanwhile more or less disorganized children run around. Eric launched rubber rockets this year, while Steve operated a bubble bucket; an assortment of balls, bats and similar objects materialized on the playfield. I was feeling good that our kids had grown to an age when I no longer need to interfere and deal with things. They managed to play most of the time with bubble-blowers, interrupted for while with the egg hunt and rockets. I don't know why bubbles keep fascinating them at the moment; perhaps it was the splashing in water that they liked.

One must be above all FAST when looking for eggs. However, Lisa strikes a pose even then.

Compared to last year's Easter, when girls put on summer dresses, it was much colder; being a chill coward, I wore a dawn jacket — serves me right, for I failed to zig-zag the playground like a lightning. Sun was shining, but there was an icy wind. After three and half hours everyone was frozen stiff and the whole circus wound down slowly. Even Tom and Lisa did not protest going home (they probably got a fair share of outing), and they concluded merrily that this was the best Easter in the world.

Weather got even worse on Sunday, which canceled our plans. I was hoping that Hippo would take the kids out biking so as to not shy away the Easter bunny when presenting us with his eggs. Given the miserable climate outdoors, we resorted to movies and were in luck; for a moment the rain quit so that we could use the bikes and poor bunny had time to deliver on the front yard for a change. All ended well and juniors were happy.

It started raining again by eleven a.m. just as forecasted, and we were forced to choose a program with a roof, this time a model train club in Richmond. It's quite larger than our nearest layout in Santa Clara, but it was closed throughout the winter and re-opened in April. Strangely, there were not many people there and we had room to roam. One of the train geezers started talking with Tom and even took us behind the scenes, giving us an extra bonus.

I have to say this weather has been getting on our collective nerve; we're always at home, for it's miserable out there. Since Christmas we were unable to get out properly. Last year we swam in our (unheated!) pool on April 19; this year I don't see how we could do it. Forecast insists on rain and chill, with only a few warmer, sunny days.

At Point Richmond train club.

Homework.

In such a weather, even homework seems to be a pleasant thing. I already mentioned that Tom has been having no problems with learning, but the other day he surprised me. Since the school started I have been trying to resolve a small issue with the homework system. Kids take a (short) book home; parents are supposed to read it to them, and the kids must draw a picture about the story, re-tell the story to the parent(s), who should record this re-telling. It all makes sense — children learn to organize their thoughts, find relationships and express themselves. They learn to use new words and the principles of beginning, middle and end to a story. In our bi-lingual family, this becomes an issue. The book is in English and I read it so to Tom. He, however, is used to talk with me in Czech, and I'm far from denying him that — hence he tells me the story in Czech. Now I have to translate his speech into English and write it down. I admit it's been frustrating me — I feel like it's me who got assigned homework.

When I explained the situation to Tom's teacher, she asked why I won't let Tom to write down his version of the story. It surprised me, for English is a bit more complicated than Czech (which is phonetic with an unambiguous mapping between pronunciation and spelling). Still at the nearest opportunity I summoned all the patience I had and told Tom to write homework himself. His only condition was — he would do it HIS OWN WAY — and so he did. I expected to have to help, but Tom mumbled to himself for twenty minutes, erased and wrote and so on, and eventually was finished.

Naturally there are errors in his great manuscript — but the very fact that he was capable of assembling several meaningful sentences, leading one to the next, is admirable at his age, I think. Even when erasing he did not lose continuity and it all makes sense. I'm rather curious how Lisa is going to cope next year, and how Tom is going to deal with homework after staying in school till three in the afternoon.