President's Day 2007

Nothing is quite as satisfying at the end of a long week as a long weekend. We began with a date night spent watching the masterful Judi Dench and the beguiling Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal. Highly recommended. We could think of no better way of following it up than capping our Saturday night with a trip to Safeway. Meanwhile, Rami got to spend the evening with babysitter Paul. Foolishly, Paul brought his bass with him. That gave Rami lots of opportunity to harrass poor Paul.

Of course, Rami rarely misses an opportunity to pose. We're not sure if he wants to be the next Stanley Clarke or the next Sid Vicious, but the man knows what do with a guitar in his hands.

In reponse to the Rose family fraternal obsession with keeping that pesky hair away, we invested in a set of clippers last year. It paid for itself in our first sitting. Rebecca has become quite an expert. She's gaining a reputation neighbourhood wide. Rami's classmate Ami was so pleased with his recent haircut, that Ami's older brother Coby wanted one for himself. Coby came to our backyard looking like this:

And left but a mere 14 minutes later, looking even more fashionable and hip:

After a family brunch at our house, we hit the road for the capital. Rebecca used to live in Sacramento so Rami has lots of uncles, aunts and cousins there. We spent some time with Sandy and Art and their dog Ruby and their canine ward for the week, Molly. Later, we were hosted by Margarita, who took time out from her retirement to provide us with dinner, breakfast, shelter and great company. Later, we visited George and Jeannette and Rami's cousins Connor and Justine. We went hunting for treasure at Pirate Cove on the banks of the American river. With three young toughs covering our backs, security was not an issue.

The main thing when hunting for treasure is to keep an upbeat attitude and positive outlook. As a veteran treasure hunter, Justine is not easily rattled.


Despite the upbeat outlook, you never know if you'll find anything. So when you're looking, it's important to look cool, calm and in control.

Snow Trip 2K7

In our second annual trip to the snow, we ventured to a fabulous cabin that Rebecca found on craigslist. It's near the metropolis of Arnold, north of Yosemite. The cabin was luxurious and warm, as was the company.


The grownups in the back are family friend Hannah, neighbour Jeff, Rebecca and Jeff's wife Margaret. The younger crew in front are Hannah's daughter Esther Aliah, Jeff and Margaret's son Ben, and Rami himself.

January was extremely dry in California so there was almost no snow at the cabin, which is at about 4,800 feet. A quick drive, however, took us above 6,000 feet into proper snow (sort of) and some spectacular vistas.


As always the most photogenic of the group is Rami as he proved yet again.

We all had a fine time. And all our transmissions returned intact.

Hockey Night in California

To the best of his recollection, Rami's soon-to-be stepfather attended his first NHL game at the age of 7 years and 7 months. Rami beat his soon-to-be-stepfather's record by about 2 weeks and went to an NHL game on January 20th at the Shark Tank. In a battle reminiscent of the epic mid-80's struggles between the Minnesota North Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the St. Louis Blues eked out a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks. The game was not as exciting as the score sounds. Nonetheless, Rami had a great time and stayed awake for all of it, more than could be said for the Blues' backup goalie.

Turkey Day in Hog Town

If there's anything more fun than travelling cross country for three days, it's travelling cross country for three days while everyone else is doing the exact same thing. Thus we found ourselves in Toronto for Thanksgiving. It was Rebecca and Rami's first visit there ever and my first appearance in my hometown for over a year. Anyway, some doofus forgot to pack the camera for the trip (he was too busy studying the bio of Marlies goalie J.F. Racine) so we don't have many pictures.

Fortune smiled upon us the entire way on this journey. The sun was shining, temperatures were balmy, the pork buns on Baldwin Street were divine (sorry, I was supposed to warn Jewish readers to avert your eyes) and the Singapore Noodles at el Swatow were as tasty as ever. Rebecca and Rami even got to go their first ever pro hockey game. (Rebecca particularly enjoyed the quaint AHL tradition of dropping the gloves at a face off before play has started.)

We stayed at my sister's house and at one point, the whole family gathered for portraits.


In the back that's Rami, me, my mom Phyllis, my sister Charlotte, her husband David and their son Denny passed out on his parents' lap. In front are my brother Dave, his wife Lisa and my niece Ella. Guess Rebecca was behind the camera.

Rami got along well with his new Canadian near relatives, especially Ella Bella.

Rami also took a liking to the Rose/ Wiseman family dog. Jazz hates having his picture taken because it reduces the amount of time he can spend ransacking the kitchen looking for any food that hasn't been nailed down.

Coastal tour

We did a couple of cool road trips in early September. The first was to an underground institution that could only be found in the Bay Area: Cliff's folk dancing deck. In the middle of the wilds west of Palo Alto (it really is in the centre of nowhere) a bunch of unreformed hippies have built a massive wooden deck expressly for a twice yearly folk-dancing- camping-drinking-storytelling extravaganza attended by literally hundreds. We missed Memorial Day and the prior Labour Day due to medical misadventures so Labour Day '06 was the first chance for many of Rebecca's oldest friends to revel in her restored health, meet me and catch up with an ever growing Rami. It was truly a great time.

The following weekend, we were lucky enough to get invited to the lovely country home of Maria and Michael Faer. It's near Watsonville, south of Santa Cruz, east of Monterey Bay. We got to eat fresh fruits and vegetables picked from the garden and even perfect our drives. For the young person on the trip, the highlight was undoubtedly an excursion to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. While Gracie was no longer there, the sea otters were highly entertaining, at least for the first three hours. They do a great job with interactive exhibits too.


After a fine afternoon there, we found a playground in Monterey with an old steam engine that was ideal for climbing and for thoughtful portraits.


As the fall wore on, Rami decided to take a more dapper approach to his weekly visits to Shul. Amazingly enough, there was someone at home who remembers how to tie a tie. This is how Rami looks every Saturday morning.

Summer in the City

After the Alaska cruise, we had a few more bursts of glory before school started. The day after we got back from Alaska, we had a great time in Marin. First we explored the Bay Area Model, then we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum at Fort Baker in Sausalito (highly recommended). We had a great time. First we got to participate in interactive exhibits involving Buddhist legends, monkeys and dinner parties. Rami really got into the spirit of things.

Later, there was time to do some digging outside. On a rare day that was sunny, warm and cloudless, there were plenty of chances to pose.

Of course, days like these are very unusual in the Bay Area in August and that means a lack of appreciation for how quickly chocolate melts when warm.

Summer means camps. Lots of 'em. They each seem to have their specialty. But there's nothing better than a good old fashioned face painting. Here's Cap'n Lightning himself.


Of course when the weather's good, you can always rely on your almost-step father's sun glasses.

Rami took swimming lessons in El Cerrito in August. We don't have any pictures of that. But we did go to the well-equipped Oakland Zoo and the elephants there are as comfortable in the water as Rami is now.


Rami made a new friend and continued to be very comfortable on either side of the camera.