June 4th: San Francisco and Yosemite

The first week of June is the busiest of the year for me work-wise. Google has an annual sales conference that I do lots of videos for. It keeps me crazy busy! This year Rahav was our conference photographer. He brought Dante out to San Francisco so I could see him during the few mintues of downtime we had that week. We found a lovely nanny to watch him at the hotel. When the conference was over, we rented a car and drove to Yosemite for an amazing weekend of biking, hiking and sight seeing.

At the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Dante refused to look at the camera and would turn his head away from the camera, even when Rahav switch positions. I had to capture it on camera - he was totally playing games with us :-)



In Yosemite We rented a cabin in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley and used it as a basecamp for hiking, biking and exploring the park grounds. The first day we rented bikes and put Dante in a bike trailer and pulled him everywhere - he was cruising in style. We biked to Yosemite Falls, El Capitain and and took photos of Half Dome at sunset.





Day two we hiked to Vernal Falls and had a picnic lunch. Rahav swam in the freezing cold water just above the falls drop off.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND - Dante spent his first weekend in Fire Island over Memorial Day. It's a special place to both Rahav and I and where we settled on Dante's name five days before he was born. Rahav spent many Summers on Ocean Beach and introduced me to this peaceful, magical place two years ago. Both of us have been eager to share it with Dante. We know he'll grow up loving this tiny island for its beauty, serenity and wilderness like qualities nestled only a few hours from NYC and accessible only by ferry boat.

The weather was beautiful, breezy and warm and Dante enjoyed feeling and eating the sand. I thought I'd let him have at it and then he'd learn not to eat sand. Well, it backfired as he actually enjoyed and indulged in feeling the sand on his gums. He's also teething and has a stuffy nose. He slept peacefully for hours at the beach. The sounds of the crashing waves and the cool ocean breeze helped him relax.

My friend Ooana grew up on Fire Island and was the first person to welcome Dante. She'll be a great mentor and teach Dante the special nature of being a kid on Fire Island. She had a huge part in my fondness for the island and my desire to share its magical qualities with Dante.